As the only candidate for governor with both the proven track record and the experience necessary to serve in New Jersey’s executive office, I have plans – not talking points – to tackle two of the biggest issues that New Jerseyans face when it comes to education and housing.

No one in the race has done more to improve New Jersey’s education system than I have, and with efforts from Washington to gut our education system, we need someone who will protect and strengthen it. As governor, I will do just that. In the State Senate, I’m proud to have passed funding that delivered 100% funding for every student, and I fully funded Extraordinary Special Education. I worked to consolidate schools, bring in more funding, and helped facilitate mergers of some of our colleges and universities to provide better access and more funding for our higher education institutions, including Rowan University, Rowan College of South Jersey, Rutgers-Camden, and many of our community colleges.

As we face unprecedented threats to the nation’s best education system, I will take bold action by consolidating our school districts so that all districts are K-12, resources are better prioritized, and students have access to better education outcomes. My higher ed plan will create a public agency called the NJ Innovation Commonwealth Authority (NJICA). The NJICA would be responsible for combining public funds with capital sourced from New Jersey’s university endowments, pension funds, corporations, and other institutional investors. However, instead of this money flowing to Wall Street tycoons, it will be invested back in the state.

On housing, my Builders Agenda will make it easier for young residents to move and remain here, as well as providing more housing units and lowering costs across the board for low- to moderate-income New Jerseyans. We’ll begin by using the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to help build 200,000 new affordable housing units over the next 5 years. We will also address the issue of resistant municipalities by creating Housing Incentive Zones, leveraging state and municipal funds to prioritize development in these areas – instead of rewarding towns that resist growth. Additionally, I’ll provide down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers, so people can start accumulating wealth and stabilize their personal finances, start a family, and stay in New Jersey long-term.

This statement was submitted by the Steve Sweeney for Governor campaign, attributed to the candidate by his campaign and does not necessarily reflect the editorial position of NJ21st.

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