New Movie Exposes NJ Education System
Former Bloomberg reporter Bow Bowden spent the past two years doing “The Cartel,” an inside look at how the New Jersey public education system is run.
Bowden spoke with Fox 29 on Friday about his film, and how state taxpayers may not understand how New Jersey spends a huge amount of money on its education system.
Bowden says there is lots of blame to go around for New Jersey’s dysfunctional education system.
“It’s the monopoly model,” Bowden says. “Witn no competition, waste can go on, there is no check on poor performance, in terms of educating kids, because there is no alternative.”
If you don’t have money and you are stuck in a chronically failing school, you have no options. And the establishment says, ‘that’s how it ought to be.’”
Bowden says the system dictates the poorer families are stuck in a system where their children never see the money translate into better classrooms.
“How can you defend this system when you can’t fire a bad teacher, can’t give merit pay to good teachers, it is just demonstrably broken,” Bowden says.
“The ‘throw more money at the problem approach has had its day,’’ Bowden says.
Bowden says the solution is school choice.
“Competition creates an incentive for institutions to improve,” he says.
Charter schools are one option, Bowden says, despite some problems.
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