Empty Classrooms In New Jersey

It would be interesting to know how many illegal aliens attend New Jersey’s public schools and how much it costs the state’s income and property tax payers. An article in today’s Star-Ledger - Crowded protests help empty some classrooms in Jersey - gives us some idea:

According to the state, about 60,000 students do not speak English as their primary language.

In Paterson public schools, about a quarter of the students took the day off in light of the national demonstrations.

Perth Amboy's usual attendance rate was down by a third.

New Brunswick's was down by even more, with the high school reporting only about half the usual attendance.

"In Passaic, a preschool that normally serves more than 300 students had just 100 students yesterday. That left classrooms nearly empty and gave school officials time to complete the school's outdoor butterfly garden. "

"We decided to use the day to finish up the project," said Maria Kenney, principal of School 17. "It ended up the perfect day for it."

Update: Assemblyman Michael has Boycott Lessons:

One of the other people interviewed for the radio news was a Pooh Bah from a New Jersey urban school district. Asked how this strike would affect his schools, he reported on one school which boasts an enrollment of 350, of which 310 failed to show up this morning.

The district at issue being an Abbott district, it spends -- depending upon how one does the math -- between $20,000 and $30,000 per year per kid educating the children of illegal aliens.

it’s a fair bet that a goodly number of the kids, upon whom we, the taxpayers, are spending uncounted billions, should not even be here.

THIS, then, is the nature of our constitutional obligation to provide a "thorough and efficient" education?

Illegals in NJ urban zones cost the taxpayers a bloody fortune. Even a hard working, otherwise law abiding [illegal alien] couple with three kids sets the taxpayers back a cool $75K or so, just in educational costs. That’s one hell of a price to pay for a cheap short order cook.

My thought, then, is that we should strongly encourage all illegals to boycott public schools. Permanently. The savings would provide our taxpayers with billions in sorely needed property tax relief.