For two weeks in a row, I am surprised to find myself in large part in agreement with the editorial position of NJ.com (the on-line version of the Star-Ledger newspaper). Last week it was Tom Moran’s editorial pointing out that the biggest reason that the market is not providing enough housing is the existence of municipal zoning restrictions. This week it’s the Star-Ledger Editorial Board’s opinion regarding the Murphy administration’s “sabotage” [their word] of top performing charter schools. (Murphy’s sabotage of top Newark charters reeks of politics, unfortunately, behind the paywall.)
This editorial’s explanation for the Murphy administration rejection of the expansion of a high performing Newark charter school is no doubt correct, as far as it goes:
But the truth is, beyond this rhetoric, the governor is actively sabotaging the best charter schools in New Jersey. He is influenced by the state’s powerful teachers’ union, the biggest spender on his campaigns, which seeks to block charters because the teachers at most of them are non-union.
I suggest, however, that there is at least one other insidious political reason: charter schools deprive local politicos of spoils, in the form of lucrative jobs and contracts, to lavish upon their friends and supporters.
Jay Bohn
July 25, 2022
Post script
Recently the Star-Ledger Editorial Board published another editorial along the same lines, saying of Governor Phil Murphy: “He’s dancing for the teacher’s union, which opposes charters because they are not unionized, and is finally getting its way.” The story concludes:
The facts speak for themselves: By strangling the growth of top-performing charters, Murphy is allowing an ideological position to overrule the will of parents, paying no mind to the human toll of these decisions on kids.
J.B.B.
September 11, 2022