In the late 60s when most school systems including the ones in New Jersey were going through racial integration, New Jersey dropped the ball.  Sure enough the schools were integrated but at a city level and with predictable results.  With racist fear in their hearts parents began leaving Trenton and stepped across city lines to Ewing, Lawrence and Hamilton.  That drain of stability and capital led to a gradual decline in both school performance and the tax base necessary to fund basic services.  Like it did in many school systems across the state and nation, a vicious cycle of decline set in.

We are where we are.  Now there is no way that an inner city school system like Trenton will reach academic success levels better than the surrounding townships in our lifetime.  Anyone who says it’s possible, hasn’t been paying attention to the failed efforts over the past 30 years.

Meanwhile, in the South, schools were integrated at the county level rather than city.  This made all the difference and it wasn’t because southern governors were enlightened, instead they were forced at gunpoint by the federal government.

In cities like my hometown of Winston-Salem, kids were bussed all over the county to achieve racial balance. It was expensive, messy and uncomfortable.  However, it also helped to avoid “white flight” because there was no where to which to fly.

Today, cities like Winston-Salem and Charlotte have grown in population and have retained much of their economic vibrancy.  Neighborhoods have remained stable and over the years, as the country and the South have become more racially tolerant, neighborhoods have become integrated.

I’ve previously referenced a Harvard study on school segregation that finds the most integrated schools to be in the South.  That same study lists New Jersey as the fourth most segregated in the country.  This shouldn’t be a surprise to the calm and rational social observer.

Had New Jersey’s state leaders been more enlightened they would have followed the Southern model.

Governor Christie is proposing to cut the cord on the very cities that have felt the brunt of New Jersey’s failure as a state to practically integrate schools.  I caution our suburban neighbors not to do that as the results will create vast holes of lawlessness that will spill over at alarming rates into the adjoining suburban sprawl.  It isn’t far-fetched to remember Mario Van Peebles’ 1991 movie, New Jack City as a point of social reference.

There are options for turning the tide in Trenton but none of them involve a dramatic reduction in funding.  Rather the goal should be a gradual reduction in state aid over the next 20 years.

One of the options on the table should be State tax credit investment in urban market rate development.  The current investment climate is a non-starter for private urban development.  The market has simply been made too risky by a combination of city and state policy.  Large, market shaping investment on the order of $100s of millions of dollars is necessary to stimulate any kind of meaningful increase in Trenton’s ratables at this point.

However there are two other less expensive and potentially more socially beneficial options that the Governor and legislature have so far ignored.

1. Consolidate our schools into 21 county-wide school systems
2. Offer vouchers in urban districts

Either option fundamentally changes the picture in urban centers like Trenton.

County-wide consolidation is the most straight-forward approach and has the advantage of 40 years of experience.  With a stroke of a pen and a modest investment in transportation, Governor Christie could simultaneously reduce overall school costs in the state through shared service, eliminate the #1 reason for disinvestment in urban centers and improve race relations.

Whenever this topic is mentioned, well meaning people say our suburban neighbors will never go for it and home rule prevents it.  I’ll remind the naysayers that the South didn’t exactly go quietly.  Southern leaders didn’t go for it at all and their main argument (i.e. excuse) was “state’s rights”.  History has proven them wrong.  New Jersey is wrong as a state to simultaneously create dangerous hotbeds of social unrest and spend excessively in the process.

Integration will cause students with non-education focused backgrounds to mix with students who have education as a family priority.  The blending will be uncomfortable for both but students who have the ability to succeed in a positive environment will for the first time have one.  Students who are bused out of their suburbs into the city will find a new appreciation for diversity that will help them live a more meaningful life (the writer speaks from experience).

The transportation necessary for this transition won’t be cheap but will pail in comparison to the cost of the social unrest the Governors current plan will unleash.  And we’ll be a better State for it.

The second option is vouchers. Offering vouchers to families in urban cities will not likely improve overall achievement, rather it will create a stimulus for families to move into the city.  The beauty of an urban voucher program is that a $5000 / child voucher would reduce overall spending on public schools.  Spending $5000 per child and having the parent pay the balance of a private school education is a bargain compared to a $16,000 public education.

Overall spending on education doesn’t go down and neither does the demand for teachers, rather the spending is shifted to parents who are seeking to find more affordable housing options in cities like Trenton and will gladly make up the difference in school tuition over and above a voucher amount.

The exact amount of the voucher is important but whether its $5000, $10,000 or even $15,000 the effect is the same.  We would reduce overall spending per pupil and stimulate new investment in the urban centers where the program is offered.  It’s a nifty, no cost way of revitalizing cities like Trenton.

Of course the education unions have spent decades opposing any new thinking in educational funding.  As a society we can no longer stand for that attitude.  Trenton’s schools are not what we want and its time for the unions to get out of the way.

“Reinvent Trenton” takes and economic view towards revitalization and sometimes that means taking aim at the elephant in the room.  Perhaps this is right time and right Governor to make the most important change in the way our state operates.

It’s an industry without the risk of the car business. It attracts sought after  middle class workers. And, it’s inherently good for the community.

What’s this wonder industry? And more importantly what do we need to do to attract it?

Education can be Trenton’s next great economic engine, all we have to do is break the monopoly government has on it.

We spend $290M on education annually in Trenton. This is a vast amount of money that’s spent on entrenched interests with no motivation or legal ability to grow and attract students from beyond the city’s boundaries. Creating a voucher system to allow parental choice, will change the educational and business landscape in Trenton and NJ.

Rather than perpetuating a stagnant bureaucracy that rules over teacher contracts and poor schools, let’s open it up and grow a network of independent schools. New independent schools will fight to serve our children, will work to attract suburban kids to the city and will provide options for the teaching profession.

Trenton’s first salvo in to what I hope will be a growth business is the River City School in downtown. The school’s central premise is that an urban environment can be a classroom for teaching. There’s merit in this kind of thinking.

A downtown Trenton school has direct access to the civics lesson that is state government. It is the ultimate classroom for the history of the American Revolution. Within close distance to the downtown location is a textbook of business history. And nearby are lessons in biology, geology and environmental science. 

Education happens when its brought to life for kids. Who doesn’t remember the field trips of their early school days. The new school will provide many such valuable learning experiences within walking distance from the classroom.

River City School will be funded through tuition set to a very low $10,000 through the efforts of a core group of volunteers. My deep hope is that a portion of the $16,000 we spend per student in Trenton can be used in the form of vouchers to help parents pay for their children to go to River City.

Moreover, I hope for the sake of our kids and for Trenton’s economy that we can unlock economic power of the $16,000 per student we spend to start up other independent schools that will attract more children to Trenton.

A vibrant market for education in Trenton will attract education workers to our city, will attract young scholars from throughout the region and will provide an attractive reason for parents to move back in to the city.

Link to River City School’s web site

In “Invest the Trenton Water Works proceeds in the future not the past” I argued that the proceeds from the sale of the Water Works should not be applied directly to the 2010 and 2011 budgets. I allowed that it was too late to fix the 2009 budget and therefore $20M of the proceeds should be used to patch this year’s gaping budget hole.

If a group of Trenton citizens have their way, the sale will be delayed until a public vote can be taken and it’s not certain at all that the public will go along with the administration’s plan. We’d be left with a huge problem. Therefore, we’d better come up with plan B for patching the 2009 budget.

No, make that plan C. Plan A would have been to for the city to have been serious about managing the risk in its budgets starting 10 years ago when times were good. Trenton’s voters never demanded accountability for the long term fiscal health of the city and look where it’s gotten us. We pay only 14% of our total municipal and school costs and that’s just not tenable. (see “Trenton’s budget is in worse shape than you think”).

We’ve been hooked on the drug of state aid for far too long!

Let’s review how big a $20M budget gap is. There are roughly 26,500 households in Trenton (US Census bureau). So, our budget gap equates to $750 per household. That’s a staggering amount of money. To be clear, no matter what happens with the Water Works sale, Trentonians will eventually face this additional tax burden given the city’s current cost structure.

Mayor Palmer has argued that by not selling the Water Works, taxes will have to go up over 1000% from ($90 to $1090 per $100,000 of assessed value) and that by selling it we avoid the problem. That’s not quite true. The Mayor’s proposal is to avoid the tax hike for the next 3 years, but after that (and presumably when the Mayor’s out of office) we’ll face an even larger $30M budget deficit (according to administration numbers). Furthermore, state law prohibits such large swings in taxes anyway.

However, we need to make some big changes, no matter what. The problem is that to fix 2009 we’ll have to take drastic action if the citizen initiative succeeds.

So, what to do?

Cede the schools to the state

Of the $291M Trenton school budget, we currently pay only $21M or roughly 7.2%. Stopping payment on our portion will force hardship on the school system and will likely force the state to take it over. But, it’s possible our children will be in better care. It’s sort of like a mother giving up her child. Since she knows she can’t take of it, it’s in the best interest of the child to let someone else have it.

Hopefully, the state will have additional resources from the Obama stimulus plan to provide direct school aid. We can only hope that our Education President and Education Governor can find the money to take care of our kids.

Some day, when we get our budget back under control and have built a local economy strong enough to support education, maybe we can have another chance. But we’re a long way from that. Our local economy needs (as measured by assessed value) to grow by 300% before we are out of fiscal danger. Until then, every year we are at the mercy of a fickle state budget, inflation and an uncertain economy. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get ourselves clean and off the drug of state subsidy. Unfortunately, just like an addicted parent, it’s going to be better to go through rehab alone so we don’t endanger our kids any further.

I know this proposal sounds draconian. However, let’s face the fact that we could go bankrupt and now have no where else to turn. Parents and elected officials have to realize that the options at this point are horrid. We can gut the basic functioning of the city which will prevent any hope of revitalization or we can cut the police and fire departments and risk falling into anarchy. Allowing a state takeover of the schools is the safer alternative.