N.J. Debate Focuses on Terms of Choice Plan

By Jessica L. Sandham

New Jersey lawmakers and Commissioner of Education Leo F. Klagholz are working out the finer points of a proposal that would allow students to attend schools outside their home districts, tuition-free, as early as next September.

If passed, the measure would end, at least temporarily, a struggle between the GOP-led legislative and executive branches over interdistrict choice. Lawmakers were scheduled to debate the merits of the proposal at a hearing of the joint committee on public schools sometime this week. The measure could face a vote in the full legislature early next year.

Proponents of the choice plan, including Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, say the measure would help middle- and low-income families who can't afford to move or send their children to private schools when they are dissatisfied with their local schools. In a state with roughly 600 districts, supporters also contend that the proposal would provide greater...