'The only way we're going to change that situation is to change the Supreme Court,' said Christie
Gov. Chris Christie speaks during a town hall meeting in Union City last week.LINCOLN PARK — In front of a friendly audience in his native Morris County, Gov. Chris Christie took his fight to the state Supreme Court today.
At a town hall meeting in a Police Athletic League gymnasium, Christie blamed the court for tying his hands on changing the school funding formula and reforming the state’s affordable housing system.
“The only way we’re going to change that situation is to change the Supreme Court,” said Christie.
The rhetoric on the court comes at a pivotal time. Christie next week is preparing to present his next budget. Meanwhile, the court is considering a challenge to his nearly $1 billion in education cuts last year. If the state loses, he may have to provide that money in a new budget.
Christie was responding to a question from Bernards Township resident Larissa Milligan, who complained that her suburban district was disproportionately hurt by Christie’s school aid cuts compared to urban districts. In making the cuts, the budget took away state aid for the equivalent of 5 percent of schools’ budgets. In many suburban districts, that accounted for all or most of the state aid portion of the school’s budget. But in urban districts more heavily dependent on state aid, it was a proportionally smaller part of their budgets.
“They have put literally handcuffs on the Legislature and the governor, saying this is the way you fund schools,” said Christie. “I would love to say I could wave a magic wand and make it better tomorrow. I can’t.”
Christie declined to renominate former Supreme Court Justice John Wallace last year because, he said, he was “part of the problem.” Three more justices will either come up for renomination or mandatory retirement in his first term.
There was little criticism of Christie at the town hall. Two members of the audience who asked questions revealed they worked for his campaign.
Christie told the audience he would not join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new federal health care law, which he referred to as “Obamacare,” because many states already had and he did not want to waste state resources on it.
Only one member of the audience was critical of the governor’s policies: Little Falls Middle School teacher Cathy Lyons, who teaches language arts to 7th and 8th graders.
Christie has called for an end to tenure, which Lyons said was necessary to protect teachers against reprisals from administrators or school board members for advocating for their students.
“I cannot advocate for children in my classroom if I’m worried about my job,” she said.
Christie responded that tenure is “a guarantee of a job after three years.”
“The tenure system is antiquated and broken,” he said, adding there should be protections in place but “the idea that you can’t advocate for the children in your classroom without tenure to me is not founded in fact.”
Christie then singled out the exchange with Lyons as particularly cordial and respectful.