TRENTON — In a rare accord between two warring factions, the state’s largest teachers union has joined Gov. Chris Christie’s administration in supporting an application for a federal grant that could bring up to $400 million to New Jersey’s public schools. The New Jersey Education Association refused to endorse the state’s first Race to the Top application, but relented...
Somerville schools Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Leary, on left, welcomes Gov. Chris Christie and State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler during a visit to talk about education at Van Derveer Elementary School in Somerville in this March 2010 file photo. NJEA officials today announced their support of the application for the federally funded Race to the Top grant.
TRENTON — In a rare accord between two warring factions, the state’s largest teachers union has joined Gov. Chris Christie’s administration in supporting an application for a federal grant that could bring up to $400 million to New Jersey’s public schools.
The New Jersey Education Association refused to endorse the state’s first Race to the Top application, but relented after both sides compromised on what had been the biggest sticking points — merit pay, teacher seniority, evaluations and tenure.
"We are extremely pleased that the 200,000-member NJEA has agreed to endorse our application and its bold reform agenda designed to improve education in New Jersey," Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said in a statement.
Administration officials would not say whether the agreements reached for this application represented a long-term policy shift from goals Christie has been pushing since he took office in January.
Race to the Top is an initiative by the Obama administration which rewards states for school improvement plans. Chances of winning federal grant money increase with broader support. In March, Delaware and Tennessee were awarded $600 million.
According to the state’s latest application, student achievement will account for 50 percent — not 51 percent, as originally proposed — of a teacher’s evaluation and include not just test scores, but other measures of learning such as portfolios of students’ work, NJEA spokeswoman Dawn Hiltner said.
The original application included a "bonus pool" of money from the state for strong teachers. The funds would be split between teachers or teacher teams and their schools.
The new application proposes a merit pay pilot program that districts could opt to join. Instead of individual merit pay for teachers, half the money awarded by the state as bonuses would be used for schoolwide programs, such as technology upgrades or teacher training, Hiltner said.
A school’s staff would decide how to award the rest of the money. It could go to individual teachers, or divided among the entire staff, or used for a school program, Hiltner said.
"Our feeling on merit pay is, teaching is a collaborative effort," Hiltner said. "This helps people in schools work together, instead of pitting teachers against each other because they are vying for a bonus."
A second merit pay initiative, which awards bonuses to effective teachers who work in high-needs districts, remains in the state’s proposal, Hiltner said.
"We’re willing to see how it works," she said.
The Department of Education originally proposed extending the time to achieve tenure to five years, or three years of "effective" teaching. The proposal the NJEA agreed to keeps the time required to earn tenure at three years, Hiltner said.
Schundler said the NJEA’s support for the Race to the Top application supplements endorsements already received from the American Federation of Teachers affiliate in Newark, and from superintendents and school board presidents in more than 430 districts statewide.
Ben Dworkin, an political science adjunct at Rider University, said the union and administration were standing together to avoid squandering any chance the state had of receiving the money.
"The Race to the Top initiative, which is relatively small in the grand scheme of federal support for education, is really about trying to get everybody in a particular state on the same page, moving toward better educational outcomes," he said. "It was embarrassing to New Jersey — and to the governor’s office as well as the NJEA — that they couldn’t get on the same page during the first round."
By Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau and Kristen Alloway/The Star-Ledger
Related videos:
| Christie speaks in Washington DC, calling Newark schools 'absolutely disgraceful' |
| Thousands of Newark students walk out of class in protest of Chris Christie education cuts |