Dem Buono outlines education plan in bid for N.J. governor’s office

The Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey has unveiled her education plan.

Speaking at the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick Tuesday, Barbara Buono outlined her proposals for full-day kindergarten, restoring funding for after-school programs, and providing more college scholarships and tuition assistance.

“This is a plan for my first term in office, and it will be enacted within fiscal constraints, but I will tell you this: My budget will reflect middle-class values and policies that support and uplift middle-class families and the working poor,” Buono said.

More tuition assistance would help students advance themselves, said Milly Silva, Buono’s running mate.

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“Today students can’t even imagine the day when the loans are going to be repaid. They’re having trouble just getting by from semester to semester,” Silva said. “They’re being forced to chose between supporting themselves by working and advancing themselves by education.”

As to how she’d fund the initiatives, Buono says one of her priorities as governor would be a tax on millionaires.

A spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election campaign says Buono’s education plan is all spending and zero reform.”

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