Governor Christie pats himself on the back
by Linda Duke
Governor Christie's State of the State address was replete with platitudes about his accomplishments in "bringing New Jersey back." But actually, what has he accomplished?
He is proud of his balanced budgets for the last two years; however, your property taxes have continued to rise and your services (especially to local education) have declined. Your pension is secure (for the moment), but what about all present and future educators who will be short-changed? Your health benefits are secure (for the moment), but all present and future civil servants will contribute more and more for theirs.
Governor Christie continues to call for tenure reform but as of yet, he has not presented a concrete, objective method of determining the viability of "good or bad" teachers. We have all worked alongside professionals of both kinds and all believe our students deserve the best education possible, but who can best determine the qualities of a "good" teacher? Surely it is not the Governor in his office in Trenton!
In his State of the State speech, Governor Christie also called for increased pay for teachers who work in "difficult" districts or who teach "difficult" courses? He did not, however, provide any specifics to define "difficult." As a teacher of AP US History, there were days when I considered the preparation and teaching of that course as "difficult" and much more time consuming than teaching an honors course in world history. We have all taught "difficult" classes which had nothing to do with the curriculum and everything to do with the mix of students we faced each day. Would we get extra "combat" pay for these "difficult" classes?
It is high time our governor stopped patting himself on the back and consulted with the educational professionals who know best what is happening in the trenches of education. If teachers and administrators worked together, without Big Brother Governor Christie telling them what to do, they just might be able to make some real progress.
Posted 2/9/12 by lad