Reformy All-Stars!

This Sunday, an all-star congregation of the reformyest of the reformy meets in New Jersey to sing the praises of "choice." And the lead tenor will be none other than the Pavarotti of privatization, Education Commissioner Chris Cerf:

New Jersey School Choice Summit

In commemoration of National School Choice Week, please join education reform leaders and supporters from across New Jersey for a timely, important, and uplifting meeting about education reform and school choice in the Garden State. 

Get your two dollar ticket now. This event will sell out.

Speakers will include:

Keith Benson, Allied Clergy of New Jersey

Derrell Bradford, NJ Better Education for Kids

Tony Bucco, NJ State Assembly

Chris Cerf, NJ Education Commissioner

Michael Doherty, NJ State Senate

Victoria Jakelsky, New Jersey Coordinator for ParentalRights.org

Kevin Jenkins, Excellent Education for Everyone

Gabriela Mosquera, NJ State Assembly

Carlos Pérez, New Jersey Charter School Association

Gary Schaer, NJ State Assembly

Israel Teitelbaum, Alliance for Free Choice in Education

Moderated by: Bob Bowdon, Choice Media

Two dollars - such a deal! Who's on the bill?

- Keith Benson is part of the professional voucher opportunity scholarship promotion industry here in Jersey. He will sing the praises of private schools without mentioning their ability to exclude whichever students they wish, which leads to a peer effect that accounts for their "success."

- I've been over the life and times of Derrell Bradford more than enough on this blog. For a while, you weren't allowed to mention me over at the B4K playground; then they decided to engage me, to their embarrassment. I'm sure Bradford will have plenty to say, once again, about how much more his billionaire-funded group cares about kids than teachers.

- Seated next to Bradford will undoubtedly be Mosquera, who collected a nice amount in campaign contributions from B4K even though the outcome of her race was preordained.

- Senator Doherty is sure to bloviate for a while, perhaps on the subject of ADHD and diet modifications, before going into his stock denunciation of giving state education aid where it is needed - namely, districts with many children living in poverty. Doherty specializes in ignoring all the evidence about funding equity so he can salve the consciences of his Tea Partyin' base.

- Carlos Perez is paid to spin the press about the "successes" of New Jersey's charter schools, even though the truth is pretty ugly. Charter segregation doesn't much bother Perez, who wants to bring the Chicago model he pushed to Jersey, in spite of the "educational apartheid" it created in the Windy City.

- Israel Teitelbaum is another voucher opportunity scholarship pusher. He calls choice a "civil rights issue," yet conveniently forgets to mention that the NJ Opportunity Scholarship Act would overwhelmingly benefit Yeshiva schools in Lakewood to the potential tune of $67 million. The plain truth is that there just aren't enough private schools in other urban districts to make much of a difference.

- Moderating this panel will be Bob Bowden, who I understand was once a journalist.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the group that the head of New Jersey's education system thinks he should be trading riffs with on a lazy Sunday. These are his people; his ideological choir-mates. He tunes his reformy harmonies to their sad, tired refrains.

Get your two-dollar ticket today, folks: you're sure to get a performance that's worth just that.

Been there...