States

N.J. Ed. Commish: Race to Top’s First Casualty?

June 04, 2010 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

New Jersey Education Commish Bret Schundler might soon be out of a job. The man that the New York Times said was once described by teachers’ union brass as “the antithesis of everything we hold sacred about public education” could be teetering because he negotiated a deal with the very unions that for years have considered him an archenemy.

Oh, the irony!

Schundler, a former mayor of Jersey City with well-known conservative bona fides, especially when it comes to things like vouchers, hammered out an agreement last week with the New Jersey Education Association as he worked to complete the state’s round-two application. The NJEA, which did not sign onto the state’s round-one application, has been engaged in a nearly constant battle with Schundler’s boss, Republican Gov. Chris Christie, for months.

But a brief detente had been declared, and Schundler and his team were working with NJEA leaders in an effort to get them on board for the state’s second bid for the federal grant money.

Oh, those pesky buy-in points!

Gov. Christie, who apparently read in the newspapers about the so-called “compromise” that his education commissioner and NJEA made on teacher tenure and merit pay, blew up. He declared the agreement null and void and publicly chastised Schundler for making those deals without his blessing. The governor, proving who was in charge, submitted the state’s application with the proposals that the union objected to, and, in an interview with the Star-Ledger, declared that the deal Schundler had struck would have been a total cave-in to the union.

The story has been big news in New Jersey, with all sorts of speculation that Schundler is toast. The commissioner scrambled yesterday to denounce those rumors.

So, if Schundler does lose his gig, can we declare him the first high-profile casualty of Race to the Top politics? Are there others out there in the states?

A version of this news article first appeared in the State EdWatch blog.

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States What's on the K-12 Agenda for States This Year? 4 Takeaways
Reading instruction, private school choice, and teacher pay are among the issues leading governors' K-12 education agendas.
6 min read
Gov. Brad Little provides his vision for the 2024 Idaho Legislative session during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2024, at the Statehouse in Boise.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little outlines his priorities during his State of the State address before lawmakers on Jan. 8, 2024, at the capitol in Boise.
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP
States Q&A How Districts Can Navigate Tricky Questions Raised by Parents' Rights Laws
Where does a parent's authority stop and a school's authority begin? A constitutional law scholar weighs in.
6 min read
Illustration of dice with arrows and court/law building icons: conceptual idea of laws and authority.
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock/Getty
States What 2024 Will Bring for K-12 Policy: 5 Issues to Watch
School choice, teacher pay, and AI will likely dominate education policy debates.
7 min read
The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. President Joe Biden on Tuesday night will stand before a joint session of Congress for the first time since voters in the midterm elections handed control of the House to Republicans.
The rising role of artificial intelligence in education and other sectors will likely be a hot topic in 2024 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, as well as in state legislatures across the country.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
States How a Parents' Rights Law Halted a Child Abuse Prevention Program
State laws that have passed as part of the parents' rights movement have caused confusion and uncertainty over what schools can teach.
7 min read
People hold signs during a protest at the state house in Trenton, N.J., Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. New Jersey lawmakers are set to vote Monday on legislation to eliminate most religious exemptions for vaccines for schoolchildren, as opponents crowd the statehouse grounds with flags and banners, including some reading "My Child, My Choice."
People hold signs during a protest at the state house in Trenton, N.J., on Jan. 13, 2020, opposing legislation to eliminate most religious exemptions for vaccines for schoolchildren. In North Carolina, a bill passed to protect parents' rights in schools caused uncertainty that led two districts to pause a child sex abuse prevention program out of fear it would violate the new law.
Seth Wenig/AP