Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop hosted a Town Hall this morning to discuss his education plan, which includes a two percent annual cap on college tuition hikes and expanding universal pre-K, his fifth white paper since he announced a bid for governor in April 2023.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“We owe it to the residents and voters to outline a plan and platform why I’m running for governor … in detail, not platitudes,” Fulop said at the Cerebral Palsy League in Cranford this morning.
He contended that their plans for affordable housing and transportation similarly introduced changed the policy debate in the legislature, for example citing the corporate business tax (CBT) being used to fund NJ Transit.
He said New Jersey has a great public school system compared to other parts of the country.
“It’s not perfect. We have school segregation issues. We have special education needs,” Fulop said after noting that he feels that New Jersey has a great public school system overall.
“It’s one of the reasons people choose to stay in New Jersey,” he added.
The early part of the hour-long session revolved around higher education.
“College was really expensive. I got accepted into Rowan University. I was fortunate they offered me a grant that pays for half of my tuition every year. I don’t know what I would do without the grant,” began Rowan University College Democrats President Aiden DiMarco.
“My oldest is a sophomore, and we’re starting to take a look at everything,” Garwood Mayor Jen Blumenstock explained.
She said that out-of-state tuition is so high that even though she earns good money as a teacher, she doesn’t know if it’s feasible for her to send her children there.
“We can’t say yes across the board. The increases have just skyrocketed,” Blumenstock noted.
She said even at Rutgers University, where she attended, tuition is about $41,000 a year.
Fulop noted they want to impose a 2 percent cap on tuition increases to address the issue, arguing that efforts to cap property taxes in New Jersey were effective.
“When people are forced to live in a certain set of circumstances, the outcome ends up being more favorable. You’re seeing a tuition increase exponentially,” Fulop explained.
“You want to get to a place where people know the State is a play in the affordability conversation. That’s not the reality today.”
He argued that the state encouraged building projects at colleges that caused debts at institutions like NJCU, which inevitably led to tuition increases.
“There are some costs that come out of the college’s control, for example, health insurance and with respect to pension,” college professor James Hart noted.
“When you are encouraging majors and the type of programs that aren’t necessarily focused towards getting somebody employable in the real world, okay? That also drives costs,” Fulop noted.
He argued the cost has been going up six to seven percent a year.
“It’s entirely unaffordable … it’s like having a home mortgage,” Fulop exclaimed, noting that students go into debt for their entire life due to tuition costs.
From there, Hart explained his background in the arts and humanities.
“We feel we’re under attack. Our majors are majors that really lead to good jobs. People who are Liberal Arts majors … end up well-employed. They end up having fulfilling careers. How do these areas not get left behind?” he asked.
“It’s not one broad stroke of arts and humanities. With the advent of artificial intelligence and more ability for machines to do certain functions more than people, that crticial thinking from arts and humanities is more important. The creativity concept, the emotional concept that a machine can’t, at least not yet,” Fulop said.
“But there still needs to be a conversation over somebody who is studying Russian Literature ultimately getting employed through that cost?” the mayor continued.
“They need to be rolled into and included,” Hart said about arts and humanities.
He argued someone who studied Russian Literature gets transferable job skills by understanding a foreign language and analyzing literature.
“The big elephant is the teacher shortage. Everybody struggles with finding staff,” Cerebral Palsy League Executive Director Patty Tekel said.
She said that the certification process to become a special education teacher is very difficult. Tekel said a Pennsylvanian college student had trouble becoming a teacher here due to certification problems.
“This is a New Jersey resident coming back. We were unable to make that happen,” she noted.
Fulop noted he is interested in expanding universal pre-k.
“It’s an area where the governor (Phil Murphy) has done well. It’s a gradual process. It’s something I’d like to continue, gradual increases. It’s a multi-year commitment,” he explained.
Fulop said he wants to address school segregation. One way to do so is for the state to encourage the development of regional schools for cost savings.
He also reiterated the need to address state aid school funding. Fulop explained he is willing to engage in the controversial issue directly with moderate suburban towns that might oppose his efforts. He also criticized candidates who would be overly general.
Fulop that the high level of school segregation and lack of affordable housing hurt New Jersey’s progressive credentials.
“It’s a big missed opportunity for the governor,” he declared.
Fulop said the school funding formula needs to become more transparent, highlighting that Jersey City has lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars under the current structure.
“There’s not a person in this room who can tell you what it is. It’s very, very difficult to understand how anybody gets money and receives money,” he asserted.
“We have no idea what it’s going to be. It’s like a lottery. There needs to be a commitment to keeping that formula beyond the politics that drives it.”
Fulop said some school districts receive state funding that is indepedent of the aforementioned formula.
“They created this slush fund. This year, a week ago, they just created a fund on the side for grants you could apply for. Opaque politics.”
Fulop touched on his education record in Jersey City, highlighting creating the Liberty Science Center high school in conjunction with the county and and helping address lead pipes in public schools as examples.
He continued that he wanted his own experts to examine the state School Development Authority, which has had ample issues. He argued the state should hold a bond referendum to raise more money for it.
He added many suburban districts need money, too, along with the initially designated Abbot district districts.
“Our health insurance goes up six percent a year on average. Labor costs … are greater than two percent,” Fulop noted about the budget.
He also noted that Medicare for All would help address healthcare costs, but that it would ultimately be up to the federal government to address that.
The entire event streamed live on our Facebook page and can be view here.
