Pushing Florida Ideas, Christie A National Voice in Education Reform
Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images News
NJ Governor Chris Christie At A Town Hall Meeting
Anytime a possible presidential candidate mixes with an early primary state, such as Iowa, national news is guaranteed. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, knows this and said at a stop in Des Moines he wanted to use his bully pulpit to push for education reform — his last agenda item this year.
Much of what Christie is proposing has already been adopted in Florida — performance pay for teachers, eliminating tenure, tax breaks for companies that fund scholarships — but Christie, like Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is a growing national voice in education reform after his well-publicized May confrontation with a teacher complaining about pay.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“Maybe we can stop the arguing and bickering for a while,” he said. “Maybe we can put aside the personal self-interests of unions and politicians and start to figure out what unites us, and start to take some risk…
“Every major news service in America will cover the fact that I’m here to talk about education reform, and it’s the last of the big things I want to accomplish this year,” Christie said in an interview before the speech. “In the end, what I’m going to get from coming out here is attention for our ideas and plans for New Jersey on a national stage and I think that’s really advantageous for the state.”
