Jersey Jazzman: Cerf's Problems #2: NJ's Education Autocracy

Jersey Jazzman: Cerf's Problems #2: NJ's Education Autocracy:

Cerf's Problems #2: NJ's Education Autocracy

by Duke

Once again, I see three problems with ACTING NJ Education Commissioner Cerf:

1. He plays fast and loose with standards of ethics and transparency.
2. He has accrued too much power to himself.
3. He misrepresents research, data, and facts to push his policies.

Let's look at #2 now. Where should the control of schools lie? With elected school boards and the elected Legislature? Or with an unelected bureaucrat and his staff in the Department of Education? Chris Cerf clearly believes it's the latter, and he has reorganized the structure and function of the NJDOE so it can take away as much power as possible from local districts and concentrate it in his office.

Let's go back to a column written by Joan Whitlow that I think summarizes the problem well:

For months, Newark parents, teachers and students have been attending meetings