New Jersey advocates for constitutional government are joining forces to launch the 6th annual National School Choice Week on January 24, 3-6 pm, at the Best Western Robert Treat Hotel and Conference Center in Newark, New Jersey. They plan to honor Assemblyman Anthony Bucco (NJ-25) for leading the drive for universal school choice by sponsoring the NJ Parental Rights and Property Tax Reduction Act (A1785), the first in the country to precisely follow the plan first proposed by the late, world-renowned economics professor Milton Friedman in his 1955 treatise “The Role of Government in Education.” Unlike any school-choice program in the country, this bill empowers all parents to send their children to quality schools of their choice for a fraction of the current cost. According to Friedman, “such a competitive free market would lead to improvements in quality and reductions in cost.” The bill will reduce the burden on New Jersey taxpayers.
Jeffrey Schundler, among the founders of the Alliance for Free Choice in Education, explained the critical need for universal school choice. “The Declaration of Independence was written and signed 240 years ago, and our government appears to have forgotten why we wanted independence… the part about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. How can our children all across America pursue their dreams of happiness if they are kept in substandard schools against the desires of their parents, their own best interest and that of our nation? The time has surely come to cry foul and to have this corrected without delay!”
David White, spokesman for Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in New Jersey, explained the importance of parental choice in education to achieving civil rights for all. “Universal school choice is critical to completing what began with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and was mandated in the 13th Amendment precisely 150 years ago. True and complete redemption from the vestiges of slavery will come when we have equal educational opportunity for every child. This is the best way to assure that no child will be left behind, by designing the system to be accountable to parents, as is required in a free and open society.”
Other advocacy groups co-sponsoring this historic event include Americans for Liberty, Independence Hall Foundation, L.E.A.R.N.—Northeast, Morris Township Republican Committee and New Jersey Taxpayers’ Association. Political advocacy groups of all political affiliations are invited to join in sponsoring this celebration of liberty by contacting the Alliance at [email protected]. Schundler has often said, “Universal school choice is a universal issue favored by all liberty-loving Americans.”
