FromNJ.com

A program that allows children in failing public schools to transfer to better ones that are willing to take them is drawing support from Gov.-elect Chris Christie, who wants to see it expanded.

We hope he can make that happen so it can benefit more students now trapped in inferior schools.

Under the Interdistrict School Choice Program, students who are accepted at schools outside their home districts can attend tuition-free. Tax dollars follow them to the new school. Students also receive reimbursement for transportation.

But it’s a small program, in part because it works only when host districts have extra space. The limited number of school districts that have signed on to the program suggests it is not a practical alternative for most students stuck in poorly performing schools.

The program, which started in 2000 as a five-year-pilot project, has just 15 participating districts serving fewer than 1,000 students. It allows one pilot district in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

The plan has been touted as a success in Hunterdon and Atlantic counties. But in several of the state’s most populous counties, such as Essex and Middlesex, no districts are participating, typically because they have no room. West Orange, for example, has built a new middle school and added to its high school in recent years. And Montclair has broken ground on a new and bigger elementary school, to keep up with its own growing enrollments.

So the interdistrict choice program will likely always be small. But Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex) has co-sponsored legislation that seeks to remove some of the legislative barriers so the program can grow somewhat. The bills pending in the Legislature would expand the program beyond its 15 approved districts to all counties. It would also remove the one school district per county cap on those participating. Those are helpful steps.

Meanwhile, let’s remember that improving public schools, where most children attend classes, remains the far more important task.