NJ Education Report

First, a contest: who can name the next Commissioner of Education? Post your thoughts, please. The only clues we have is that Christie vowed during the campaign that his pick would strongly advocate for charter schools. We also know that he favors vouchers in “failing, urban school districts,” seems at peace with the School Funding Reform Act, and has alienated NJEA. Any ideas?

Next, read this great piece from Patrick Riccards at Eduflack on the impact on public education with a new governor. For instance, what will happen to Race To The Top applications, well underway and due in early January? The DOE, writes Riccards, has “carefully negotiated the support of the governor’s office, the chief state school officer, the state board of education, and the teachers’ unions to put as unified a plan forward as humanly possible. So what happens when the governorship changes party, and thus shifts priority?”

It’s true: N.J.’s RTTT application will be written by an administration with a different education agenda than the administration that will implement any proposed reforms. Riccards continues,

What’s left to be seen is how the rhetoric of the last year will translate into the policies of 2010, and whether either wants to start one of their first fights on the topic of education and the spending of federal ed dollars. If they do, charters are likely to be the first battlefield, with teacher incentives (and a showdown with the teachers’ unions who fought so hard to defeat them this fall) coming quickly on its heels. Let the fireworks begin!

How bold will Christie be? Can he see his way clear to piloting meaningful school choice in Abbott districts? Will he experiment with county-wide preschools? Merit pay? Can we assume that he won’t sign some of more outlandish bills coming out of the Legislature, like 4142, which gives arbitration rights to non-tenured teachers or 3317, which bars school board from hiring non-union electricians?

We need bold. Let’s hope Christie delivers.