Christie had sought to override teacher tenure laws and collectively negotiated agreements in the former Abbott districts if the state determines those rules impede the delivery of a “thorough and efficient” education — as promised by the New Jersey Constitution.
That clause has underpinned the Abbott rulings, which required the state to send additional resources to special-needs districts.
But tenure laws and union agreements “have not been the subject of prior litigation” in the case, the court said in a two-page order Tuesday. It declined to take up those issues but said the Republican governor’s administration could pursue them at the trial court level.
Addressing reporters at a news conference Tuesday in Newark, Christie declined to comment on whether he would take the matter to a trial court, saying he hadn’t yet reviewed the Supreme Court order.
As he has in the past, the governor panned the court’s school-funding rulings, attributing the state school-funding formula to “seven people in black robes who have no business doing what they’ve done.”
