In Iowa, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey expressed “grave concerns” about the Common Core standards, especially that they are being tied to federal funds.
Christie told a group of Republicans in West Des Moines on Monday that Common Core ain’t what it used to be. He blamed federal strings and money attached to the program. It’s another checkmark on the scorecard of Christie’s conservative credentials.
But at home in New Jersey, implementation of the same standards is full speed ahead.
Christie created a commission to review the Common Core testing (PARCC), and parents and teachers have turned out in large numbers to express their opposition to PARCC in public hearings.
But Christie has done nothing to abandon the Common Core standards or the testing, despite the “grave concerns” expressed to voters in Iowa.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Christie is a blatant opportunist who is first, second, and last for his own career. He is a bully whose take-no-prisoners style appeals to conservatives and to many degenerate Democrats in NJ. Because tea-party conservatives have so much influence on the GOP, while Progressives have so little influence on the Democratic party, Christie must spin right to reassure the insurgent right-wing that he’s ok for the GOP Pres. nomination. In general, NJ and NY governors preside over two of the most corrupt state govts. and private sectors in the nation, but Christie may be the first among crooked equals with the infamous closing of the lanes to the GWB to punish a Dem mayor who did not join other perfidious Dems in NJ in supporting Christie for Gov and abandoning their own liberal party candidate in last election. Christie like Cuomo enacts a one-man strongman rule, a continuing danger to democracy and constitutional rights.
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He’s a political hack:
“In New Jersey’s 2010 application, which Christie himself signed, the state did specify that it would pursue the Common Core. But in the end, not all states did so. Virginia, for one, chose its own standards and was not penalized for that in the Race to the Top competition, although ultimately it did not win.
Building up over the past two months, Christie’s latest comments came at a stop in Iowa, where the governor has been a frequent visitor in what many expect to be his bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency.
Asked specifically for his stand on the Common Core, he said: “I have grave concerns about the way this has been done, especially the way the
Obama administration has tried to implement it through tying federal funding to these things.”
He was a US Attorney. Is his claim he didn’t know what he was signing? Come on. This “coerced” business is just nonsense.
I feel bad for NJ, because now they have the worst of both worlds. They’ll keep the Common Core testing and the “ed reform leaders” who backed it will run away, leaving public schools marooned and abandoned, as usual.
It may even get worse, Christie could follow Cuomo’s lead and use the new lower scores to push the privatization agenda. Everyone loses but the politicians.
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/15/02/12/debunking-christie-s-claims-about-common-core-state-standards/
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Seems like Christie is following the advice given in the “Training Document” reported on by Anthony Cody at
http://www.livingindialogue.com/corporate-reformers-want-talk-testing/
by glibly “agreeing” with the concerns about testing but plans to go along with the plans to make public education a bigger profit center for current and future donors.
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“Whether it’s true or not, most people think it is…”
They’re telling us they don’t take the concerns seriously and won’t do anything about any of it.
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Post-script: Parental opposition to PARCC is growing quickly here in NJ. The Opt-Out movement is gaining ground. Town after town is seeing their Boards of Education pass resolutions guaranteeing no punishment and humane treatment for any kids whose parents refuse the tests.
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Parents have to stand up for the right of children, not to be used as a pawn in a political war.
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Too bad Chris Farley passed away. He would have been perfect to play Christy in his biopic. Seriously, this would be hilarious but for the fact that teachers and students are getting pounded into the ground by his ignorance. Same here in NY with Cuomo. I honestly don’t think these guys know when they’re lying, fabricating or just self promoting.
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“We are doing Common Core in New Jersey and we’re going to continue. And this is one of those areas where I have agreed more with the President than not. And with Secretary Duncan. I think part of the Republican opposition you see in some corners in Congress is a reaction, that knee-jerk reaction that is happening in Washington right now, that if the president likes something the Republicans in Congress don’t. If the Republicans in Congress like something, the president doesn’t.”
He was “coerced”!
He’ll use it to attack Jeb Bush. It’s about “the adults”
How great is that one of America’s leading ed reform heroes is subjecting tens of thousands of kids to an experiment he’s running away from?
I think they should all have to get off the campaign trail and help schools with these tests they love so much.
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/christies_flip-flop_on_common_core_moran.html
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Memories are short. Chris Christie’s Commissioner of Education Cerf was a strong supporter of Common Core. In fact, NJ became one of the key governing states for common core under Commissioner Cerf. This needed the approval and signature of Gov. Christie.
So,is Christie pandering or is his memory failing?
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Where Christie stands on the CCSS really depends on where he is standing and the audience, group, or donor he is in front of. He doesn’t look it, but he is really malleable.
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He actually looks more mealeable than malleable.
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“Facing Downwind in both directions”
Any way the wind blows
That’s the way that Christie goes
Principles aren’t evident
In he who would be President
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Who knows WHAT he stands for except for Chris Christie.
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RTTT with Common Core attached standardized tests are used to bust Unions and Teachers, the hedge fund profiteers and other 1%ers are eager to privatize Public Education.
The true conservative Republican wants to reduce Governmental control and thus eliminate the Common Core.
Yet, the NY,NJ area is run by the hedge fund profiteers and other 1%ers. They don’t care about Governmental control. Since the Citizens United decision, they don’t have to worry about the Government, they own it!
Christie has to get the Republican vote and must also please his 1% contributors. The same can be said of Cuomo, who is supposedly a Democrat. He has to appease the hedge fund profiteers to keep his coffers filled!
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He was for it before he was against it, or was he against it before he was for it?
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Much of what he is saying is not even true http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/15/02/12/debunking-christie-s-claims-about-common-core-state-standards/
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