Arne Duncan, Chris Christie and Ken Swanson. A loving threesome.

NJ’s Governor Chris Christie, teacher hater, loves Illinois ed reform.

I might not be happy about the deal worked out between the IEA’s President Ken Swanson and Stand for Children. I’m really unhappy about the fact that our seniority rights were surrendered.

Ken says it was a bold reform. I think it was a sellout.

While I’m unhappy, who agrees with Ken?

Arne Duncan and New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie.

Christie, who is considered a rising star in the Republican Party, praised Duncan as an “extraordinary leader on this issue.”

He also said, regarding Obama and the education agenda, “I consider myself an ally of his.”

Duncan concurred that he shared with Christie a sense of urgency on the education issues, saying “we have to get better for our country.”

He praised reform efforts currently under way in Illinois, where he said the state government and unions were working together on a reform agenda.

In New Jersey, by contrast, Christie and the New Jersey Education Association have been firing away at each other on Christie’s proposed education reforms, particularly on the issue of tenure.

In a recent statement, Barbara Keshishian, president of the association, said, “Unfortunately, most of his proposals represent a top-down, corporate carrot-and-stick approach that has no basis in reality in the public schools.”

Is Barbara talking about New Jersey or Illinois?

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