ELC News - Support Builds for School Construction Funding

Over 200 parents and advocates rallied to restart school New Jersey's school construction program.

On Thursday, December 22nd, over 200 parents, teachers, and advocates for educational equity rallied at the Statehouse in Trenton to support "bridge funding" to restart the State’s school construction program. Responding to the call from Assemblyman Craig Stanley (D-Irvington), the assembled crowd called for immediate passage of legislation to authorize $3 billion in State bonds to complete projects already in the development "pipeline" at the School Construction Corporation (SCC). Senate Bill 2294, sponsored by Senator Ronald Rice, and Assembly Bill 3665, sponsored by Assemblypersons Craig Stanley and Nellie Pou, would allocate $2 billion to urban or "Abbott" districts and $1 billion for other districts as "bridge" funding to keep projects moving to give the new Legislature and Governor the chance to develop more permanent solutions next year.

Over 200 projects in urban districts are now stalled at SCC without funding, including over 90 projects under design by architects. In addition, numerous projects in other districts are at risk because SCC has run out of funds to support them.

Despite 30 degree temperatures, the crowd grew during the morning as busloads of parents from Newark and Paterson arrived, to join parents and supporters from Trenton, Camden, Orange, East Orange, Philipsburg and Plainfield. "We want our schools now!" chanted the crowd, as speakers decried the problems with the SCC and reminded the Legislature that "our children should not pay for the mistakes of adults who are not doing their job!."

"This is a civil rights issue," NJ NAACP president James Harris reminded the crowd, "and 50 years after Brown v Board of Education we still find ourselves fighting for the basic right of equal educational opportunity. To those legislators who are not standing with us, we say: You can’t run and you can’t hide!" Among the organizations represented in this broad demonstration of support were the New Jersey Education Association, NJ Association of School Administrators, Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC), Paterson Coalition for Our Children’s Schools, NJ Parent Coordinators Association, Education Law Center, Newark Parents Association, Housing and Community Development Network of NJ, and the One Newark Education Coalition. These organizations and many others have recently come together with the ELC and the NJ Alliance for Action to form the coalition, Building Our Children’s Future.

Speaking in support of the Rice/Stanley bills were Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, Assemblyman William Payne, Congressman Donald Payne, Newark Councilman Hector Coracho, ELC Executive Director David Sciarra, Ray Lindgren of the Newark School District, Barbara Cid of the Statewide Education Organizing Committee, Anna Taliaferro of the Parent Coordinators Association, and the superintendents of East Orange and Philipsburg school districts.

Members of the Legislature need to hear from parents and supporters of school construction in the next several days. For more information on how you can support this effort, contact Joan Ponessa at ELC, 973-624-1815, ext. 23 or jponessa@edlawcenter.org.

Authored by Dennis Brunn, Senior Field Organizer
Housing and Community Development Network of NJ