WASHINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie asserted his national image as an education governor at a town hall held today at George Washington University, reiterating his opposition to teachers unions, a practice known as last in first out and lifetime tenure for teachers. Christie appeared alongside other education reformers — including Deputy Education Secretary Anthony Miller, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet,...
Clik here to view.
Gov. Chris Christie will be discussing education reform today at a conference in Washington, D.C., and Star-Ledger reporter Jessica Calefati will be tweeting updates from the conference. WASHINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie asserted his national image as an education governor at a town hall held today at George Washington University, reiterating his opposition to teachers unions, a practice known as last in first out and lifetime tenure for teachers.
Christie appeared alongside other education reformers — including Deputy Education Secretary Anthony Miller, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, California Rep. George Miller and Harlem Children's Zone founder Geoffrey Canada — to discuss the federal government’s role in education reform.
The governor wasted no time highlighting his distaste for teachers unions during the town hall discussion, moderated by CNN national political correspondent Jessica Yellin.
He brought it up in response to his second question from Yellin, calling the unions “the single most powerful political force” holding back true education reform.
“The teachers unions are fighting this,” Christie said. “They’re not the only folks to blame, but they’re the people to blame for the lack of change. They stand in the way of any type of change.”
Known as a tough-talker, Christie at times found himself sparring with George Miller, a Democrat, who rebutted Christie’s opposition to teachers unions as a position “too simplistic” for a complex issue like education reform.
“There’s no question teachers unions are part of the argument, but they’re also central to success in this,” Miller said.
Christie also called for eliminating lifetime tenure for teachers and a practice known as ‘last in first out,’ which requires teachers with fewer years experience to be fired first when school districts layoff teachers in tough budget times.
“Young people decide they want to commit their lives to this, and then there are reductions in force and they’re the first one’s out,” Christie said.
The town hall was interactive, and featured students from Lowell, Mass. and flood-ravaged Memphis, Tenn. asking questions via satellite video. One student from Lowell asked who should be responsible for making sure every public school student gets a high-quality education – the federal government, the state or the city?
Would a socialist government do a better job?, the student queried the panel.
After some trepidation about who would respond to such a “tough” question, Christie stepped in and said the federal government should be involved in an advisory role, but that the real, lasting change must come at the local level.
“Individual decisions about what’s best for Lowell need to be made in Lowell, not the halls of Congress or the statehouse in Trenton,” Christie said. “(Local leaders) must be the drivers of the difficult changes that must be made.”