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Nope they oppose his stupid policies. Now that his SIGNATURE legislation has exposed him for what he is his legacy and Presidency is trashed, for cause. Wait till all those kids who voted him in see what redistribution of wealth means to their take home pay.

The most transparent administration in US history? lol.
Obamacare hearings on CSpan? er, no.
Bi-partisan? Obamacare pushed through without a single Republican vote in the Senate through a procedural trick.
Not allowing Congress to interview a single Benghazi survivor?

But this isn't about Obama, it's about Christie. Who does work in a bi-partisan manner, has dozens of elected Democrat officials endorsing him, and will easily win over a sacrificial Democrat lamb in a few days.

Who, by the way, earns more with her husband than Christie and his wife did last year! She's a 1%er!

Quite frankly that in itself is a great goal considering Barry is bending this country over and sliding it in without even spitting on the proverbial shaft first.

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Every developed country faces those issues and similar. The US has had immigration as an issue since the country was formed, yet has only fallen behind in education comparatively recently.

Perhaps you can set the OECD folks straight with your view? You ever been outside the US?

I am voting for Christie but I stand by what I am saying, the typical educated person is not having children as they did in the past, the children in the schools especially the inner cities are children of immigrants and many at risk students. http://www.fem2pt0.com/2013/08/02/hav ... -without-having-children/

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Now that's a load of crap. The GOP has had only one goal: derail Obama.

It is not fair to compare this country with other countries in terms of education. In the inner cities perhaps half of the students do not speak English as a first language. While politicians often quote 12 million as illegal immigrants, the children of illegal immigrants are American citizens but they come from families without resources. Then, there is the problem of children being raised in single family homes. Usually the mother is working 2 jobs at minimum wage and children are lost in the process. The most educated adults are not having children as in the past so that is not part of the equation when compared to other countries.

fat ass biker is hilarious-Christie is headed to, perhaps, an epic win and you think he was a bullied kid and/or is sensitive to 'fat jokes'? To a guy who brought a donut to eat on Letterman, lol?

Nope, he's had an incredible couple of years as a Republican in an overwhelmingly blue state-with a record of slowing the rate of tax increases, bi-partisan successes on pension reform, healthcare reform, property tax caps, township mergers (which we desperately need), going after independent authorities like the Passaic Valley Sewerage thieves (he fired the whole board I think), handling the multi billion dollar deficit left by Corslime, yadda yadda. I'm hoping he'll go after the Port Authority next, which is one area he's been soft on.

If only we had a real leader in the White House who was willing to reach across the aisle and compromise the USA would be in a much better place right now. 2016 can't come soon enough.

Compared to other countries the US is spending more and achieving less. However, there's actually a case to pay teachers more to attract better talent, but to reduce overall education spending.

So perhaps the teacher was wrong - the kids don't need more money, the teachers do...

http://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryP ... =USA&treshold=10&topic=EO

To Brewster-the idea not to fund the pension system came from former Governor Christine Todd Whitman, she campaigned on cutting taxes so she cut the pension contributions. The problem ballooned so Jim McGreevey and others came into office, they followed suit.

http://withabrooklynaccent.blogspot.c ... or-christie-from-new.html

Su nd ay , N o v e mb e r 3 , 20 1 3

Letter to Governor Christie from the New Jersey Teacher He Screamed At

Dear Governor Christie,

Yesterday I took the opportunity to
come hear you speak on your
campaign trail. I have never really
heard you speak before except for
sound bytes that I get on my computer.
I don't have cable, I don't read
newspapers. I don't have enough time.
I am a public school teacher that works
an average of 60 hours a week in my
building. Yes, you can check with my
principal. I run the after-school
program along with my my classroom
position. I do even more work when I
am at home. For verification of this,
just ask my children.

I asked you one simple question
yesterday. I wanted to know why you
portray NJ Public Schools as failure
factories. Apparently that question
struck a nerve. When you swung
around at me and raised your voice,
asking me what I wanted, my first
response ?I want more money for my
students.? Notice, I did not ask for
more money for me. I did not ask for
my health benefits, my pension, a raise,
my tenure, or even my contract that I
have not had for nearly three years.

We got into a small debate about how
much money has been spent on
education. Too me, there is never
enough money that is spent on
education. To invest in education is to
invest in our future. We cannot keep
short-changing our children and taking
away opportunities for them to explore
and learn. As more money is required
for state-mandated curriculum
changes and high-stakes standardized
testing, it is our children that are losing.
Programs are being cut all over the
state as budget changes are forcing
districts to cut music, art, after-school
transportation, and youth-centered
clubs.

But let's put money aside for a
moment. What do I want? What do 'we
people' want? We want to be allowed
to teach. Do you know that the past
two months has been spent of our time
preparing and completing paperwork
for the Student Growth Objectives?
Assessments were created and
administered to our students on
material that we have not even taught
yet. Can you imagine how that made
us feel? The students felt like they
were worthless for not having any clue
how to complete the assessments.
The teachers felt like horrible monsters
for having to make the students endure
this. How is that helping the
development of a child? How will that
help them see the value in their own
self-worth. This futile exercise took
time away from planning and preparing
meaningful lessons as well as the time
spent in class actually completing the
assessments. The evaluations have no
statistical worth and has even been
recognized as such by the NJ
Department of Education. I am all for
evaluation of a teacher. I recognize
that I should be held accountable for
my job. This does not worry me, as
long as I am evaluated on my methods
of teaching. I can not be held wholly
accountable for the learning growth of
a student when I am not accountable
for all of the factors that influence this
growth. Are you aware that poverty is
the biggest determination of a child's
educational success. If not, I suggest
you read Diane Ravitch's new book
Reign of Error. Take a moment and
become enlightened.

Getting back to the issue of money. I
am fully aware of our educational
budget. Where is all of this money? To
me it seems like it is being siphoned
right off into the hands of private
companies as they reap the benefits of
the charter schools and voucher
programs that you have put into place.
It certainly hasn't gone to improve
school conditions in urban areas such
as Jersey City. The conditions that
these students and teachers are forced
to be in are horrifying. Yet you are not
allowing the funds needed to improve
these conditions. Are you hoping that
these schools get closed down and
more students are forced to go to
private charter schools while the
districts are being forced to pay their
tuition? I know for a fact that this is
what has happened in Camden and
Newark. Yet these charter schools are
not held to the same accountability as
our public schools. Why is that?
Because deep down you know that you
are not really dealing with the issues
that influence a child's education. You
are simply putting a temporary band-aid into place. Unfortunately that
temporary fix is already starting to be
exposed as Charter Schools are
showing that they actually are not able
to do better than public schools.

You are setting up teachers to take the
blame for all of this. You have
portrayed us as greedy, lazy money-draining public servants that do
nothing. I invite you to come do my job
for one week Governor Christie. I invite
you to come see my students, see how
little they really have during the school
day as they are being forced to keep
learning for a single snapshot of their
educational worth. For that one end-all, be-all test, the NJASK. The one
that the future of my job and my life is
now based upon.

Why do you portray schools as failure
factories? What benefit do you reap
from this? Have you acquired financial
promises for your future campaigns as
you eye the presidential nomination?
Has there been back-room meetings
as you agree to divert public funds to
private companies that are seeking to
take over our public educational
system? This is my theory. To
accomplish all of this, you are setting
up the teachers to take the blame.
Unfortunately, you are not the only
governor in our country that has this
agenda.

What do ?we people' want, Governor
Christie? We want our schools back.
We want to teach. We want to be
allowed to help these children to grow,
educationally, socially, and
emotionally. We want to be respected
as we do this, not bullied.

BadAss Teacher,

Melissa Tomlinson

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That's funny ... He should look into the mirror about what you call unaccountable job performance - Personally, I think he must of been bullied at school and has a sub-conscience resentment to anything school related.

Now as the Gov. he has turned into the bully and I have a suspicion that his weight plays apart behind his out-bursts for which he is very conscience of ... I'm sure it must eat him up when hecklers yells out 'hey fat-ass'!

There is no doubt we have a small % of poor educators, but you have that with every industry or institution. It wouldn't suprise me if Christie has an agenda for State funds and doesn't want any social need to eat into that agenda ... I'd even bet that the agenda is related to his backers and financial supporters.

I'm amazed how some will make it a political party blame game issue - Once a political party blames the other party, they should be voted out at the next elections ... They are in power to serve the community not make excuses.

+1000. Unfortunately NYC is about to get a rude awakening. While they're all upset over the extremely inconsequential soda band, they're about to revert back 30 years to Dinkins era NYC.

NJ has indeed progressed under Christie, and despite a huge backwards step in Booker, will thankfully continue forward.

The entire concept of teacher tenure is MADNESS. Anyway we can do away with this?

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No he's tired of people being unaccountable for their job performance, unlike in the private sector. While his tenure reforms were a huge step forward (given that it would have been unthinkable under a Democrat) he did have to compromise (something also unthinkable to a Democrat) to get that accomplished in a bi-partisan manner.

Which is why he scares the liberal loonies so much-his reforms make bi-partisan sense.

"Tired of you people"
Would this suggest Christie is tired of all educators ? Maybe the root problem to our education system and standards IS Christie !

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IIRC, the state ended up in the debt shitter by failing to fund state employee pensions for over a decade so pols of both parties could look like they were cutting taxes. Teachers are not state employees. I agree there's unbelievable waste in the Ed system, but it's a stretch to say this is their fault.

Corey, you're fundamentally wrong. All Christie wanted in the deal for the tunnel to Macy's basement was an EQUAL sharing of the inevitable (re Boston Big Dig) cost overruns with the other shareholders, NY and the Feds. They refused. Why should NJ bend over and take the sole responsibility for the BILLIONS of dollars of overruns?

I'm sad that our supposed partners refused to be partners in this but our Governor did exactly the correct thing. NY and Obama screwed this up, not him.

Even though christie has no shot of losing (Sandy), i will still gladly vote against this person who's been a terrible waste of opportunity for NJ. From the declining of billions for a new hudson tunnel, to demonizing teachers (seriously, teachers? a bunch of middle-class folks who're the people who - for the most part - do a hell of a job being in charge of your kids for 8+ hours a day for half of the year?) and everything else in between, he's been an astonishing failure for this state on so many levels.

not that i expect the next person to really hit every nail, but christie manages to hammer his thumb so often and over so much petty nonsense ($24 mil on booker's special election so fewer democrats vote tuesday as one of the more recent examples) that I can't possibly consider voting for him

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How much more? Doesn't NJ spend more than just about every state in the USA? The overwhelming cost of Jersey City education costs are paid by NJ taxpayers rather than residents, you know, taking money away from educating their own kids.

She wants money for the kids, not herself.

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NJ bond rating went down from AA to AA-, there is too much debt, some of it unfunded. A great deal comes from education. Too many political choices are made to win over groups that couldn't care less if this state defaults. I am voting for Christie because he has the courage to say no to special interest groups. I will not buy NJ bonds, it is too risky, thanks to Christine Todd Whitman and Jim McGreevey.

When a teacher says 'it's all about the kids' it's all about money in their pockets. Every time. Thousands of Newark kids are waitlisted for charter schools, even though Newark has gotten hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of Abbot funding. Hundreds and hundreds of millions. Shampoo, rinse, repeat.

There are many, many wonderful teachers in NJ. But they've had the pendulum in their arc for way too long, because no matter how much they're paid they can't teach kids with parents that don't care. And paying them more won't solve that.

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/201 ... stie-to-teacher-i-am.html

New Jersey's governor, Chris Christie, has
a long history of teacher bashing - not
just teachers union bashing, but teacher
bashing. Even when he's clearly in the
lead, he can't help himself: he has to take
a swipe at teachers whenever he can. It's
almost pathological: even when he's up
by a sizable margin, Chris Christie just
can't turn down a chance to bash a
teacher who gets too uppity - as he
proved today:




In an exclusive, I am privileged to present
an account of what happened today from
Melissa Tomlinson, the brave South
Jersey teacher who showed up at
Christie's partisan political rally in
Somers Point this afternoon and dared to
ask her governor a question - as is her
right as a citizen and a taxpayer of New
Jersey. Here, in Tomlinson's own words,
is what happened:

Well, I was in a crowd of all
Christie supporters with my
sign. They were all eyeing me
apprehensively. A few tried to
stare me down. Some of them
even blocked me from the
crowd.




When his bus arrived one of
his henchmen went on the bus
to speak to him. I was right at
the door. It was like he was
told to deliberately turn away
from me when he got off of the
bus.

I went to listen to him speak. I
stood in the front of the crowd
that was standing towards the
back. I know he caught sight
of me. He stared at me a few
times during his speech. I left
right as his speech was over
to position myself right at the
door of the bus. He came out,
shaking everyone's hands as
he was getting on the bus. I
asked him my question,
expecting him to ignore me
but he suddenly turned and
went off.

I asked him: "Why do you
portray our schools as failure
factories?" His reply:
"Because they are!" He said:
"I am tired of you people.
What do you want?"

I told him I want money for my
students. He fought back with
the amount that he has spent
on education. My response
was along the lines of the fact
his amount was not actually
an increase from the previous
years, given the rate of
inflation and other factors. (I
think I got that from one of
your blogs). [Maybe, but if you
don't believe me, ask these
guys. - JJ]

The crowd started arguing
with me. He screamed at me
to just do my job. The crowd
cheered for him. I just looked
at them and told them: "Hey,
this is my life. I had to do this."
I tried to follow him to Atlantic
City to continue the
conversation but the roads
were blocked by police when I
got there.


CD
"I am tired of you people."