By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Both sides of the aisle have big problems with Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing, Save Jerseyans, so during an under-reported exchange at last week’s town hall meeting in Haddon Heights, Governor Chris Christie told a teacher participant that he’d pitch a fresh proposal to address those concerns in 7-10 days.
The stakes are growing as the landscape darkens. New Jersey is facing extreme fiscal pressure as another budget fails to meet basic obligations without borrowing, and the Republican 2016 prospect is hoping to roll out a new pension and benefits reform package soon, too, all while presidential speculation and Bridgegate rumors keep Trenton on edge and his Administration off-balance.
What would a new approach to PARCC/Common Core even look like? Here’s what he had to say…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcXn4qLGhIA
By way of background if you haven’t been following closely, PARCC’s set of K-12 mathematics and English assessments coincide with Common Core’s controversial standards. Criticism is mounting. Thus far, 19 U.S. states have opted out of the PARCC consortium.
Mixed signals from the Left aren’t surprising given competing interests under the dome. The NJEA-financed Assembly, ever-skeptical of standardized testing in any form, voted to revisit Common Core and PARCC shortly before the Governor’s remarks (but while also simultaneously allotting over $1 million in the FY 2015 Democrat budget to pay for it).
Spending money is a liberal impulse even when the underlying expense isn’t popular with other liberals.
What remains to be seen is how Governor Christie deals with some of the most momentous issues facing his state at the start of an unsettled GOP primary cycle where full-throated support for less-than-conservative federal interventions like Common Core could spell trouble in Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond.
How can anyone trust this liar, thief and bully after he stole my pension money? Remember he promised to pay it back? What a liar, a disgrace to New Jersey! Thief!