The education debate in New Jersey is increasingly becoming a debate about local control of schools. Governor Christie and ACTING Education Commissioner Cerf's emphasis on standardized testing, charter schools, and tenure reform are top-down policy edicts that take more and more authority away from local districts and put it into the hands of Trenton.
What's emerged over the last year in response is a true grassroots resistance to the imposition of corporate "reform." Boards of education, parents, teachers, and concerned citizens are coming together in an effort to stop the destruction of New Jersey's outstanding public school system through state-wide fiat. Some examples:
Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt of Cherry Hill has recently been chosen to chair a new committee to address women's and children's issues. I visited her in her Voorhees office today to learn about the goals of that committee as well as her opinions on other important issues. We discussed marriage equality, state education policy, the problems in nearby Camden, the setback for anti-bullying initiatives, and property tax reform. Also discussed was the slow pace of implementation of the medical marijuana law, where she proposed in interesting solution to the problem of finding dispensary sites.
An infuriating and amazing story. Superb reporting by Chris Rodda, Senior Research Director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), and author of Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History.
Promoted by Rosi, with thanks to Chris.
Question: How does a charter school whose multiple applications have been riddled with lies and misrepresentations and has been rejected three times by a state education department get approved for a $600,000 grant from the federal government?
Answer: The federal government admittedly does not routinely fact-check grant applications for charter schools, and does not allow the private consultants it hires to look at the grant applications to look at any information other than what's in the grant application.
That's right, an applicant for a federal grant for a charter school can say whatever they want to in their application, true or false, and nothing they say will be questioned, even if their application has already been exposed as a work of fiction.
This is what's going on right now with the proposed Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School, and the epicenter of the fight to stop this school from being approved or getting any federal grant money is my own little town, Highland Park, NJ.
Here's the latest chapter in the ongoing farce that is the Christie Town Halls, courtesy of Darcie Cimarusti at the blog Mother Crusader:
An Asbury Park Press reporter detailed a heated exchange between Governor Christie and one of those four vocal residents, Alan Erlich of Cherry Hill about the Governor's relationship to Kahn:
But after Erlich charged the charter school's approval was a favor for a Christie supporter, the governor denied the claim.
"Who are you talking about?" asked Christie, who went on to say he does not know Amir Khan, a pastor who is organizing the school at a church complex in the Ashland area. "I haven't given one friend a charter school."
The exchange is already memorialized on YouTube, like so many other clashes between Christie and audience members.
What may make this one particularly interesting is that just after Governor Christie says he doesn't know who Amir Khan is, the camera pans back, and who is sitting behind Governor Christie on the dais? Amir Khan. Sitting right underneath the "Jersey Comeback" banner. Here is a still:
Click through to read the entire post. It's a great catch by Cimarusti, but let's be honest: you're not surprised.
This weekend, I'll deal with the other rest of Christie's mendacity at this photo op.
UPDATE: It appears that Pastor Khan is a bit of a bigot:
Remember when Joe Clark was the face of educational reform? The former Principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ patrolled the hallways of his out-of-control institution in the 1980s with only a bullhorn and a baseball bat, fighting poverty, gangs, crime and under-performing students as the face of urban education. His tactics were crude and anti-education, but the fact that he was a hero to many spoke volumes about the way in which people saw the problems in our schools.
Today, the people with the bullhorns and the weapons are politicians and business owners who believe that the best way to cure the ills of public schools that have educated the freest, most productive people who've ever lived on this planet, is to make our schools just like the entities that led the way towards job outsourcing, unconscionable home loan processes, and a laser-like focus on stock prices that have almost bankrupted the economy.
So it seems as though Chris Christie is channeling his inner Christie Whitman with his proposal to cut New Jersey income taxes by 10% across the board. We know how well Whitman's 30% tax cut worked out. New Jersey borrowed massive amounts of money to pay for pensions and government projects, which led even lesser governors to stop paying into the public employee's pension system, which resulted in the underfunded system becoming the state's unofficial bird, the Albatross, when the economy bottomed out in 2009. I wish the rest was history, but unfortunately it's become the present and future for hard-working middle class public employees across the state.
(Blue Jersey is fortunate to have two teachers who are excellent Education writers. Here's the latest from Marie Corfield... - promoted by deciminyan)
Dear New Jersey Teachers,
No doubt over the next few days you will engage your students in discussions and activities surrounding the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If not for your efforts, the only thing some children today would know about him is that they get a day off for his birthday.
Thank you.
And thank you for everything you do to enrich the lives of your students. You work hard both inside and outside the classroom to bring the world—past, present and future—to your charges. Sometimes you have to move mountains, sometimes you ride waves, sometimes you're doing both simultaneously, but you do it all because it's your passion, your calling. You can't think of anything else you'd rather be doing than teaching 24 wide-eyed first graders about the developmental stages of a butterfly. Or helping one terminally stuck 9th grader slog through algebra (that was me).
And your dedication shows. New Jersey has one of the best public education systems in the country.
But, as you all know, that is changing. I won't go on about corporate education 'reform' because I'd be preaching to the choir. But if somehow you missed what's been happening in New Jersey education policy over the past two years, I suggest you sit down and read every post ever written by Jersey Jazzman. Then read columnist and author, Chris Hedges, beautifully poignant piece about why the United States is destroying its education system.
You probably don't know what to do with yourself until 4:30 today. If you're inclined to blow off your honey-do list, perhaps you'd care to join the growing debate about charter schools that's raging across the Garden State.
Start with Tom Moran's piece in the Star-Ledger, which takes us to a "high performing" charter in Jersey City. Give Moran some credit for at least acknowledging the other side of the debate; unfortunately, even though he grants that charters have limited scalability, he's still sides with Chris Christie's plan for charter expansion.
I take on his example, however, at Jersey Jazzman, and show that, to a large extent, charter school "successes" can often be accounted for by the fact that charters serve a different student population than surrounding neighborhood schools:
May I make a suggestion, Tom? For your next piece, do what Michael Winerip of the NY Times did, and talk to some families who have not been served well by the charter school experience. Then take another cue from Winerip and look at the charter application process.
You've come a long way in acknowledging the other side of this debate, Tom. But take the next step: let's get this all out on the table before we start cheering on more charters.
When one estimates what I would call a "descriptive regression" model characterizing the differences in proficiency rates across district and charter schools in the same cities, one finds that compared against schools of similar demography, and on the same grade level and subject area tests, the charter proficiency rates, on average are no different than their traditional public school counterparts. [emphasis mine]
More and more, NJ parents are seeing through the hype and demanding quality public schools for every child rather than the privatization of our public education system. That's why Christie couldn't get his education agenda passed in 2011, and he's going to run up against some powerful opposition in 2012.
This debate cuts right to the heart of progressive interests: are we a society that ensures that every child gets a high-quality education? Leave your thoughts below.
Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday said that not getting his proposed public education overhaul through the Legislature is his biggest regret of 2011.
The governor wants to implement merit pay for teachers, take away some of the job protections provided by tenure and to use publicly funded scholarships to send children in failing public schools to private schools. None of those measures has picked up much traction in the Legislature.
"The biggest disappointment is that we didn't get any education reform and we really need to," he said in an interview on WOR-AM radio Thursday. "My parents moved me out of Newark because they wanted me to have a better public education."
Yeah, your folks moved your family out of Newark because of the "schools." Sure they did...
Governor, let me explain to you exactly why you are such a complete and abject failure on education reform:
Governor Christie may have told ACTING DOE Commissioner Cerf to back off on his plan to introduce more charter schools into Christie's suburban base. But charters are still part of the plan - even though we don't have the data from Cerf to determine if they really work.
See, Cerf caught a lot of flack last winter when he released a report about charter schools' "successes" that didn't take into account the make up of the charters' student bodies. In other words, Cerf's report didn't show whether charter schools were succeeding by "cream skimming" - taking fewer children with special needs or limited English proficiency than schools in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Governor Christie has had some major legislative accomplishments over the past two years including a 2% cap on property taxes and a public worker pension and benefits overhaul. Mind you, these laws have not necessarily made life better for New Jerseyans, as taxes have still risen and thousands of experienced public workers have either retired, fled or have been laid off because of them.
The past six weeks, though, have been another story for the guv'nor.
Despite his general popularity, the Republicans actually lost seats in the November legislative elections. Now Christie will need to rely even more heavily on the Democratic majority in the legislature and the Democratic power brokers in Essex and Camden Counties. Add in the disdain that Senate President Steven Sweeney has for Christie and you have a recipe for gridlock sprinkled with a tablespoon of revenge.
Then, the general consensus was that the lame duck legislative session was going to be one of the most active in years, with bills flying around State Street on teacher tenure and evaluation, property taxes, jobs, budget cuts and patronage. What's happened? Nada. Almost every issue was pushed to the formal session that begins in early January, and won't probably get any steam until the Governor's State of the State message in the middle of the month.
And in the spirit of the holidays, Christie picked a fight with Senator, and former Governor, Richard Codey over the permanent appointment of Commissioner of Education Christopher Cerf, accusing Codey of (gasp!) feeding information to reporters. Christie canceled Codey's security detail and fired Codey's cousin from the Port Authority board. That's politics through and through and shows that Christie will never be the warm, fuzzy leader he sometimes pretends to be.
But the true state of the Governor's clout was uncovered when New Jersey was actually awarded $38 million dollars in Race to the Top funds by the Obama Administration so it could implement a speculative teacher evaluation system based on student standardized test scores. Getting money should be a positive, but this award only dredged up the previous failure to even qualify for $400 million dollars in education funds because of the Governor's attitude towards the New Jersey Education Association. Not only did it cost the state money, it also cost Commissioner of Education Brett Schundler his job and showed that Christie would blame everyone but his leadership for the error. It's a pattern that he's repeated in every misstep since, and it's one reason why he would not make a good president.
He's ending the year by essentially becoming Mitt Romney's pit bull and possible vice-presidential running mate. Granted, he did only say that he would keep the door open, but that will only serve as a distraction in the coming year, as his flirtation with the presidency proved throughout the fall, because every time he doesn't get what he wants, the media will remind us all that he's got his eye on the national ticket. The Governor should just say no this time around and focus on the state.
It's still very possible that Christie will get some of his reforms through the legislature, but many in the state are tired of his outbursts and outlandish statements. Prosecutors like him are convinced that they are always right and that they have the ultimate truth on their side, so why compromise? We need to remember that the next time one runs for statewide office.
The spat between Governor Christie and State Senator Ron Rice caught the eye of the Star Ledger's Tom Moran today. The basic story is that Rice is holding up hearings on ACTING Education Commissioner Chris Cerf's appointment, so Christie is holding up on appointing judges and taking away Sen. Dick Codey's car in retaliation. Yes, you read that right.
I actually agree with much of what Moran writes until he steps once again into the reformy breach:
I know Senator Ray Lesniak has had problems with the Elizabeth Board of Education.
I know the Elizabeth schools have become a cesspool; witness the arrest of BOE President Marie Munn on charges of lying to get free school lunches for her children.
But still: what is Sen. Lesniak thinking in posting this bill?
1. a. No member or employee of a local board of education shall:
be a candidate for any elective public office, except that a member of a board of education may seek reelection to that office;
be a candidate for, or hold, any unpaid position or any employment with a political party, organization, or club;
make any contribution, as defined in section 3 of P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-3), except that a member may make a contribution to the member's own campaign for reelection;
participate in any way in any campaign for elective public office, other than the member's own campaign for reelection, or for any office of a political party, organization, or club;
display campaign material or signs on the member or employee's person, vehicle or property;
permit the member or employee's name to be used on campaign material, except that the campaign material of a member seeking reelection may display that member's name;
distribute, sell or purchase tickets to, or attend, any event sponsored by, or for the benefit of, any candidate for elective public office or political party office, or any political party, organization, or club; or
use the member or employee's official position to influence the political action of another person.
This is crazy. This bill would keep every employee of a school board - yes, that includes teachers, principals, custodians, support staff, and even bus drivers - from running for office or donating to a political campaign. Marie Corfield, a teacher who ran a great race for Assembly and who some say could win if she chooses to run again, could never have been a candidate and kept her teaching job.
It's clearly unconstitutional and doesn't have a chance in hell of surviving a court challenge. Still, it's a slap in the face of everyone who works in schools and chooses to participate in democracy.
Senator, the way to reign in abuses by school boards is to maintain strong worker protections - like tenure - and to continue to vigilantly pursue those who misuse their positions of power. It's not necessary to even entertain the idea of destroying the civil rights of educators, let alone actually post a bill that would do just that.
I'm a teacher; I'm not all that hip to the political machinations of Trenton. Maybe there's a reason to do this, but I can't think of one that's worth introducing a bill that is in clear violation of the civil rights of those of us who serve children.
There's a pissing contest going on right now between Governor Christie and NJ Senator Ron Rice. Christie wants a confirmation hearing for his ACTING Education Commissioner, Chris Cerf, but Rice is holding up the process. So Christie is holding up judicial nominations in Rice's county in retaliation; it's already affecting trials. And now former Governor and current Senator Dick Codey is being dragged into the battle.
What I fail to understand is why Christie is so hellbent on getting a hearing for Cerf. The ugly truth is that the ACTING Commissioner is likely to be asked some very pointed and embarrassing questions at a confirmation hearing. For example:
Camden is a city in trouble and many politicians from Governor Christie to Mayor Redd to Senator Norcross and Assemblymen Wilson and Fuentes are getting a lot of press coverage. No doubt, there are a lot of bad people who are taking advantage of the city's inbred poverty and the Governor's cutbacks in public safety and education to the detriment of the law-abiding and struggling residents of that city. But the silver lining is that there are also residents who are quietly working below the radar to incrementally improve the situation there.
One such citizen is José Delgado, a retired investigator for the public defender and former long-time member of the Camden Board of Education. I spoke with Delgado this afternoon about crime, education, and the hopes for Camden's future.
What do you think, Blue Jersey? - promoted by Rosi
At the forefront of education reform is how we can do a better job identifying and developing excellent teachers. This is of course rooted in the notion that since teacher quality is the greatest in-school determinant of student academic achievement, then in order to improve student learning we need to look at teacher practices within the classroom.
The stakes are high and we cannot be lured into settling on simplistic solutions to solve complex educational issues. Test scores using "value-added measures" (VAM) attempt to measure teacher quality with test scores by employing complex assumptions and statistical modeling to account for nonschool factors affecting student achievement.
While some research has been done using VAM to evaluate teacher effectiveness, there is significant disagreement over which statistical approach is best and to what extent any given one will produce accurate and unbiased measures of a teacher's impact on student achievement.
Why is our bombastic governor afraid of a Jewish grandmother? Maybe because what she says makes so much sense.
I spoke with Senator Loretta Weinberg in Trenton today about her encounter with the governor this morning, charter schools, and the cap on unused sick leave.
I interviewed Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri-Huttle in Trenton today. The interview is posted in two parts. In today's installment (below), she talks with Blue Jersey about her accomplishments with Anti-Bullying legislation, the status of legislation on women's health, education, and the Port of New York New Jersey Authority.
The second half of the interview will be posted tomorrow night. There Assemblywoman Vainieri-Huttle talks about the environment, education, affordable housing, marriage equality, and the political landscape in Trenton.
The Star-Ledger's Tom Moran apparently follows one rule when writing about education:
If the teachers union is for it, it must be bad.
I guess following this rule is easier than using research and logic and facts to form an opinion. Witness today's latest attack on the NJEA: an op-ed decrying tenure that deperately tries to transforms Perth Amboy Superintendent Janine Caffrey into a folk hero.
It's worth noting that Moran saw fit to give Caffrey a big patch of the op-ed section last week to whine about how hard tenure makes her job. I tried to set her and Tom straight, but it looks like it didn't take. So let's go again:
Caffrey says tenure keeps her from dismissing teachers who are undeniably awful. But even Moran has to acknowledge that she herself is a huge part of the problem:
To be fair, districts share some of the blame as well. Tenure rules might be crazy, but it is possible to get rid of the worst teachers if the district builds a solid case with a paper trail. In the case of the refusenik teacher, Perth Amboy failed to do that. The teacher had won satisfactory evaluations in the past, as nearly all teachers do.
Let me get this straight: Caffrey couldn't get her administrators to do their jobs and document how bad this teacher was. And it may well be that this teacher was being defiant because he or she is incompetent, it is also possible the teacher is standing up to Caffrey, her principal, and even her colleagues on a matter of principle.
But because Caffrey is - according to Moran - unable to work with her administrators to build what should be an obvious case, we'll never know. So this "bad" teacher stays.
Supporters of a bill to give scholarships to tens of thousands of students in failing public schools to attend private and parochial schools rallied on the Statehouse steps today, urging legislators to take action.
Most of the 2,500 demonstrators were parochial school students participating in what organizers called a "field trip" and a "lesson in civil rights." The mostly teenaged students wore bright blue scarves emblazoned with an image of a life preserver.
With time running out in the state legislative session, some 500 school-choice advocates - mostly Catholic school children - rallied in front of the Statehouse on Thursday to push for a bill that would begin a test school voucher program.
Uh...
Well, at least they agreed most of the demonstrators were little "drug mules."
