Friday, June 22, 2012

Jersey Jazzman: NJ Tenure Update

Jersey Jazzman: NJ Tenure Update:


NJ Tenure Update

For my national readers: tenure in New Jersey is largely a parochial issue, but it does have national implications. Chris Christie is a darling of the Republican party and has been put on the short list for Romney's VP candidates for some time (although it will be considerably harder for him to stay there after this). The majority of Christie's schtick has been his war with the teachers unions; specifically, the NJEA. He has very specifically cited tenure "reform" as one of his signature issues.

So it's not far-fetched to say that Christie's battle against tenure has been a proxy for the national battle against teacher workplace protections (in fairness, that's a battle being waged against teachers and their unions by both political parties). Furhter: NJEA is one of the strongest teacher unions in the country, and New Jersey is