Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) released a statement today complaining that Gov. Christie is ignoring Trenton Public Schools by targeting Paterson for a new Harlem Children’s Zone initiative:

I’m pleased that the governor finally seems to understand that public school education cannot be an afterthought, as he treated it last year. We need a robust discussion about New Jersey’s schools and how we can ensure a brighter future for our children, including maintaining New Jersey’s significant and constitutional obligation to support and strengthen public schools. But this effort must be all encompassing and not focused on select areas.

The governor announced no new charter schools for Trenton on Tuesday, and I see no reason why the Harlem Children’s Zone initiative didn’t involve children from our capital city, which has a compact school district the perfect size for innovative approaches to take hold. Why is the governor ignoring Trenton and its children? We cannot have true reform unless everyone benefits.