Hearings on Teacher Tenure Reform Delayed — For Now

The drama over a teacher tenure reform in New Jersey continues to twist and turn, as legislators jockey for position and Gov. Chris Christie makes clear his opinion, if not his precise intentions.

Much of the latest guessing arose recently, with the sudden postponement of education committee meetings in both the Senate and Assembly.

Each were expected to take up their respective versions of bills that would revamp how teachers gain and lose tenure protections, but the committee chairmen indicated yesterday they were not quite ready to take the next step.

Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), chairwoman of the state’s Senate education committee, said she was still working through the final details of her bill that is expected to be the best chance for bipartisan consensus on tenure reform.

“It’s going to happen this year, at least in my committee it will,” Ruiz said yesterday.

Meanwhile, state Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly education committee, said he was preparing a separate bill. “I’d rather have something that has as much consensus and input as possible than putting something in early,” he said.

Ruiz said her committee was expected to meet in the next week, while Diegnan said he likely would not file his new bill until his committee meets again in June.

Still, both said they were hopeful to see their bills get through committee before the legislature takes its summer break at the end of June, and they were putting their best face on the prospect of agreement.

“I’m hopeful that we will have consensus with Sen. Ruiz’s bill,” Diegnan said.

The comments come on the heels of Gov. Chris Christie’s insistence last week that the legislature move on a tenure reform bill in the next month and a half, and warning that he would not support a bill that did not include his core principles.

“I will tell you one thing, a lot of discussion is going on in Trenton,” Christie said at a town hall meeting in Freehold. “And I want to make one thing very clear to the legislature: Do not send me watered-down, BS tenure reform. If you send me weak tenure reform, I will veto it and send it right back to you.”

The issues remain around the extent of the changes, with the two chambers appearing to remain far apart.

Ruiz has proposed a bill that would demand teachers only gain tenure after three years of positive evaluations and lose it after two years of unsatisfactory ratings.

Diegnan’s bill remains focused on streamlining the process for removing ineffective teachers, a position pushed by the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s dominant teacher’s union.

Read the full story in NJ Spotlight by clicking here.

NJ Spotlight is an online news service providing insight and information on issues critical to New Jersey.