Despite the odds and constantly changing circumstances, the 10-year battle for the 5-year pilot program known as the Opportunity Scholarship Act will continue, its supporters say.

The bill, which would have opened doors to stronger schools for scores of New Jersey’s private and public low-income school children, died without coming to the floor in the wake of raucous budget battles over cuts to public worker benefits which closed out this legislative year.

The districts in the Trenton Diocese with failing schools where the children would have been eligible were Asbury Park, Lakewood and Trenton.  If the bill had been signed into law, eligible children from low income families would have been able to apply for scholarships to attend participating out-of-district schools or any participating nonpublic schools in the state.

 It was the latest legislative attempt to provide enhanced educational options for students who attend chronically failing schools around the state.

Disappointment was keen among backers of the bill, which had bi-partisan support and a wide range of advocates from the Catholic community as well as many Christian and Jewish communities. Still, Usha Rosidivito, director of NJ Network of Catholic School Families for the Dioceses of Trenton and Camden, said those in favor of the concept will “go back to the Statehouse (in the Fall) and give it one more shot.”

“I know come September that we are going back at it again. We came so close this time,” said Rosidivito.

She was among the many who expected the bill to come up for a vote in the closing session only to have the process grind to a halt after stalling in the Assembly.

The failure of the bill this session was especially hard to deal with in light of the fact that Gov. Christie had pledged to sign it, she said.

Rosidivito noted that in ongoing efforts to get the bill passed, it has been amended numerous times. “Every year as the process begins again, it gets tweaked.”

Among the changes, she said, the number of school districts included in the pilot program. “We started off with six. Then it went to 9, then 12 and then 13. No one had a problem with the districts included which were all identified as having failing schools and poor families who needed help.”

Rosidivito has long pressed the point that the scholarship act is neither an attempt to take money away from public schools nor a guaranteed cure-all for what ails education in New Jersey. She stressed once again that the Opportunity Scholarship Act would utilize funds from corporations which get tax credits in return.

The monies would be directed to individual children rather than institutions. No money from the state treasury would be involved, she said.

Dr. George Corwell, director of education for the New Jersey Catholic Conference, also expects the drive to pass the scholarship act will reboot in the fall. “This bill got caught in the crossfire in which everyone was fighting…the most important thing is to get everyone on some level of agreement.”

Corwell said he encourages backers of the bill to signal their support by contacting legislators, most especially Sheila Oliver, speaker of the NJ State Assembly who failed to post the bill, and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who had agreed to post it once it cleared the Assembly.

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