New Jersey Democrats asleep on education reform

Laura Waters:

New Jersey's political races for U.S. Senate and Governor have dominated local media, despite the lack of meaningful competition for shoo-ins Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and Governor Chris Christie.
The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that 52 percent of voters support Booker; U.S. Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt each garner less than 10 percent of the electorate, and laggard Sheila Oliver barely musters 3 percent.
In the gubernatorial race, Christie is running about 40 points ahead of N.J. Sen. Barbara Buono.

Lock or not, N.J.'s public education system is a big talking point for all candidates. In fact, the current electoral discussions get to the heart of a puzzle for this blue state's Democratic leadership: in the realm of education reform, what does it mean to be a New Jersey Democrat?

If you ask Cory Booker, a "Democratic" agenda includes charter school expansion, data-driven teaching evaluations, top-down accountability, focus on poor urban school districts, and vouchers. But if you ask Barbara Buono for her prescription for improving public education, a "Democratic" agenda, antithetical to Booker's, includes restrictions on charter school growth, protection for teachers from the vagaries of data, and local control.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 18, 2013 12:01 AM
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