Historic pension and benefit reforms were just the tip of the iceberg for a NJ Democrat Party divided, Save Jerseyans.
When the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) fired shots at South Jersey’s George Norcross III last month, the South Jersey Democrat Machine returned fire and took their case to the state’s editorial boards. Norcross himself penned (or lent his name to) an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer, which is widely read in Burlington, Gloucester and Camden counties, and came out unambiguously in support of teacher merit pay and tenure reform:
“While teachers are often made the scapegoats in these debates, they are the bedrock of our
education system. Still, reforms should apply to them as well. There should be strict standards of accountability that reward teachers based on merit, not longevity. Tenure, in fact, is an antiquated standard by which teacher pay, promotions, and job security are awarded. It discourages production and a continued reach for classroom excellence. We must reward teachers willing to work in our most challenging schools, and all teachers should be awarded bonus pay in recognition of excellent performance.”
Flash forward just a few weeks. Senator Sweeney is now refusing to move on Christie-backed proposals to… institute merit pay and reform tenure??
Sweeney rose through the ranks of Norcross’s machine. He owes his political career to the same man who Dick Codey credits for ending his own. But the current Senate President must still harbor larger ambitions, too, and he seems to feel the lingering (albeit fading) influence of the state’s largest teachers union.
The problem for Sweeney in the coming weeks and months is clear: who to serve? His political maker? Or the NJEA’s overlords? It’s a sad commentary that the taxpayers whom he is supposed to serve need to dig in and hope for an incidental benefit from the boss battle for Steve Sweeney’s political soul.
