By Christy Davis Jackson
President E3, Excellent Education for Everyone
The NJ Spotlight Opinion Piece “Voucher Bills Fall Prey to False Advertising and Small Thinking” is a subjective commentary by Mr. MacInnes which mischaracterizes both the intent of the Opportunity Scholarship Act and the urgency of the need for OSA.
As a mother living in the City of the Township of Orange , with a young son of school age, I am outraged that another generation of children from my community is a prisoner of chronically failing schools. Our urban children have no access to the opportunities afforded to many of the s uburban counterparts, to attend a school that will prepare them to go to college, or get meaningful employment that will enable them to support their families, and contribute to our communities. While I am privileged to be a middle class parent who can afford to send my son to an independent school of our choice, it is a significant economic challenge to do so in New Jersey .
Mr MacInnes’ comments are an intellectualized response to a serious effort on behalf of honorable and passionate people in New Jersey to solve an educational crisis in our urban communities. I take issue with Mr. Mac Innes’ characterization of these good people as “not motivated primarily by the desire to help the poorest kids in the poorest districts”. It is erroneous to suggest that OSA scholarships, in either legislative form, are about funding private schools. OSA provides scholarships to participating out of district public schools, and religious and independent schools in or out of district. To say that OSA doesn’t target the poor because the median income is 2.5 times the Federal poverty level, when NJ has one of he highest costs of living in the country is decidedly misleading.
