The Cerf/Baraka letter to Christie: Surrender, deceit, and betrayal
Cerf, left, and Baraka appear with Donald Katz, a trustee of Uncommon Schools, a charter chain, at a recent public appearance (From NJSpotlight)
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, elected with strong union backing less than two years ago on a platform of favoring the needs of public schools over charters, put his name to an extraordinary letter to Gov. Chris Christie co-authored by state-appointed superintendent Christopher Cerf that promises “aggressive budget reductions” for the public schools, expansion of charters, tough negotiations with school employee unions and a willingness to accept reductions in state aid in the future.
The letter, which praises Christie and adopts a narrative crediting his regime with improvements in the schools and reductions in a “bloated” bureaucracy, also bears the endorsement of every pro-charter organization active in Newark–including that of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), headed by Shavar Jeffries, a pro-charter lawyer who lost to Baraka in the 2014 election. It also is signed by Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a Democrat and Jeffries backer, who betrayed his party’s nominee for governor in 2013, Barbara Buono, and supported the Republican Christie.
It also bears the signatures of a few legislators–but not that of state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), the chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Public The Cerf/Baraka letter to Christie: Surrender, deceit, and betrayal |:
