The meltdown in New Jersey over its 11th-place showing in the Race to the Top competition ? one place out of the money ? can not be good for education reform.
As Jamie Davies O'Leary reported here last January the state's new Commissioner of Education, ?Bret Schundler, is ?a supporter of charter schools, differentiated teacher pay, and tax credits to fund scholarships for K-12 private schools, reforms that the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) is sure to continue fighting tooth and nail.?
Unfortunately, it wasn't the NJEA who did in Schundler.
As the New York Times had it, the Garden State's Education Commissioner? fibbed to governor Chris Christie about what happened in the state's recent presentation to the RTT reviewers. Schundler told his boss that it was a simple clerical error; the videotape of the session seems to suggest incompetence.? (See the video released by the U.S. Department of Education which supposedly catches Schundler in the act, at the Wall Street Journal site or at the Trenton Daily Record.)
It will take days to unravel the details of the spat ? I like the fact that Schundler says he asked to be fired so he could collect unemployment benefits! (here's the Asbury Park Press' take) ? but the big question will be quo vadis Novo Jersey scolaris?
As Andy Rotherham says, ?given how Governor Christie has treated Schundler throughout this process good luck finding someone strong for that position.?? And, given that Schundler was a favorite of the school choice crowd, what's the fallout there??
So far, more questions than answers.
?Peter Meyer
