It’s a longshot in his seventh year in office, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is again taking aim at the utter failure of the state’s efforts at educational equality.
Christie on Thursday asked the state Supreme Court to give him the power to set aside tenure and teacher contracts in low-achieving urban districts. It’s vital, he argued, to fulfill the promise of Abbott v. Burke.
In that 1985 case, the state’s top court ruled that Jersey must give urban schools enough aid to offer a “thorough and efficient” education to every child. Yet the state’s 31 “Abbot districts” have since received nearly $100 billion — without improving much.
What’s needed, the gov argues, isn’t just cash but fundamental change.
He tried to do it back in 2011 but wound up signing major legislation that merely continued full Abbott funding. Now he’s asking the court to set that law aside, too, as part of his bid to reopen the entire Abbot system.
Still, he’s right: It is “criminal” to continue tossing money at dysfunctional school systems after 26 years of failure.
The kids of Newark, Camden and other cities deserve schools that provide real opportunity, rather than ones that merely pay teachers and administrators well.
After a quarter-century of well-funded failure, the whole system needs radical medicine. And Christie’s targeted two of the top problems.
Doing away with tenure protections will allow the quick removal of ineffective teachers from classrooms. (Effective, motivated teachers will have nothing to fear.)
And innovative teaching methods, a longer school day and other improvements will be easier to implement once the state education chief is calling the shots, instead of a collective-bargaining agreement.
If the court refuses Christie’s request, it ought to at least explain how it ever hopes to produce results for New Jersey’s underprivileged kids.