One of the things Donald Trump has said he wants to do in his second term is to abolish the Department of Education and give the task of educating America's children back to the states. Local school districts have been held hostage by powerful teachers' unions, who have negotiated all sorts of goodies for their members and indoctrinate students on things like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), critical race theory (CRT), and transgenderism but can't seem to find the time to teach them to read and write. Now, as people flee blue states, one of them has given parents one more reason to do so.
I've long been a critic of the public education system. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, NJ passes a law that says teachers will no longer need to pass a test on basic reading, writing and math to get a certification.
— David Joe May (@TheGrayRider) December 31, 2024
The dumbing down of America continues.…
On the eve of many new laws across the country going into effect, the one that wins the "what could go wrong there" award goes to New Jersey. As of January 1, 2025, a requirement that teachers the Garden State pass a reading, writing, and math test for certification as a teacher will no longer be in effect. The reason Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy passed Act 1669 as part of the state's fiscal year 2025 budget was an attempt to address a teacher shortage. According to wording in the bill, anyone seeking any sort of teaching certification will no longer have to pass a "basic skills" test.
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Democrat State Sen. Jim Beach sponsored the bill and said, “We need more teachers. This is the best way to get them.” An annual report from the state Department of Education cited a need for math and science teachers. So, just so we understand, to rectify a math and science teacher shortage, the state is willing to hire people who might not be competent themselves to teach those subjects?
The New Jersey Education Association, another powerful teachers union, has been behind the passage of legislation like this for a while, and "shock" doesn't seem to have the best interests of New Jersey students in mind. In 2022, Murphy signed into law an "alternative teaching certificate," another way for prospective teachers to get around any testing requirements. The union called testing requirements “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.” Perhaps it is more about getting people to enter the profession...and pay union dues.
How bad Can NJ GET? Teachers do not need to be educated enough to pass basic testing that a highschooler should be able to pass.
— Guerrilla Warfare (@RightTheTorch) December 31, 2024
AND look at the curriculum.pic.twitter.com/nxWAHV5RZx https://t.co/p1Yu1RsCMJ
New Jersey is not the first blue state to dump testing requirements for teachers. In 2017, New York got rid of testing requirements for...wait for it...diversity. California and Arizona lowered certification requirements in place of "fast-track" options for substitute teachers to become full-time to address shortages created by the COVID pandemic.
As most Americans know by now, the pandemic and the closing of schools devastated student learning. In 2022, just 26 percent of eighth graders were at or above math proficiency levels. Less than one-third of fourth graders, 32 percent, were at or above reading proficiency. In New Jersey, the latest numbers available for reading and math proficiency show students slightly above average. But how are they going to stay that way if the teachers are less proficient than the students?
Unfortunately, abolishing the Department of Education would not also abolish teachers' unions. They hold some major sway in some blue state legislatures. In New York, about half of students in grades three through eight tested proficient in English and math during the 2022-2023 school year, although New York spends almost twice the national average on education.
Abolishing the Department of Education might be a start, but addressing the reason why teachers' unions have the power they do and cutting it down to size would be even better.
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This definitely is not a good thing for our school kids in New Jersey
— ☕ Wαƙҽ Uρ NJ 🇺🇸 (@wakeupnj) December 30, 2024
Basic requirements are not required now to become a teacher
Think our test scores were awful before, wait till this happens! https://t.co/yARhXcQdfk
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