By David Cruz
Gov. Chris Christie used his latest town hall meeting to take aim at a familiar target, the state teacher’s union, and a familiar theme, tenure reform.
The governor has been using his town hall meetings – almost 80 total by now – to by pass what he calls the “filter of the press.” In Freehold, Monmouth County, friendly territory for a Republican governor, Christie gave an unfiltered assessment of the cost of education in cities very much unlike Freehold.
“Newark, Asbury Park, Trenton, Camden, Jersey City and Paterson,” he counted off. “Now, in Newark, for the ‘09-‘10 school year: $23, 000 per pupil, per year. Graduation rate: 32 percent. Asbury Park, get ready, stay seated here in Monmouth County, ‘09-‘10 school year, and it’s higher now, $29, 819 per pupil. Graduation rate in Asbury Park, 23.4 percent.”
The governor’s statistics on state graduation rates had some in the audience audibly gasping. He saved some of his toughest language yet for the state teacher’s union.
“If you do a great job, we want you to stay in teaching as long as you want. But if you’re ineffective in front of the classroom, we need to get you away from the front of that classroom and on to something else,” he said, to loud applause.
His comments were well received by this supportive audience.
“Sometimes the union isn’t always for the people,” said Monmouth County plumber Chris Kirsten. “The union is for the union.”
“In the media, I always hear that he is teacher bashing, and I learned that he is not doing teacher bashing,” added Brij Sharma, of Freehold. “He is for the teachers, and particularly for those teachers who are doing good contributions to the society.”
The governor threatened to veto any tenure reform bill that he deemed watered down, or “B.S. reform,” a threat that this crowd cheered heartily. But it was a throw-away comment the governor made about Newark, the city where he was born, that he may have to explain in the days to come.
“I lived on the corner of 14th Street and South Orange Avenue, right across the street from West Side High School,” he recalled, adding with a smile, “Go there now with an escort. It’s a tough part of town.”
Cory Booker, who is seen as a potential political opponent to Christie’s re-election next year, was unavailable for comment, but on a day when the Christie town hall road show hit every note, it was a comment that may prove to have been somewhat off key.
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