U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has announced that New Jersey is one of 19 finalists for a Phase II federal “Race to the Top” grant.
If New Jersey wins a grant – and there could be funding for up to 12 winners – it would bring an estimated $400 million in funding to the state over the next four years.
New Jersey was not among the 16 Phase I finalists, which produced two winners – Delaware and Tennessee.
Gov. Chris Christie immediately issued the following statement: “President Obama and Secretary Duncan today recognized our administration's plan for bold reform of our state's education system. This announcement affirms our decision to stick with real reform and not capitulate to the watered-down, failed status quo approach advocated by the NJEA. Now is the time for New Jersey's leaders to join me to begin enactment of the pillars of real education reform contained within our Race to the Top application - more charter school opportunities for students, more choice for parents and fidelity to placing student success ahead of union self interest.”
“This is yet another slap in the face from the governor,” said NJEA President Barbara Keshishian, “but we’ve come to expect that. He traffics in bumper stickers, but real education policy is more complicated than that. His obsession with attacking NJEA and its members is a tired act, and it really needs to end. His $1.4 billion in cuts are doing real damage to children and education, and yet he again tries to divert people’s attention from those cuts by attacking NJEA.”
Throughout April and May, a team of NJEA staff from several divisions worked closely with state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler in an effort to develop a winning application in Phase II. They combed through mountains of research, and on May 28, reached agreement with Schundler on an application that NJEA felt was research-based, educationally sound, and highly creative in areas like merit pay.
On June 1 – the deadline for the application – Gov. Chris Christie rejected the NJEA/Schundler application, and submitted his own. More than 400 NJEA local affiliates, who had signed onto that original application, withdrew their support.
If New Jersey does end up winning a grant, the infusion of resources may help in some small way to offset the deep cuts in school aid enacted by Governor Christie and the Legislature. Those cuts, however, now total over $1.4 billion – or 14 times the amount of annual funding that the grant would bring.
“If New Jersey receives a grant, NJEA will seek to work cooperatively with the Department of Education to implement effective education reforms which will keep New Jersey public schools among the very best in the nation,” Keshishian said