On Monday, New Jersey governor Chris Christie spoke at the American Federation of Children National Policy Summit dinner in Washington. His subject was the importance of school choice -- and to make his point he drew on The Cartel:
Gov. Christie referenced Bob Bowdon's movie about dysfunctional education, "The Cartel," and the most poignant moment for most of us -- the lottery to determine who gets into Newark's Robert Treat Academy, a charter school with a waiting list of 4,000 kids. "And you watch the lottery in the gymnasium at the Robert Treat Academy and you watch the parents who have their number picked out of that barrel jump and yell and scream for joy. The joy that only a parent can feel when they have realized that their child now has a limitless future." And your heart aches for the parents and kids who did not make the lottery. Christie said a woman who was lucky enough to get her son in the school told him, "Mr. U.S. Attorney, I'll never be able to describe exactly the way I felt the night that my son was admitted but I knew if his ticket was picked out of that barrel, that was the difference between him going to college or going to jail."Christie told the enthusiastic audience of school choice advocates that he and his wife were able to send their kids to Catholic school. "A single mother in Newark working two jobs to keep a roof over her child's head should have no less ability to make that choice than my wife and I had."
The governor says children in failing school districts are trapped by a "self-interested, greedy schoolteachers union that cares more about putting money in their own pockets and pockets of members than they care about educating the most vulnerable and needy children."
Christie said he will support a scholarship program to allow students to opt out of 200 "chronically failing" schools. They would be labeled chronically failing if at least 40 percent of their students fail to show proficiency on statewide math and language arts tests for two years in a row or if at least 65 percent of students failed either test. Currently, more than 200 schools qualify.
Bob Ingle, author of the article above, says the film " should be seen by everyone who cares about education or our country's future." Agreed.