Dispatches, on the governor’s toss-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater approach to affordable housing, is on our site.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Tag: Chris Christie
Dispatches: Keep public schools public
Here’s my Dispatches column, written in response to Chris Christie’s appointment of school-voucher advocate Bret Schundler as education commissioner.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Christie makes first move on school choice
This is not a good start, as far as I am concerned, appointing one of the more conservative Republicans in the state and its biggest advocate for school vouchers as commissioner of education.
Brett Schundler, former mayor of Jersey City, remains an advocate — but then, so is Gov. Chris Christie. But the voucher issue was not one that was front and center during a campaign focused on one issue — taxes — and needs to be explored during the confirmation process.
Schundler needs to be asked tough questions about school choice — not just about how it improves education for some, but what happens to the schools that lose students. It is easy to say that competition will improve all schools, but that is not how it is going to work.
Does the public advocate have a future?
It seemed pretty obvious that Chris Christie wasn’t going to keep Ron Chen as public advocate. The question is whether he’ll follow Christie Whitman’s playbook and try to eliminate the position.
Dispatches: A question of priorities
Dispatches is available — wondering what Chris Christie’s priorities are going to be.
Hank Kalet 