The Fight Against Education Reform Just Got Tougher

Fifty-six percent of New Jersey schools missed the benchmark for student achievement, according to educational officials. That means fifty-six percent of our public schools did not have enough students passing state tests to meet their targets. To anyone outside the Education Cartel, that is not good news. Inside the establishment, it's Ho Hum. Failure, schmailure, so long as we keep our nice jobs.

But any hope of improvement was dashed last week when Senator Steve Sweeney threw his considerable political weight implacably behind the education establishment, meaning primarily the NJEA, and will use his position as Senate President to quash any meaningful attempts at reform. So, legislatively, it's R.I.P. to Governor Christie's push for reforming tenure and seniority rights and merit pay for the best teachers. And as a generation of kids stays trapped in a disfunctional education process, the Union does a victory dance to the fiddling of their lackies in the legislature. A damned shame.