Here’s my new WHYY Newsworks column:

Fort Lee is no longer on gridlock alert, but suddenly New Jersey’s efforts towards education reform are stalled. Shall we review?  Gov. Chris Christie is in freefall. Education Commissioner Chris Cerf announced Tuesday he is jetting off to rosier climes (specifically, to Amplify Insight, the education arm of Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp.) and abandoning the morass of the Department of Education.

Time to regroup and take the measure of several percolating education reform issues that will present themselves to the N.J. State Legislature in the coming term. Fortuitously, this week John Mooney at NJ Spotlight interviewed N.J. Senate President Steve Sweeney; to his credit, Sweeney, whom many regard as the frontrunner in the next gubernatorial contest, offered some refreshingly frank answers that provide a roadmap to likely Statehouse educational priorities this year.

Read the rest here.