Ed Secretary Duncan Calls for Collaboration, Not Confrontation With Teachers

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on Wednesday that mayors and governors should use "tough-minded collaboration" instead of hard-nosed confrontation with the teachers unions.

Speaking at an event in Newark, Duncan was on the home turf of tough-talking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who has made headlines by confronting unions and is pushing hard to reform teacher tenure.

Duncan didn't mention Christie directly but pointed to legislation in Illinois that would end layoff policies based on the so-called last in, first out rules and would instead be laid off based on performance and job qualifications, with seniority playing a tie-breaker role.

"I think that could be a model for New Jersey," Duncan said. "I think that could be a model for Wisconsin. It's a very different way of doing business, and I think having that teacher voice at the table is hugely important."

Duncan said he and Christie planned to meet Wednesday. He said he spoke with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker about the Illinois bill.

Duncan was in Newark to promote the federal government's teacher recruitment website TEACH.gov and held a brief town hall meeting at the YES Center for Young People in downtown Newark with about 50 teachers, Congressman Donald Payne and Booker.

"We have to pay better," Duncan said. "We have to make this a career where folks come and want to stay. We can recruit great talent, if we don't retain great talent we're not going to get where we need to go."

He added that investing in teacher quality is more important than using funds to lower class sizes.

Booker said he planned to propose ways of giving incentives to teachers despite his city's budget crisis. He said he expected some "robust conversations" with whomever becomes the next schools superintendent.

Neither Booker nor Duncan mentioned the $100 million gift to the Newark schools from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last fall. The money was pledged when Booker, a Democrat, and Christie, a Republican, both agreed to work together on education reforms.

Outside the YES Center on Washington Street, a couple of parents protested their lack of participation in the Education Secretary's event with Booker and the Newark teachers.

Carol Tagoe, who has three children in the city's public schools, said she worried about how the $100 million from Zuckerberg would be spent. The first $1 million was just awarded, despite some controversy, to five new alternative high schools which will share space with existing schools.

"We got heating problems," Tagoe said. "Broken windows, broken doors, flooding in the schools. In order to make our children learn better you have to fix the environment they're in. I haven't heard Corey Booker say, 'I'm going to allocate money'" to the regular public schools, she said.