Local Reaction to Gov.'s Rejection of NJEA Race to the Top Endorsement

On Thursday, May 27, New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler announced that he had worked out a deal with the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) to have the largest teachers' union in the state sign on for the state's application for the federal Race to the Top program.

The program could provide up to $400 million in school aid to New Jersey. The South Orange Maplewood School District this spring suffered more than $5 million in cuts to state aid and will eliminate 23 full-time teaching positions and 76 in-classroom aides (with plans to outsource those aide jobs at lower cost) in order to deal with the shortfall.

On Tuesday, June 1, Gov. Chris Christie announced that he was rejecting Schundler's deal with the NJEA because it "caved" to demands of the NJEA concerning issues of teacher tenure and merit pay. The governor said he would be submitting the application to the federal government without the NJEA's endorsement or those compromises.

Patch sent out some requests for local reaction from education leaders in our towns. Thus far, we have heard back from South Orange Maplewood Board of Education President Mark Gleason:

"On behalf of the Board of Education, my only reaction is disappointment that the state's application no longer has union support, which likely dooms its chance of winning incremental federal funding.

"Personally, I support aligning teacher compensation and retention policies to performance rather than seniority. In times of such dire budget stress, it's more important than ever that hard-earned taxpayer dollars be channeled toward teachers who are effective at stimulating student learning—regardless of how long they have been teaching. Not having seen the precise language of the Schundler-NJEA 'deal,' it's impossible for me to judge whether it compromised too much, as the governor asserts."

And this reaction from Jefferson School fifth-grade teacher Suzanne Urban Ryan, who is active with SOMEA, the local teachers' union:

"I am very saddened by Gov. Christie's actions with regard to working with NJEA officials. I truly believe that the only way we will make progress is to work collaboratively with all those who have a stake in public education. I was very proud of NJEA officials in their willingness to work to find some common ground with [NJ Education Commissioner Bret] Schundler. I was proud that they had come to a consensus. That is how the best compromises or solutions occur—when both parties work towards consensus; with both sides giving up something they want to hold on to; yet both sides feeling, that in the end, they win something. When Gov. Christie chastised Schundler and responded in such a tyrannical, immature manner, it showed that Gov. Christie does not want to work with the teachers in the state. He would rather go it alone, even without Schundler, than work in a collaborative, constructive way. That, to me, is the saddest part of the story. We do not have a governor who is working for the people in our state and he is certainly working against what NJEA is attempting to build, not to mention what NJEA is trying to preserve—our public schools that ARE working on our state. Our public schools statewide are the best in the nation.

"In the end, it comes down to this: The New Jersey Education Association went to the table in good faith to negotiate a solution to the problems and concerns that Race to the Top funding brought forth. When Schundler, acting on behalf of the Government of New Jersey, came up with an agreement/compromise with NJEA, that agreement/compromise should have been honored. The final question we all should be asking is, how can the teachers through NJEA expect to work with a governor who does not respect his own negotiator in the person of Schundler? When Christie vociferously chastised Schundler, it was clear that everyone in New Jersey loses. Sadly, we have a governor who does not respect the tenets of collective bargaining which is based upon the collaborative process. Gov. Christie should realize that respect is the foundation upon which all great organizations thrive. It is clear that Christie does not respect even his own Commissioner of Education, so how could I hope that he would ever, ever respect what I do everyday as a teacher?"