CAMDEN — State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean was not present in Camden this afternoon to greet President Barack Obama on his visit to the city for an address about community policing and reform — but that didn’t keep him for using the occasion to ding the Democrat on another issue.
In a Facebook post earlier today, Kean puzzled over the president’s decision to underfund the Opportunity Scholarship Program in his budget this year. He called the program, which provides scholarships to low-income children for tuition and other fees at participating private schools, a “giant piece of the puzzle to fully solving the deeply rooted issues impacting the city of Camden.”
“If we really want to transform the city, we need Democrat leadership to get on board with Opportunity Scholarship programs. Camden’s children are the future of the city and they all deserve the opportunity for a good education,” he said.
In addition to poverty and economic plight in the city, Camden’s school system has been wracked by layoffs and cuts in recent years. Last months, officials announced plans to fire nearly 80 staffers, including 31 teachers.
The Opportunity Scholarship program is popular among Republicans, many of whom see school choice as an essential part of improving education.
“Kids need to stay in school and graduate prepared to take on the next steps in their lives,” Kean said. “When President Obama introduces a budget that cuts funding for an Opportunity Scholarship program, it sets back a lot of the hard work people around the country are doing to increase children’s access to high quality education.”
Many in attendance during Obama’s visit today lauded the president’s speech, which focused on improving resident-police relations in the wake of recent violence in cities like Baltimore and Ferguson.
