In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Christie proclaimed that “the time to end tenure is now.” Legislation introduced by Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth) seeks to implement that and other destructive aspects of the Christie education agenda, to the detriment of schools, students and educators.
The bill keeps the word tenure but redefining it so radically that it would no longer provide any meaningful protection against unfair, unreasonable or politically motivated firings of experienced teachers.
It also seeks to undermine collective bargaining by outlawing existing salary guides and imposing an unproven and subjective merit pay scheme in every district.
Additionally, the proposed legislation invites further political manipulation of school staffing by eliminating teachers’ seniority rights, making veteran educators vulnerable to politically and economically motivated firings.
Finally, the Christie/Kyrillos plan seeks to invest unprecedented power in the Commissioner of Education by allowing him to unilaterally impose a new evaluation system, without input from the State Board of Education, for up to a year. The proposed system would give excessive weight to unreliable standardized test scores, and which would require a massive, expensive expansion of standardized testing at every grade level and in every subject area. Read more