THERE IS a two-front war being fought by Governor Christie and the New Jersey Education Association, the 200,000-member-strong teachers union that has long held the title of the state’s most formidable lobby. On one front: politics. On the other: policy.
We have supported the governor’s political goal of knocking the wind out of the deep-pockets NJEA. It is in step with a national agenda to improve education and question some of the assumptions that the NJEA holds dear, such as the benefit of tenure and the difficulty of holding teacher performance up to standard measure. A year ago in New Jersey, it would have been difficult to discuss these issues publicly, since anyone doing so would risk the union’s ire.
But we remain critical of the governor’s battle strategy. He has tarred and