The Press of Atlantic City’s Editorial Board comments on two of the bill proposals that passed unanimously in the Assembly’s Education Committee last week. One, that they call well-intentioned, but micro-managing, disallows districts from charging students for extra-curricular activities. The other, they write, “seems aimed at garnering support from the New Jersey Education Association at the expense of taxpayers.” That’s Bill A-4140, the one that tells local school districts that they can’t subcontract out work, even if it’s cheaper to do so. (See our post here.)

The New Jersey School Boards Association also released a statement that not only condemned Bill A-4140, but also A-4142, which gives tenure-like protection to teachers who don’t have tenure (see our post here). Marie Bilik, NJSBA Executive Director, also faulted the process that went into the, uh, deliberations: the June 22nd Monday morning committee meeting was first announced at 6:46 p.m. on Friday, June 19th, and no drafts of the legislation were available until right before the meeting. Said Bilik,

Today’s committee meeting is a clear example of why the public needs to watch the Legislature, and watch it closely, during an election year. In seeking not to alienate the teachers union, the majority of committee members today approved two bills that are not in the interest of education or taxpayers—especially in these harsh economic times.

We’ve heard it suggested that this NJEA show of brute force through manipulation of the political process is meant to be an elegant reminder of the power they hold in an educational environment that seems to be getting a little bolder in advocating for non-traditional strategies, like charter schools and merit pay. We’ve also heard it suggested that these bills will get lost in Assembly purgatory and passing the bills in the Assembly Education Committee was a sort of cynical handful of crumbs tossed to the union as a face-saving offering. It doesn’t matter. Senator Shirley Turner’s Education Committee has no business passing quietly passing bills that hurt kids and school districts.

Snaps to the Press and NJSBA for speaking forcefully about the Assembly Education Committee’s shameless pandering to NJEA.