By Matt Rooney
This should be a no-brainer, Save Jerseyans, but this is Trenton we’re talking about here.
While Kathy Hochul is reportedly ready to put politics aside and opt New York into the new federal tax-credit scholarship program, New Jersey families are still waiting to see whether Mikie Sherrill is willing to do the same.
That silence is becoming harder to justify.
Under the federal program, taxpayers can receive credits for donations to scholarship organizations that help families pay for K-12 educational expenses. Participation is voluntary for states, but the stakes are enormous. If New Jersey declines to participate, Garden State families could lose access to an estimated $1.3 billion in scholarship funding and roughly 240,000 scholarships over the next three years.
That’s not abstract policy or performative posturing. That’s real, tangible, ready-to-go help for middle-class and working-class parents in our communities struggling with the highest-in-the-nation property tax burdens, rising daily expenses, and public education systems that too often fail to meet their children’s basic academic needs.
Even Hochul — hardly a conservative crusader — seems to recognize that turning down billions in available educational aid simply to appease teachers unions would be politically reckless. Yet in New Jersey, Sherrill appears frozen.
Why?
The uncomfortable answer may be that too many Democratic governors remain more focused on opposing President Trump than helping their own residents. If Trump supports school choice, many progressives instinctively oppose it, regardless of whether families benefit. That, and the militantly anti-choice NJEA funds the Democrat electoral machine in this state.
That’s unfortunate for New Jersey parents who don’t have the luxury of ideological posturing. Parents in Camden, Trenton, Ramsey, and Freehold care less about partisan warfare and more about whether their child can attend a safer school, access specialized instruction, or escape a failing district.
Critics predictably label the scholarships “vouchers,” but the talking point ignores reality. This is a federally incentivized private-donation model, not a raid on New Jersey’s public-school budget. Public schools will still receive billions in funding. What changes is that families finally gain a little leverage and a few more options.
And frankly, New Jersey families deserve options. We already pay some of the highest taxes in America. Many of our fellow residents are trapped in school districts where moving to a better neighborhood is financially out of reach. Giving parents additional educational opportunities should not be controversial in a sane world.
Sherrill campaigned heavily on affordability. Here’s a chance to actually improve affordability for hundreds of thousands of families. Declining to participate would amount to voluntarily sending New Jersey taxpayers’ money elsewhere while denying local students the benefits.
New York may soon prove that even deep-blue states can put students ahead of ideology. The question is whether New Jersey’s governor is willing to do the same — or whether partisan hostility toward the president matters more than helping children.
