New Jersey Assemblyman Ryan Peters is doing something many of his peers and opponents running for state office are still trying to figure out, how to offer sensible solutions that might actually work to fix some of the problems facing the Garden State.
He’s also making a name for himself along the way.
“Last year, Trenton made a decision to redistribute funding to school districts, creating winners and losers and putting our school children in the crosshairs,” Peters said. “While some schools are finally getting the funding they deserve, others are being left out in the cold, staring at a future where they’ll have to undergo massive layoffs and cuts in programs.”
Peters, is tacking a topic that grossly affects schools across the state, including a high amount of districts here at the Jersey Shore, imbalanced school funding that sends taxes from suburban communities to New Jersey’s inner cities and struggling school districts.
“Providing adequate state funding for our children’s education should not be about having a ‘D’ or ‘R’ in front of your name,” Peters said. “It affects everyone, from the child all the way up to the senior whose property tax bill goes up because their town doesn’t get its fair share.”
Peters also doesn’t seem worried about getting the coveted political endorsement from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) after calling for cutting costs.
“We owe it to our children to leave no stone unturned if it means adverting massive school layoffs, cutting programs and shutting down local schools,” he said.
Last week, he introduced a bill that seeks to change a sweeping overhaul of school funding passed by state Democrats last year that have stripped millions of dollars of state aid annually from suburban school districts.
The bill, unfortunately, is expected to die a slow death in the halls of Trenton as the Democrats retain the majority of seats in both the senate and legislature.
Peters was a member of the U.S. Navy Seal Team 18 and served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been serving in the New Jersey Assembly since 2017.
