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‘Christie overrules Schundler on education grant’
‘Gov. Christie says plan Schundler reached with NJEA caved to teachers union’
‘Key points agreed on by NJEA are changed in new 'Race to the Top' application’
‘Christie overrules Schundler
on education grant’
Editorial - ‘In 'Race to the Top,' a false start by Education Commissioner Bret Schundler’
Editorial - ‘Asbury Park Press Editorial ‘No style points for governor’
Column - ‘Gov. Chris Christie's put-down of Schundler further erodes autonomy of education commissioner’
‘In 'Race to the Top,' a false start by Education Comissioner Bret Schundler’ By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
June 03, 2010, 5:45AM
Love him or hate him, you have to give Gov. Chris Christie this much: He is clear about what he wants.
And that makes it all the more baffling that his own education commissioner, Bret Schundler, could strike a compromise with the state teachers union that did such violence to the core principles the governor had set down on education reform.
Schundler, it turns out, was acting on his own without consulting the governor or his senior staff on the content of the compromises. He went rogue.
So it’s no surprise the governor smacked him down, in private and public, and rejected the compromise. The mystery is why
Schundler strayed so far from the governor in the first place, and how the governor allowed such a sloppy mistake to occur.
The dispute centers on the federal Race to the Top initiative, in which states compete for federal money by offering plans to reform their schools. New Jersey is eligible to win up to $400 million, a sum that would help enormously during these tough times.
To guide the states, President Obama spelled out a scoring system that gave points to those willing to embrace bold reforms. Among them are merit pay for teachers, tenure reform, linking teacher evaluation to student performance and encouraging innovative charter schools.
So far, so good. Both the governor and Schundler are big believers in these reforms.
The trouble began when Schundler agreed to dilute the reforms to win support from the union. His instincts were understandable. States win points if they can show broad support for reform.
But the New Jersey Education Association is a sclerotic old-school group that is opposed to most of these reforms. To win its support, Schundler had to give away too much. He agreed that layoffs would be determined by seniority, not by merit. And he agreed to water down the merit pay provisions to the point where they were meaningless.
This embarrassment undercuts Schundler’s credibility. But he is a talented and energetic commissioner whose integrity has never been questioned. If he can regain the governor’s trust, he can still be an effective commissioner.
As for the governor, a word of caution: If Washington is looking to reward states that have worked to form a consensus on education reform, his unceasing hostility to teachers can’t help.
He can stick to his principles on the substance of these reforms without picking fights every chance he gets. Then, perhaps, Schundler wouldn’t feel such a pressing need to mend fences.
‘Asbury Park Press Editorial ‘No style points for governor’
If Gov. Chris Christie wants to call his abrasive, king-of-the-sandbox posturing a "style," that's fine. Not everybody is a "you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar" sort of person.
But when that "style" starts to affect the ability of the state to get things done, it may be time to re-examine its effectiveness.
Christie's public rebuke of his hand-picked commissioner of education, Brett Schundler, in front of the press Tuesday was troubling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is what appeared to be a profound lack of communication between the governor and Schundler.
Either Christie did not tell Schundler what was off the table as he sent him into the lion's den of the New Jersey Education Association to discuss the terms of the state's application for a share of the federal Race to the Top education grant, or Schundler went rogue in negotiating a compromise. Either way, it doesn't speak well of the governor's leadership.
On Thursday, Schundler and the NJEA appeared to reach an agreement under which the teacher's union would sign off on the state's application. Union buy-in isn't essential to receiving a federal grant of up to $400 million, but it helps. Christie was having none of it: "Some of the recommendations Commissioner Schundler made I have rejected," Christie said. "I told him to go back and rework it, to go back to the original plan . . . so the application is not submitted in a form the teacher's union wants, it's submitted in the form the governor wants."
Just in case anyone missed his point, he put it more bluntly: "This is my administration, I'm responsible for it, and I make the decisions."
Under the compromise agreement Schundler hammered out, the union had opposed individual merit pay, as Schundler had wanted, and instead offered a pilot program for school incentive grants. Schools that demonstrated exceptional educational growth among low-performing students would receive the reward money. Half of the funds would then be used for a schoolwide program and half of the money would be dispersed at the discretion of faculty, which could include sharing a bonus.
Merit pay, Christie declared, should go directly to teachers who performed well and not to entire school staffs. And if school districts have layoffs, they should be determined by job performance, not seniority. Schundler had agreed that seniority had a place in determining layoffs.
Christie, who has battled with the NJEA for months, made clear Tuesday he wants dramatic education reforms and is not interested in a compromise with a union that opposed his election and has publicly denounced him.
This mess should never have gotten as far as it did. It's one thing to burn bridges with the teacher's union. It's quite another to publicly upbraid a cabinet member.
The governor knows exactly what he wants. But he apparently needs to do a better job of communicating that to his cabinet. And he should reassess whether his "style" is working against his ability to achieve his goals.
‘Gov. Christie says plan Schundler reached with NJEA caved to teachers union’ By Star-Ledger Staff June 02, 2010, 9:30PM
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie continued to publicly criticize his own education commissioner today, ignoring the teachers’ union’s claim that he is undermining the credibility of one of the state’s most important officers.
The governor also renewed his attacks on New Jersey Education Association, and said he doesn’t believe his rejection of an agreement worked out by Commissioner Bret Schundler and the union will endanger the state’s application for up to $400 million in federal school funding.
“I made the choice to be bold,” Christie said, “not only because I want it to be successful but it’s because that’s what I agree with.”
But Christie said the deal Schundler worked out with the teachers last Thursday was one-way in favor of the NJEA. “That’s why I rejected it.”
Christie made his comments a day after publicly scolding Schundler for agreeing to compromises on teacher tenure and merit pay - which were to be part of the application for $400,000 in Race to the Top funding from the Obama administration.
Previous coverage:
• Proposed N.J. bill requires savings from wage freezes to be used to prevent teacher layoffs
• N.J. school districts provide resources for thousands of teachers facing layoffs
• Bob Braun: Gov. Chris Christie's put-down of Schundler further erodes autonomy of education commissioner
• Gov. Christie says N.J. education chief made mistake with Race to the Top compromise
• Key points agreed by NJEA are changed in new 'Race to the Top' application
• N.J. teachers union joins Christie administration in 'Race to the Top' application
• Complete coverage of the 2010 New Jersey State Budget
During an exclusive interview, Christie said Schundler was never empowered to negotiate away key provisions of the governor’s education agenda and any impression to the contrary was wrong. The governor said the deal Schundler reached with the union did nothing but cave in to the NJEA and gut his plan for improving state schools. Christie said he heard Thursday night that an accord had been reached but knew no details.
“I did not hear any of the specifics of what Bret suggested we agree to until Friday morning. I called him and told him that was unacceptable to me,” the governor said.
Asked whether he had any intention of firing Schundler, the governor said he did not.
“There’s nothing subtle about me, okay,” Chrstie said. “So if I wanted to ask Bret Schundler for his resignation, I would have. I didn’t. We had a very candid talk (Tuesday) about the entire situation. I think Bret and I have an understanding on how communication has to happen from here. I don’t expect we’ll have a problem again. I want him to stay.”
The disagreement between Christie and Schundler sets the stage for today’s action in Trenton. Schundler is scheduled to go before the Senate Education Committee and is planning to answer reporters’ questions on the application. He has declined to comment on the funding application since Tuesday.
NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer said Schundler “has certainly been damaged by this. He was sent in to negotiate and he reached an agreement, and the rug was pulled out from under him.”
Wollmer said the NJEA is stunned at what has gone on the last two days. “In the first phase, we were blamed because we didn’t sign on...Now he’s saying they don’t need our support. Their tune changes faster than the weather. They can’t come back and blame us for not signing on, we did sign on. They took our names off of it.”
At issue is the second round of funding available through President Obama’s competitive grant program, designed to reward states for aggressive and new approaches to improving schools. New Jersey filed a first-round application in January, but failed, while Delaware received $100 million and Tennessee got $500 million. Up to 15 states are likely to win funding out 36 that applied.
The state hand-delivered its application Tuesday.
Christie has been battling the NJEA since last year’s nasty gubernatorial campaign when the union backed Gov. Jon Corzine aggressively. So when news of a deal was announced last week it was welcomed as a sign that peace had been reached between the two sides.
Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a Washington think tank, said the political scuffle in Trenton probably would have no effect on New Jersey’s application but losing the NJEA’s endorsement could.
"It’s not as if they’re going to deduct 10 points because the governor had a nasty clash with the union," Jennings said. "It’s all a matter of how many points you gain for each element of the application. By not agreeing with the teachers union, the state is losing points. Then again, its comparative. You have to know what’s in all 36 applications (from other competing states)."
By Josh Margolin /Statehouse Bureau and Jeanette Rundquist/Star-Ledger
‘Key points agreed on by NJEA are changed in new 'Race to the Top' application’ By Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger June 01, 2010, 4:06PM
TRENTON — The Christie Administration today submitted its new application for up to $400 million in federal funding for education reform, under the Race to the Top program, promising a "bold reform agenda" — but changing some key points agreed to last week by the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union.
In a press release issued by the governor's office today, that described the application as one "focused on the belief that student performance begins and ends in the classroom," some of those items are changed.
Senate Democratic leaders today said the governor made an "about-face" on the application that could jeopardize New Jersey's chances.
The teachers' union had also objected to a proposal for individual merit pay, which entailed a "bonus pool" of money the state would split between teachers or teacher teams, and their schools.
The NJEA and DOE agreed to a plan in which half of the money awarded by the state as teacher bonuses would be used for school wide programs, and a school's staff would decide how to award the rest.
The release issued today says New Jersey "will design, evaluate and implement merit pay programs that pay individual teachers based on student achievement."
The NJEA last week signed onto the proposal after it was agreed that student achievement would account for 50 percent of a teachers' evaluation — not 51 percent, as Education Commissioner Bret Schundler originally proposed.
The latest release says only that "teacher evaluations based on student achievement" will be used as the basis for decisions to grant tenure, promote and develop teachers.
NJEA President Barbara Keshishian said she was disappointed and outraged by the state's move.
“Gov. Christie’s decision to pull the plug on last Thursday’s agreed-upon ‘Race To The Top’ application will greatly jeopardize New Jersey’s chances of getting $400 million in federal education funding over the next four years,” Keshishian said. “This is a classic case of ‘bait and switch.’
Keshishian also said that they heard about the changes in the application after union officials spoke to Schundler.
‘Christie overrules Schundler
on education grant’ By JASON METHOD • Gannett New Jersey • June 2, 2010
EWING — Gov. Chris Christie announced Tuesday he
had overruled his education commissioner and
ordered changes to the state's application for a
federal grant, breaking what had appeared to be a
rare agreement with the state's largest teachers
union.
Christie, who has battled with the New Jersey
Education Association for months, made clear he
wants dramatic education reforms and is not i
nterested in compromise with a union that opposed
his election and has publicly denounced him.
The changes to the state's Race to the Top
application, which could provide up to $400 million
in new federal money, will give New Jersey a better
chance of winning, Christie said.
Merit pay, for example, should go directly to
individual teachers who performed well and not to
entire school staffs, as suggested by the union,
Christie said.
Likewise, Christie said, if school districts lay off
employees, teachers should be laid off based on job
performance and not receive protections because of
seniority.
"In what other place does it happen where how long
you're in your job is determinative of whether you
keep your job instead of how well you're doing your
job?" Christie said. "If (the NJEA is) not going to sign
on to that, I don't want their support."
The Race to the Top process scores applications
higher if they have teacher union support, but such
an endorsement is not required.
Christie was quickly attacked by the NJEA and
Democratic lawmakers, who said the governor
would rather fight than find common ground.
"Gov. Christie is insisting on an application that
seeks to replace collaboration between teachers with
competition for inadequate bonuses; an application
that seeks to threaten teachers' jobs rather than give
them the confidence to take on new challenges,"
NJEA President Barbara Keshishian said in a
statement.
"The governor has once again chosen the path of
conflict," Keshishian added.
State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-
Gloucester, said Christie was caving in to
conservative critics.
"This application was crafted in good faith among
everyone involved, and now that unity's been blown
up because some talking heads disagreed," Sweeney
said.
Schundler's compromise with the NJEA was
announced by the union last Thursday and seemed
to signal a quick thawing of relations.
Just the weekend before, the NJEA was a lead
organizer for a protest rally that drew 35,000 state
and local union members to Trenton, perhaps the
largest in the state's history.
Keshishian was a key speaker, and she challenged
Christie from the stage.
In making the application changes, Christie trumped
a commissioner that some Democrats and advocates
had feared was too much of a political conservative.
Schundler had run unsuccessfully for governor in
2001 and 2005.
Christie talked about the grant application changes
in a news conference to promote a new business
growth program. He said he had not been informed
about the compromise until Friday and said he and
Schundler had held "a long talk."
"Some of the recommendations Commissioner
Schundler made I have rejected," Christie said. "I
told him to go back and rework it, to go back to the
original plan . . . so the application is not submitted
in a form the teachers union wants, it's submitted in
the form the governor wants."
Christie said he was willing to take
recommendations from members of his Cabinet, but
he added: "This is my administration. I'm
responsible for it, and I make the decisions."
The announcement came on the same day that a
Fairleigh Dickinson University poll was released
showing that one-third of voters have a favorable
view of the NJEA, while 44 percent rate it
unfavorably.
Reach Jason Method at jmethod@app.com
‘Gov. Chris Christie's put-down of Schundler further erodes autonomy of education commissioner’By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist
June 03, 2010, 5:30AM
Bret Schundler thought he was bringing his educational ideas to the Christie Administration. That might be true, but it’s now obvious he left something behind when he became the state’s education commissioner. His independence of action.
Schundler recently praised the new governor’s "courage" for hiring a non-educator with unorthodox plans to lead New Jersey schools, but the commissioner has now learned the truth about his position: He is a subordinate, not a leader. He can have all the ideas he wants, including getting along with the state’s largest teachers’ union, but—unless Chris Christie agrees—he has to keep those ideas to himself.
Previous coverage:
• Gov. Christie says N.J. education chief made mistake with Race to the Top compromise
• Key points agreed on by NJEA are changed in new 'Race to the Top' application
• N.J. teachers union backs 'Race to the Top' application
• Bob Braun: N.J. schools chief Bret Schundler asks tighter hold on publics than privates
The governor’s put-down Tuesday of the former Jersey City mayor and gubernatorial wannabe had all the grace of a pub brawl, but it’s the logical next step in the slow erosion of the independence of educational policy-making in New Jersey. "The administration is the administration and it’s run by the governor," said former Gov. Jim Florio. "Policy is not set by the members of the governor’s cabinet."
Florio has a special reason to know. In 1990, he signed the bill that stripped what had once been an independent education chief’s job of its autonomy. In fact, the commissioner was really answerable to no one except the state school board and only then on policy issues. The commissioner could not be fired and enjoyed a term of five years — one year longer than a governor’s term.
"I still think it’s a good idea," said Florio, a Democrat who quickly added that didn’t mean he agreed with the way Christie handled the flap with Schundler.
Shortly after signing the bill, Florio forced the resignation of the last commissioner to hold an independent five-year term, Saul Cooperman, originally appointed by Gov. Tom Kean. Kean, by the way, supported making the commissioner’s post a political appointment, what it is now.
"Clearly, a commissioner’s ideas should be compatible with that of the governor," said Cooperman, "but he also should have some independence."
Cooperman saw his job like this: He told Kean what he wanted to do as commissioner before he took the job , Kean signed on and gave his commissioner the freedom of action to get it done. They did disagree—over regionalization, for example, and bonuses based on teacher performance. Cooperman wanted to regionalize so all districts included high schools, Kean didn’t—and the governor won that one. Kean wanted bonuses, Cooperman didn’t — and the commissioner won that one.
"The answer, really, was to resign if I disagreed on a matter of principle, It never got that far," said Cooperman.
"It’s hard to realize now just how independent of state politics public education was, and not that long ago," said Anne Dillman of Perth Amboy, who served on the state school board for 30 years.
The state school board — its members appointed to six year terms by the governor-- set educational policy; the commissioner served as its secretary, executing its policies. The board also approved the commissioner’s appointments of top assistants.
In 1973, then Gov. William Cahill gave board members an expanded power—he allowed them to find a new commissioner to replace Carl Marburger whose nomination to a second term was blocked by the state Senate. The board was about to propose a selection when Cahill was defeated in the Republican primary that year and left the position open.
Cahill’s successor, Gov. Brendan Byrne, fought frequently and openly with the board, arguments that peaked when the panel tried to block Byrne’s renomination of Fred Burke to a second term as commissioner. The board failed and, since that time, has gradually lost power and influence.
"You almost never hear of the board anymore—it’s the commissioner doing what the governor tells him or her to do,’’ said Dillman. "There’s no citizen input left in the development of educational policy."
