‘Urban Hope’ coming to Camden, or privatization?

Yesterday saw some high drama in the Trenton Statehouse on the always controversial subject of privatizing public schools. Our partners at NJSpotlight.com captured some of the action, as South Jersey state Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), brother of Democratic power broker George, pleaded for action on the humbly named “Urban Hope Act.” The bill is intended to spur private construction of new public schools in three desparate N.J. cities. A late switch yesterday found Camden and Newark being joined by Trenton, not Jersey City, as the three target areas. It appears even Newark’s participation is in question, however.

What’s not in question is the need in Camden for better performing schools. But critics see this bill as the top step of a slippery slope toward privatization of the Garden State’s public schools, and a wedge Republican Governor Chris Christie is using against his most powerful political opponent in New Jersey, the state’s teachers’ union.

Get the full story at NJSpotlight.com here.