NJ Spotlight covers Gov. Christie’s speech in Iowa where he “touts tenure reform and merit-pay deal, but doesn’t mention controversies over Common Core and state takeovers of urban schools.” Here’s coverage from the Asbury Park Press and The Record; the latter describes Christie’s pitch as “teachers unions are blocking badly needed reforms at American public schools, and college administrators ‘drunk on cash’ are saddling students with a lifetime of debt.”

Also in The Record, Christie called on labor unions to abandon “all the rhetoric” and restart negotiations on pensions and health benefits” in order to save N.J.’s unsustainable pension system, given special urgency as N.J.’s economic growth lags behind other states.

“We have about 800,000 participants in the pension system, both active and retired,” Christie said. “We have 9 million in the state of New Jersey, and in fact, nearly 25 percent of the people in the retirement system don’t even live in the state.
“It’s time for those folks to step up and make their health benefits affordable, and make their pension affordable for the people and the taxpayers who pay the bills.”

N.J. School Boards Association released a statement after the State Supreme Court ruled that Christie isn’t required to make pension payments according to the schedule in Chapter 78: “Today’s Supreme Court decision relieves the state from making the scheduled payments under Chapter 78, but it does not absolve the state from the obligation to resolve a problem that can eventually break the financial stability of New Jersey,” said Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod, NJSBA executive director.”

Here’s a great analysis from NJ Spotlight.

Sen. President Steve Sweeney said the ruling was a “travesty.” Charles Stile says the ruling was” a short-term strategic victory for Governor Christie — and a stinging indictment of Christie’s 5½-year oversight of New Jersey’s finances.” Additional coverage from the Star-Ledger (and here),  CentralJersey, the Courier Post, Asbury Park Press, the Press of Atlantic City, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here’s the full ruling.

The Press of Atlantic City: “After a state Supreme Court ruling let Gov. Chris Christie miss a $1.57 billion pension payment, Atlantic City could follow the governor’s lead and miss three years of upcoming payments.”

What are the prospects for Ass. Mila Jasey’s bill that would place a three-year moratorium on all charter school expansion? You know they’re grim when her fellow anti-charter traveler, Ass. Patrick Diegnan, says this to NJ Spotlight: “In all honesty, this has been a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.”  Duh. For this week’s NJLB coverage see here and  here,

PolitickerNJ reports that the State Assembly passed a bill that order a study of the merits of starting high schools and middle schools later. Additional coverage from the Star Ledger

From The Record: “New Jersey ranks as one of the top states for fair school financing, according to a national report released Monday, but the authors also warned that the state’s fairness was slipping.”