Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes
CEDAR GROVE — Gov. Christie on Thursday strongly cautioned parents against opting out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, warning that schools with high rates of refusal would face "ramifications out of my control."
Addressing a question at a town hall in Cedar Grove from Colleen Martinez, a Montclair parent who said that her daughter had opted out of the PARCC test and would continue to do so "as long as it's administered," Christie noted that in schools that fell below a certain threshold, sanctions could flow from both the federal government and the state of New Jersey.
Christie admonished the crowd of 200 at the Essex County College Public Safety Academy to remember that "the penalties that occur for opting out of testing aren't just state penalties — they're federal penalties. ... Federal money is connected to that testing."
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More, because of New Jersey's 2 percent cap on the annual increases of property taxes, the effects of such federal educational funding shortfall will be borne by local schools systems, which could be forced to either reduce services, hike property taxes, or both.
"There's nothing I can do to stop you," said Christie, "But then don't complain later that you're not getting the money that you used to. I have no problem with people making declarations of independence. It's a great country. But, those declarations of independence always have ramifications."
On Thursday, the New Jersey Education Association president Wendell Steinhauer blasted Christie's education commissioner David Hespe for issuing similar warnings, and called on Hespe not to withhold state aid from districts where parents "followed their conscience" and refused the PARCC test.
"The (Education) Department needs to listen to parents," said Steinhauer, in an email sent to media on Thursday, "not threaten their children's schools. It should stop Christie warns parents opting out of PARCC could trigger reduced services, higher local taxes | NJ.com:
