CAMDEN — Gov. Chris Christie unveiled legislation this morning that would allow private companies to run five chronically failing New Jersey schools through a public-private partnership pilot program. Only districts with low-performing schools will qualify to participate in the program, and participation will require support from local boards of education. The legislation will allow for-profit companies to manage the...
Gov. Chris Christie discusses education at a Cherry Hill town hall in this May photo. Today the governor introduced a plan that would allow private companies to run a small number of failing public schools in New Jersey.CAMDEN — Gov. Chris Christie unveiled legislation this morning that would allow private companies to run five chronically failing New Jersey schools through a public-private partnership pilot program.
Only districts with low-performing schools will qualify to participate in the program, and participation will require support from local boards of education. The legislation will allow for-profit companies to manage the schools.
Christie made the announcement at Camden’s Lanning Square Elementary School alongside Mayor Dana Redd, a Democrat who has worked with the Republican governor on education issues.
"This pilot program will provide an innovative alternative for those children who need it most, bolstering our efforts to ensure opportunity for every child in our state," Christie said. "This program will begin to restore hope in communities where failing schools deny children hope and opportunity."
Christie’s acting education commissioner, Christopher Cerf, has experience in public-private school partnerships. He previously led Edison Schools, a for-profit company that became the largest private-sector manager of public schools. Cerf left the company, now called EdisonLearning, in 2005.
Christie is also connected to for-profit education companies, including Cerf’s.
From 1999 to 2001, Christie was a registered lobbyist at a law firm that lobbied New Jersey government on behalf of Edison Schools, according to filings with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. While the firm was representing the multinational education company, Chris Cerf was its general counsel.
The firm, Dughi, Hewit and Palatucci, also represented Mosaica Education, a for-profit charter school operator, and the University of Phoenix, a for-profit online university. At the time, the firm listed two lobbyists, Christie and William Palatucci, a longtime political ally of the governor who is a named partner in the firm.
During the 2009 gubernatorial campaign, then-campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said the "overwhelming" majority — "over 90 or 95 percent" — of the firm's lobbying was done by Palatucci, who remains a close friend of Christie.
Since Christie's campaign for governor two years ago, he has criticized the state of urban education in New Jersey, saying public schools and teacher unions have perpetuated a failing system.
Angel Cordero, who helped create the Community Education Resource Network, an alternative school for dropouts, applauded the plan for public-private schools.
"It’s time we think out of the box and break up the monopoly" of the teachers unions, he said. "This is the perfect storm right now. People are ready."
Christie was in Camden for the Community Education Resource Network's graduation ceremony on Friday, where he and other political leaders called for a shakeup in the public school system.
Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, expressed skepticism about the partnership proposal.
"Anything that turns public schools over to private operation, and reduces public accountability, would be very problematic," he said tonight.
Christie has enraged the NJEA with his push for more charter schools and a voucher program.
The voucher proposal, called the Opportunity Scholarship Act, has stalled in the Legislature despite support from both sides of the aisle as some Democrats have pushed to downsize it.
By Jessica Calefati and Ginger Gibson/The Star-Ledger
Staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.