Jersey City, N.J.
MAYOR Bret Schundler wanted to talk about dreams. Standing on an empty lot in Jersey City for the Liberty Academy Charter School’s groundbreaking ceremony on February 20, Schundler was ad-libbing a speech for a group of children and teachers. Martin Luther King had a dream, he said; everybody should have dreams. It was the sort of unremarkable address that any politician can give anywhere, at any time. But Schundler knows a lot about dreaming. He once envisioned something much grander for Jersey City than a few charter schools: He imagined a citywide school-choice program that would save poor kids from the sorry fate of attending Jersey City’s failing public schools. He dreamed of nothing less than sparking a national movement modeled on what he was able to accomplish, almost literally in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. And the whole conservative movement dreamed with him.
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