Gov. Corzine Defends His Education Plan in Fanwood

During a stop in Fanwood today, Gov. Jon Corzine asserted that his education plan for the state of New Jersey is more in line with the Obama administration's goals than that of gubernatorial opponent Republican Chris Christie.

"I think we're about as closely aligned with the president's initiatives as anywhere in the country," he said.

Corzine was speaking in response to claims made by Christie last week in an interview with The New York Times. In the story, Christie said that his plans for more charter schools, merit pay for teachers and school vouchers were more closely aligned with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan than the current Democratic governor.

Corzine, who joined Secretary of Education Duncan at Fanwood Memorial Library Monday afternoon to kick off summer reading and talk about the importance of libraries, said that he is just very committed to education reform, but that he does not support school vouchers.

"We're intent on closing schools that don't meet annual yearly progress in the appropriate time, and increasing the number of charter schools," Corzine said. "We're doing more in this area than any other state in the country. I think there's room to always do better, but we are doing a lot on school reform."

Duncan would not say which gubernatorial candidate he supported, but did say that Corzine has done a lot for New Jersey schools and that "this state has come a long way in education."

Both Corzine and Duncan spent about 20 minutes outside the library today reading books to local children. Prior to that, the two leaders participated in a forum on the state of libraries in America with Fanwood librarian Dan Weiss and dozens of other librarians from across New Jersey.

During the forum, a librarian questioned the governor on why more and more New Jersey schools are eliminating libraries from their budget.

Corzine responded by saying that there are a multitude of issues facing everyone during these tough economic times, but that he didn't think the state was lagging in its support to libraries and education.

"This is a challenge for all of us, but I don’t think it’s in our schools; we’re not walking away from our investment or commitment to libraries," Corzine said. "It’s essential."

The governor also spoke in favor of a new push for more open space in New Jersey. An initiative is currently underway to put a ballot question before voters in November that would approve $600 million in state borrowing by issuing general obligation bonds to fund open space.

The Garden State Preservation Trust, which currently funds open space in the state, runs out of money this year.

Corzine said that, as a citizen, he would be in support of the initiative and would vote in favor of it if it were on the ballot in November.