From today’s WHYY Newsworks:

The latest poll has Republican Gov. Chris Christie ahead of Democratic state Senator Barbara Buono by 33 points in next week’s gubernatorial event. (“Race” seems too contentious a word.) Nonetheless, television and radio advertisements blare, partisan tweeters screech, PACS crank out dough, and both campaigns emit endless endorsements and rationales for their respective candidates. Hey, you never know. Upsets happen…

But one hard fact confounds campaign rhetoric. New Jersey spends a lot of money on public education – more than $8 billion a year, a quarter of our annual $33 billion budget — and this degree of largesse is unsustainable. While neither candidate acknowledges the need for systemic structural reform, it might do everyone some good to look squarely and strategically at the numbers.

Read the rest here.