I can’t vote in New Jersey, but if I could, I would vote for Barbara Buono.
Since big corporations and billionaires and garden-variety millionaires have no reluctance to spread campaign cash to school board races in communities where they do not live, I have no reluctance to say that if I lived in New Jersey, I would vote for Barbara Buono.
Her first qualification is that she is not Chris Christie. Christie has divided the state, neglected its poorest communities (other than to try to privatize their public schools), and bullied people he doesn’t agree with. He disdains public schools (calling them “failure factories”) and scorns the people who work in them every day to educate the children of New Jersey. He is ignorant of the fact that the public schools of New Jersey are ranked near the very top on federal tests. He actively promotes policies that segregate and disempower people of color in New Jersey. I shudder to think of an America in which someone with the character of Chris Christie were considered a role model.
Barbara Buono was born in Newark. She was educated in the public schools of Nutley, New Jersey. She graduated from Montclair State College and Rutgers Law School. She was elected to the New Jersey State Senate in 2001 and was chosen as Majority Leader of the State Senate in 2010, the first woman ever to serve in that position. In addition to a distinguished career in New Jersey politics, Barbara and her husband Martin have six adult children.
I don’t know Barbara Buono, but she appears to be a person who understands the values of tolerance, responsibility, respect, and hard work. She exemplifies those values.
Despite her long career of service, she has been all but abandoned by the national Democratic party, which seems to want to morph into the Republican party.
Think differently. Vote for Barbara Buono and make New Jersey a state that values all its citizens. Make it once again the Garden State, where there is a place for everyone at the table and a room for everyone in the inn.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
From you mouth to God’s ears…….
I have also been following Nan Rich in Florida and hope Floridians will not re-elect Crist in the primaries. Nan needs name recognition, so if you live in the Florida area, check her out. And spread the word.
There is someone else running for governor of New Jersey. Her name is Diane Sare and she is running as an independent. Of course you haven’t heard of her because they locked her out of the debates which she would have won easily because she is extremely articulate and willing to speak truth to power. She is against the Common Core and against the longitudinal data collection systems and for funding education and infrastructure. She knows the history of New Jersey and would like it to become the hub of manufacturing and commerce that it once was. She wants to revive Camden and Elizabeth and bring these cities out of crisis and into the 21st century with truly innovative ideas on education, jobs and housing.
Think really differently and vote for someone who would bring energy and integrity to the office of the governor. That would be refreshing. If you live in New Jersey, vote for Diane Sare.
This is exactly why I am going to leave the Democratic party and I wish more teachers would. If we are all Independents, politicians would have no other choice but to “pander” to our issues as they did in the general election. It will give Hillary a run for her money too. The Democratic party have been co-opted by Neo-liberals IMHO. And if there were more Independents, teachers would be empowered because right now our union leaders are on the side of Reform and their own rise to more power. The rank and file, at least here in NYC, have been left out in the cold. Weingarten influence over the DNC has been a joke!! Rhee opens more doors than she does. Even Wasserman is a big fan of Rhee’s.
I am very concerned that de Blasio has met with Rahm Emanuel for guidance. And once he announces who will be driving education here in NYC, my fingers are crossed. He ran on the side of public ed, but so did Obama.
Some really terrific one-liners here, Diane! –like this, “Her first qualification is that she is not Chris Christie” and this “she has been all but abandoned by the national Democratic party, which seems to want to morph into the Republican party.” It already has.
Voters should keep in mind that it was THEIR GOVERNORS who gave them the ridiculous, developmentally inappropriate Common Core NATIONAL standards and, according to predictions, as well as outcomes so far, MOST CHILDREN FAIL ON TESTS ALIGNED WITH THE COMMON CORE, and VOTE those CHILD ABUSERS, like CHRIS CHRISTIE, OUT of office.
It will be tough to vote for the next round of governors since nobody acts like their party!
People will hopefully pay attention and vote on the issues at hand!
I think being abandoned by the national Democrats is actually a selling point for Barbara. She has always been more concerned about the people and their needs than in playing politics. She is much beloved in her home district because she actually listened to the people who have elected her over and over again. Integrity and NJ politician are not usually synonymous, but in Barbara’s case, she stands out as the exception to the rule.
SO true. New Jerseyans don’t really know her—AND the truest part is that the national and state Dems have not come out strongly, especially with money. The NJEA has been the best. Thank you.
Oh, no! I am watching the national news on our “Education Nation” channel, and a puff piece on Christie (about his “double digit” lead over Buono, an excerpt from “Meet the Press” with Mitt Romney saying some very flattering {unlike Christie’s VP vetting by Romney’s staff which is described in the new book “Double Down”} things about C’s 2016 chances {Mitt thinks he’d be a great candidate!!}, footage of his traveling on his bus, traveling ’round NJ, smiling & shaking hands, & boasting that everyone knows him, because he ALWAYS “says what he thinks!” & crowds w/their Christie signs cheering him on) is playing as I type this.
The commentator also made a point of saying that, while Obama is out stumping for other Dems, he has not done as much for Buono.
And–no surprise–no video/commentary on the yelling at the teacher.
What a country.
Good luck, Barbara Buono! Perhaps if she wins, other Governors will take notice. As far as 2016, the last thing that our country needs is Chris Christie for President!
What is her position on Race to the Top?