Eye on Education

Bret Schundler, former Jersey City mayor and new education czar under Gov. Christie, trains his eye towards taking on the New Jersey Education Association.

Posted February 8, 2010 by Maureen Nevin Duffy

Bret Schundler meets the press in Trenton after being introduced by Chris Christie, right, as the new governor’s choice to run the Department of Education.

Photo by Amanda Brown/The Star-Ledger.

Even before taking office in January, Governor Chris Christie named former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler as his choice for commissioner of education. Schundler, a Republican who lost the 2001 gubernatorial race, had been on the political sidelines as chief operating officer of King’s College in Manhattan. As Christie’s point man on education, he is expected to square off against the powerful teachers’ group, the New Jersey Education Association, on issues such as teacher evaluation, tenure, pension reform, and school vouchers. Schundler, 51, grew up in Middlesex and Union counties; he lives in Jersey City with his wife, Lynn, and their two children.

Was your future cabinet role sealed while Christie was still running for office?

I wasn’t asked until about five days before the news broke this January. But I was on the governor’s Education Transition Committee, and Chris and I had spoken in the past on opportunities to implement change and reform.

Before entering politics you worked in the financial services industry. Why would you quit that?

I loved it, was making a lot of money working regular hours. But I wasn’t making as big a difference as I could as mayor. Over my nine years [as mayor of Jersey City], we increased job growth more than any other American city, dramatically reduced poverty, passed charter school legislation, and built schools. But we couldn’t make as much progress in the district-managed public schools. So I’m thankful to Chris Christie for giving me an opportunity to work on education again.

Do you expect the NJEA to be able to work with you?

The NJEA has encouraged its local union presidents not to support the initiatives called for in President Obama’s Race to the Top [a competition for federal grant money based on school reforms]. But leaders in the Democratically controlled legislature, whom I’ve spoken with, are endorsing these initiatives.

The unions have bona fide concerns about teacher evaluations. If a student comes into seventh grade reading at the fourth-grade level and ends the year reading at a beginning seventh-grade level, the current system may penalize her. That is unfair. A gain of three full years in one year’s time is fantastic. I’d like to invite teachers to work with us on creating a mechanism for fair evaluations.

Conversely, if one class with an average assortment of students sees no progress year after year, you have to bring in someone who can do the job. So measuring the effectiveness of the teacher has to become part of the performance review. Without that you have no accountability of performance.

Why do you think you will succeed where so many have failed?

I’m in a wonderful situation that they weren’t blessed to enjoy. With all its problems, No Child Left Behind created a wealth of empirical data to support what has and hasn’t worked. Add the bi-partisan support and this opportunity didn’t exist before.

What’s the future of Abbott funding to the state’s poorest school districts?

There’s a new Abbott funding formula whose impact we don’t yet know. We also want to get Race to the Top funding. On the top of our list is getting the teachers’ union on board. If we don’t have student learning as a factor in teacher evaluation we won’t even be considered.

Will this position put you back on a political track?

No. Improving inner-city conditions has always been my goal. This is an exciting, historic time for putting in place real reform in education—to not just propose ideas but get them implemented.

For more stories about: education, Christie, Christopher J., commissioner of education, New Jersey Education Association, Schundler, Bret