OP-ED: EDUCATION POLICY WITHOUT A PLAN IS ASKING FOR PROBLEMS
Without a cohesive policy there's no way to determine which initiatives make the most sense for New Jersey's students
- Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (Essex and Morris).
On Monday, January 13, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill to evaluate the benefits of full-day kindergarten. The next day on Tuesday, January 14, Christie proposed longer school days and a longer school calendar year. These back-to-back decisions illuminate the current schizophrenic nature of education policy in New Jersey. Which reform will it be tomorrow? We don’t know because we lack a cohesive education policy.
New Jersey deserves a cohesive education policy. But when asked about the governor’s new proposal for longer days or a longer school year DOE Commissioner Cerf could only provide this insight, “It is literally under design,” Cerf said of the broader plans. “Ideas are being generated, and thoughts drawn out. We’re balancing a number of considerations.” Uh-huh.
The creation of a debate about what’s more important, full-day kindergarten vs. longer school days vs. after-school programs is set up to follow the already charged discussion about traditional public schools vs. public charter schools. None of the preceding choices excludes any of the others. Without an integrated education policy, there is no clear path to choose which options make most sense for New