New Jersey

and the quality of education, which varies widely from town to town, would be a lot fairer and more equal for all, if schools got most of their funding via the state.

But New Jersey residents, though they may complain about their taxes, still prefer to live in the "nicest" towns they can afford because this local property tax system keeps those "others" (meaning poor, black, Latino, Asian, immigrant, etc.) out of their kids' schools. This system is called home rule, and I think it's dead wrong.

I grew up in New Jersey and was educated in one of its "nice" suburban schools. I graduated from Rutgers University and was a reporter for one of its largest newspapers for many years.

I would love to move back to New Jersey when we retire, but we could not afford the property taxes.

Maryland, where we've lived for nearly 22 years, has county school districts mainly funded by county taxes, with the exception of Baltimore city (which I've never been able to figure out). Our property taxes are less than half of what we would pay on a comparable house, in a comparable school district in New Jersey.

Our system is not perfect, and there remain inequalities. But on the whole I'd say kids in Maryland cities, with the exception of Baltimore city, have a better shot at attending relatively decent schools than do kids in Paterson, Newark, Elizabeth, New Brunswick, Camden, Trenton, Atlantic City, Plainfield, Asbury Park, or other New Jersey cities where poverty is concentrated and perpetuated by poorly funded, lousy schools.