NJ Ed Report published an excellent report yesterday about how the NJEA’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is sending unqualified teachers to teach in high-poverty Abbott districts.  Thankfully, NJ Ed Report is a trusted outlet for NJ Department of Education (DOE) whistleblowers who blew the whistle on teachers being allowed to teach all-important physics classes (a building block for STEM subjects) without taking the legally required Praxis exams.  What’s worse is that rather than fix the problem to ensure that only qualified teachers teach in Abbott schools, the governor’s office is telling DOE personnel to keep their hands off  the “untouchable” CTL.

Sunlight draws two conclusions:

1. Once again, Gov. Murphy is in the tank for his multi-million dollar backers at the NJEA.  For all the rhetoric about fairness and equity, when push comes to shove, Murphy goes with this special interest political pals over the kids.  This is scandalous and Murphy needs to be called out by everyone who cares about kids in high-poverty schools.
2. Speaking of which, where is Mark Weber, Ph.D. (a.k.a Jersey Jazzman)?  As we detailed in a blog last week, Weber and NJ Policy Perspective (NJPP) published a flawed report claiming that because certain high-poverty school districts were underfunded, these school districts were being staffed with less qualified teachers.  So this revelation about CTL will surely get a lively response from Weber, right?  Wrong.  Weber is an NJEA member and the NJEA is a generous benefactor of NJPP, so expect silence from Weber.  Nothing to see here.

Once again, what we are really seeing is corruption (of the legal sort) by powerful, deep-pocketed special interests: corruption at the governor’s level and corruption of a purportedly independent research institution.  Why? Because money talks.  But please spare us the false rhetoric.