Chris Christie May Shut New Jersey Public Schools, Expand Charter Program

Newsmax.com:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he’ll seek to shut failing schools and intends to release a plan as soon as next week to create more charter institutions.


The state should let charter operators take over the buildings of schools that have been shuttered, Christie, a first-term Republican, said at a town-hall meeting in Paramus. There are 104,000 students in the state who attend public schools deemed chronically failing, Christie said.


“We need to close them and start over,” Christie told a capacity crowd of 500 today at the gathering in an Elks lodge. “This is the fight. There’s no staying neutral. You have to choose sides.”


Christie, in his first State of the State speech on Jan. 11, said it would be a top priority this year to expand the charter-school program beyond the six his administration approved and the 73 operating in the state.


The governor has said New Jersey’s public-education system is too costly and failing many children. He proposed changes in September that include linking teachers’ pay and tenure to their students’ performance, and making it easier for districts to fire their worst educators.


Christie told the Wall Street Journal editorial board yesterday that he is seeking to end tenure and would support switching to a system that gives teachers five-year contracts that could be renewed based on merit.

God, just for once you wish he'd go against his principles and run against Barry in 2012.

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