Students protest Christie education cuts outside Bergen courthouse
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
About 25 student demonstrators gathered in front of the Bergen County courthouse Wednesday to protest Governor Christie’s cuts to education funding – just hours before the Board of Freeholders voted on the next county budget.
Members of the Democratic Youth National Organization demanded that the Republican governor consider alternative ways to save the state money, such as cutting administrative costs and regionalizing school districts.
“We want to start a dialogue on real education reform,” said Simon Li, the protest organizer. “We’d like Governor Christie to have a dialogue with the students.”
Li, a finance and policy major at New York University who graduated in 2008 from the Bergen Academies, said administrative positions in many school districts are not needed. Eliminating those jobs and regionalizing districts could help address the financial problems that Christie and the state are now facing, he said.
Li was also critical of Christie’s description of students who have protested on behalf of teachers as “drug mules.”
“I don’t think that’s the way to go,” Li said. “Students don’t have a union to
LESLIE BARBARO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students students march down Hackensack Avenue to protest the proposed budget cuts.
“We want to start a dialogue on real education reform,” said Simon Li, the protest organizer. “We’d like Governor Christie to have a dialogue with the students.”
Li, a finance and policy major at New York University who graduated in 2008 from the Bergen Academies, said administrative positions in many school districts are not needed. Eliminating those jobs and regionalizing districts could help address the financial problems that Christie and the state are now facing, he said.
Li was also critical of Christie’s description of students who have protested on behalf of teachers as “drug mules.”
“I don’t think that’s the way to go,” Li said. “Students don’t have a union to