Outgoing D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is “seriously considering” an offer from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to become the state’s education commissioner, according to a New Jersey report.
Sources close to the negotiations told Newark newspaper the Star-Ledger that Rhee’s main hesitation is her desire to move closer to fiance Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, Calif.
“No decisions have been made in regard to Chancellor Rhee’s future plans,” said a D.C. Public Schools spokesman, who declined to comment about specific offers. Rhee, who is traveling, did not return calls for comment.
Christie’s penchant for the spotlight and union-busting attitude is likely what made Rhee an attractive choice to replace Bret Schundler, whom Christie fired over a failed Race to the Top application, said political consultant Chuck Thies.
“I’m wondering if this isn’t a ploy to get his name attached to the rising star Michelle Rhee and further his national profile — but that said, I think he wants her,” Thies said. “He’d be seen as not just a GOP union crusher, but he can take on unions from the school reform point of view.”
Christie is an outspoken opponent of teachers unions, recently mocking the union’s argument that teacher pay raises improve education quality as “the garbage I’ve got to listen to in New Jersey.”
New Jersey Education Association spokesman Steve Baker said that Christie fired Schundler for his cooperation with the union on the $400 million Race to the Top application; Christie allegedly told Schundler it “was not worth it” to collaborate, and initiated a new application that failed to receive the grant.
Baker said that reports of Rhee’s testy interactions with the Washington Teachers’ Union were “an area of concern.”
“It seemed like there were difficulties with her relationships with both parents and educators in the District,” Baker said. “There are real issues we need to work on in New Jersey, and that has to be done in cooperation with everyone at the table.”
Rhee resigned Oct. 13 after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary to Council Chairman Vincent Gray, a longtime critic of Rhee’s autocratic leadership style and unbounded freedom under Fenty.
Washington Teachers’ Union President George Parker has called Rhee’s negotiating-style “cold” and lacking a “humanistic” quality.
Cherita Whiting, a close friend of Rhee’s and the chairwoman of the Ward 4 Education Council, said autonomy will be an important factor in Rhee’s next move. “I think now that she’s had a taste of the real independence with no one telling her what she can do, that’s what’s going to attract her to her next position.”
Erin Dillon, a senior policy analyst at Education Sector, said Rhee will have more attractive options if she waits until after the Nov. 2 election. “She could probably find something in California if she wanted to.”
