The Governor Listeth Some More
Dave Carter ·
Aug 26, 2010 at 8:38am
New Jersey Governor Christie’s already solid reputation for good sense spoken plainly is strengthened even further in this video. Explaining and taking responsibility for a clerical error that cost his state millions in federal funds, the Governor also takes the Obama administration to task for its inane bureaucratic arrogance. Question: Wouldn’t New Jersey, or any other state, benefit more if their education dollars stayed at home first, rather than doing a few laps around the Beltway with only a portion of them making their way back home later?
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Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
Oh how I love thee, Gov. Christie. I cannot count the ways.
May '10
Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
Race to the Top (RttT) is an ingenious scheme for concentrating a relatively small amount of federal dollars (<$5B of the Stimulus) in such a way as to have a disproportionate impact on state and local education activity. Moreover it concentrates the power of the Secretary of Education (the criteria for awards were not designed by Congress but solely by the administration.)
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is due for renewal and the Obama administration would like to recast the funding for NCLB, which is based on objective improvement in test scores, to this new scheme concentrating (yet more) power with the federal Department of Education.
To its credit, RttT has arguably managed to change more behavior at the state level in the last 15 months than NCLB changed in the last 8 years and has certainly done more to challenge union intransigence. However it represents a serious concentration of power over education policy within the federal government which, of course, is under-reported.
For the record, I honestly doubt that the decision in this case was about a bureaucrats checking the box as the Governor generously allows, but actually a politicization of an ostensibly objective process.
Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
Trace, I don't discount that possibility either.
May '10
Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
Sounds very similar (save having the opposite effect) of the Rational Basis test. The smallest detail that is not in line with the rest of the document determines how the piece as a whole will be handled. In the case of Obamacare, the very few positives outweigh the mountains of negatives. In this case, one wrong sheet of paper can void the other nine hundred.
Aug '10
Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
I'm with Ursula. I just love the way Governor Christie handles tough questions. I nominate him for Answerer-in-Chief.
Jul '10
Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
Christie is more impressive the more clips I see of him. Part of me wants to see him stay and turn NJ around; part of me wants to draft him to turn the Oval Office around.
May '10
Re: The Governor Listeth Some More
True of most federal spending, but especially true of education. My thought is that if I'm going to have to live with a combined 35% federal state tax rate, I'd rather pay 28% to the state and 7% to the federal government, instead of the other way around. Not only is local control more responsive than federal control, but that way the appropriators live within reach.
Edited on Aug 26, 2010 at 3:00pm