They all came last Sunday, supporters and advocates for public education from all over New Jersey: Camden, Middlesex, Mercer, Atlantic, Essex, Bergen, Hudson and other New Jersey counties. They were on the steps of the New Jersey State Capitol, demanding that Gov. Christie and Republican and Democratic legislators properly fund the public schools and place a moratorium on the creation of more corporate charter schools and the privatization of public school services.

Trenton Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson, one of the earliest speakers, “made it plain” when she stated that Christie and his allies’ focus is to bust unions, increase the number of corporate charters, and privatize Trenton. She reiterated the need for public schools for which she has been a steadfast defender.

Organized by Naomi Johnson-Lafluer, president of the Trenton Education Association (TEA) and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), more than 500 people braved the cold and the wind to make their case. The Trenton Public Schools were the primary focus of this effort as the Christie administration is flat funding urban public schools which educate a disproportionate number of poor children of color. Moreover, the real agenda of Christie and his Democratic and Republican legislative partners is to turn urban school districts—and suburban ones if they can “muscle” them (e.g., as they have tried to do in Highland Park and Montclair)—into corporate fiefdoms for the Cartel of corporate education reformers. Their goal is to turn them into profit centers for their education and business interests.

Most of the speakers at the rally did not connect those dots. As noted in the Trentonian on May 12th, Assem. Reed Gusciora, who represents Trenton, spoke out eloquently for more school funding, saying, “Money is being taken out of the public schools system, which has a mission to teach everyone regardless of special needs or behavioral problems, and then given to an organization (corporate charters) that cherry-picks students.” At the same time, he is supporting, along with Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, Christie’s waterfront initiative.

This effort is designed to replicate in Trenton what he has already achieved in Camden, and Trenton residents who are already under the gun of unemployment would be at a further social and economic disadvantage. A major component of this proposal is to couple this so-called economic progress with the takeover of the public schools. In Camden, as will be the case in Trenton, the Hope Act which allows for the establishment of corporate charters with fewer controls and lesser accountability than the charters that already exist. And state funding is also available for their creation. This legislation was passed in 2011 and amended to further loosen regulations in 2014.

The cities originally targeted were Camden, Newark, and Jersey City. After massive political pushback, the Christie administration and Democrats and Republicans relented and substituted Trenton with the support of the Trenton legislative delegation. To date, the Camden and Newark school budgets have been decimated with the rapid increase of charters and the massive layoffs and/or terminations of teachers and educational support staff. Only the “sheoric” efforts of TEA president Naomi Johnson-Lafluer and her grievance chair, Janice Williams, have kept the Trenton School Board form implementing the Hope Act in the city.

Working with Gov. Christie, Mayor Jackson appointed members form the private sector, Jason Redd, who works for the Gibbons Law Firm, and is Board president, and Gerald Truehart, a former deputy business administrator in TPS and is now a charter school administrator. (Redd’s law firm is poised to get a major share of the legal work for the waterfront project.) And the charter school where Truehart works will benefit from the opportunity to expand in size.

With a team in place, Trenton is positioned to become a companion to its almost fully privatized counterparts, Camden and Newark, under the guise of revitalization when the city is actually being gentrified for a population that bears little resemblance to its current inhabitants in terms of race, ethnicity, and social class. One only has to visit Camden and Newark to see what is in the offing for Trenton if the Christie plan comes to fruition. Unfortunately, Mayor Jackson has signed on to the economic annihilation of the Trentonians who elected him to office.

In addition, it was comical when Jason Redd addressed the rally, praised rally organizers (TEA and NJEA), and called for more state funding while he is busy manipulating the money the district is already receiving in a fiscal shell game of sorts where he and TPS’s business administrator, Jayne Howard (also in attendance), shift funds from one budget category to another so that they can claim a fiscal exigency that allows them to layoff school personnel. Joined by Mayor Jackson’s chief of staff, Frances Blanco, who also praised the rally planners, these perpetrators of the layoffs basked in the attention of the crowd.

Some speakers also criticized other participants for supporting the policies of corporate charters and who “… endorsed politicians like US Sen. Cory Booker, a champion of charters and voucher schools, and Donald Norcross, the brother of George Norcross and another charter supporter” (and Hope Act author). The fight for public education has some strange and contradictory bedfellows which makes the struggle all the more difficult as Christie makes a mad dash to the finish line of his term by slashing public school budgets, bringing in Broad superintendents who privatize school employees and services, and bankrupt urban districts by placing more corporate charters in their service areas to bleed their school budgets dry.

The rally was a success but the hard work begins. In Trenton, the Board and Mayor Jackson have to be stopped. A hopeful sign was that several of the prospective candidates who are considering a run for mayor were in attendance, spoke at the rally, and received positive feedback for their remarks.

Other elements of the rally will be examined next week.