ISSUE:
S-1872 (Lesniak, Kean, and Kyrillos), the Opportunities Scholarship Act,
has been introduced into the New Jersey Senate and referred to the
Senate Economic Growth Committee. The bill is a revised version of the
Urban Enterprise Zone Jobs Scholarship Act from last session. The major
revision is that there is a duel qualifying standard of 1) poverty and
2) residence in a district that has a chronically failing school for
students to receive scholarships. Additionally, the bill has an
Education Improvement Fund available as competitive grants to
chronically failing schools to finance the adoption of innovative
educational practices with the objective of improving student
performance.
OUR
POSITION:
The New Jersey Catholic Conference and the New Jersey Network of
Catholic School Families support this legislation as an opportunity to
provide students with meaningful school choice options.
ACTION:
The following actions are directed to members of the New Jersey Senate
and designed to enhance the passage of this legislation. Contact with
the legislators should be made regularly and not just on a one time
basis.
Please enact the following:
1.
Call or email Senator Raymond Lesniak (908-624-0880,
SenLesniak@njleg.org), Chair of the Senate of the Economic Growth
Committee, and sponsor of the bill to thank him for introducing the
legislation.
2.
Call the offices or email the offices of Senators Thomas Kean
(908-232-3673, SenTKean@njleg.org) and Joseph Kyrillos (732-671-3206,
SenKyrillos@njleg.org) to thank them for serving as co-sponsors of the
bill.
3.
Contact the members of the Senate Economic Growth Committee and the
Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee expressing your support for
S-1872. Use the accompanying description of the legislation and the Q&A
in order to facilitate your response. You may also use the New Jersey
Catholic Conference Capwiz system which may be accessed at:
http://www.capwiz.com/njcathconf/home/
The members of the
Senate Economic Growth and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees
are attached to this Alert for your use.
Please maintain
contact with these legislators as the bill begins to move through the
New Jersey Legislature. The earliest that the bill could be heard at
the Senate Economic Growth Committee will be in early May, when the
Legislature reconvenes from its annual Budget break.
Thank you for your
immediate response to this request.
