NJ Education Report

Check out my new post at WHYY’s Newsworks, which deals with the politics of tenure reform, particularly the recent hedging of the NJ Senate Education Committee over the LIFO (“last in, first out”) seniority provision after intense opposition by NJEA.

Indeed, at that Senate Education Committee hearing three weeks ago, Sen. Ruiz announced – to the shock of reform advocates in the room – a spanking-new emendation to the bill which would eliminate LIFO only for newly-hired staff members. Everyone else? Old rules apply.

The decision to gut the bill so that LIFO is eliminated only for new hires is like that scene from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” where the Thuggee cult leader rips the beating heart out of a sacrificial victim. All that’s left is a dead body.

Politics demands compromise. But when does a concession become an evisceration?