By Samantha Henry, The Associated Press.
NEWARK, N.J. – A new teachers’ contract in New Jersey’s largest city, funded in part by a donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, should be a model for the nation on how to remake a struggling public school system through private-public partnership, Gov. Chris Christie said Friday.
Christie, visiting a Newark school with education and union officials, called the signing of a new teacher contract in Newark “the most gratifying day of my governorship, by far.”
“In my heart, this is what I was hoping for, that Newark would lead a transformational change in education in America,” Christie said.
The contract, ratified earlier this week, allows educators to earn more earlier in their careers and offers bonuses for teaching in low-performing schools and hard-to-staff subjects. The performance pay is funded primarily through a $100 million grant from Zuckerberg, with the district allocating $100 million , half from public sources, half philanthropic , to fund the entire contract.
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