Tougher teacher tenure pushed by N.J. education chief

PRINCETON - In a speech that endorsed many aspects of Gov. Christie's education agenda, New Jersey's top education official called Wednesday for making tenure harder to get and keep, holding teachers accountable for student performance, and creating financial incentives for educators.

Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf also said he wanted teacher effectiveness to replace seniority as the main factor in determining which teachers keep their jobs in layoffs.

"If we are serious [about education], wouldn't we do everything in our power to make sure that only strong teachers were in our classrooms?" Cerf said to a gathering of 140 school advocates, state officials, and reporters at Princeton University.

While almost all of the goals have been aired before by the administration at different times since Christie took office, Wednesday's event signaled the intent to move the agenda forward.

While New Jersey's schools overall compare favorably with those of many other states, Cerf, pointing to a continuing achievement gap among income groups and races, pointed to poor state test performance by African American and Hispanic students in Newark and Camden.

Under the proposals outlined Wednesday, teacher evaluations would be based on student learning and would grade instructors by four categories, from highly effective to ineffective. A governor-appointed Teacher Effectiveness Task Force is expected to hand down its recommendations soon.

Cerf also advocated giving raises to teachers based on effectiveness in advancing learning or teaching in a high-need school, or in a recognized shortage area such as bilingual education.

The tenure system would be dramatically altered, although it would not abolished in favor of five-year contracts - something Christie has suggested.

Under Cerf's proposal, teachers would no longer necessarily earn tenure after three years on the job. Instead, a teacher would have to be rated effective or highly effective under the new evaluation system for three consecutive years. But if a teacher with tenure was rated ineffective or partially effective for two consecutive years, that educator would be stripped of tenure.

Michael Mann, a business lawyer and managing partner of the firm Pepper Hamilton, who supports tenure reform and was not at Wednesday's event, said changing the current tenure system would require only passing legislation. The harder part, he said, is "to find the political will to make that decision."

Indeed, Cerf's message got a mixed reaction.

Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D., Essex), who was part of a panel discussion after Cerf's remarks, plans to unveil her own proposals to revise tenure. She acknowledged the potential for pushback.

"I will tell you this is going to get heated, but I'm ready for a fight," said Ruiz, who chairs the Senate's Education Committee.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D., Essex), however, was quick to criticize the administration's proposals.

"We will review this plan but will do so knowing that solving the problems facing our poorest children in failing urban schools are more complicated than throwing around slogans and blaming teacher job protections," she said.

Addressing the problems of the schools of the poor requires confronting poverty, Oliver said.

"One cannot claim to be helping poor children when they're also cutting the school breakfast program, raising income taxes on working poor parents, and reducing access to health care for low-income mothers and their newborn babies," she said.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, has been at war with Christie and is the frequent target of some of his most stinging attacks. After Wednesday's event, NJEA president Barbara Keshishian said the proposals would hurt education by making teachers redouble their test-preparation efforts, while merit pay would hurt morale, not reward the best teachers, and would thwart collaboration.

She faulted the administration for rejecting the union's tenure-reform proposal to speed up dismissal proceedings by assigning them to arbitrators rather than going through the courts.

"No one wants to create 125,000 new patronage jobs in New Jersey, but that's the risk we run under the governor's proposal," she said.

The New Jersey School Boards Association, however, welcomed many of the proposals, including tenure change and removing seniority as the main determinant in workforce reductions.

"We're going into a period of change, and it is change that is long overdue," said association spokesman Frank Belluscio.

Of the proposed more rigorous review process, he said most of the state's educators are capable.

"I don't think the teachers should be afraid of it," he said.

State education spokesman Alan Guenther said the legislation for the proposals has not yet been written.