TRENTON, N.J. – There’s no better way for Gov. Chris Christie to get back on track than to do what he does best – push for better public education in the Garden State, despite the objections of the self-serving teachers unions.

Christie will reportedly ask state lawmakers to extend the public school calendar and lengthen the school day in his State of the State speech tonight.

“According to excerpts of his State of the State address obtained by the Associated Press, Christie, an early front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, will make the case Tuesday that the children who spend more time in school graduate better prepared academically. Details of the plan will be left for another day,” the AP reports.

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Christie has good reason to make such a proposal. Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey students are stuck in low-performing school districts in cities like Newark, Trenton and Paterson, where organized labor and the desires of adult employees have always come before the needs of students.

Christie has the credibility to promote such a plan, having overhauled the sickening tenure system that protected so many miserable New Jersey teachers for decades. And the governor gets extra points for the manner in which he voices his concerns about public education and the filthy influence of the unions. He uses direct language that addresses the issues in honest terms, rather than employing the type of fuzzy, diplomatic, compromising tone that rarely results in positive change.

Of course Christie will have trouble getting his longer school year and day plan past state lawmakers, because both chambers of the legislature are controlled by Democrats, who are in turn controlled by the unions. Teachers unions have long opposed the idea of more classroom time unless they get a lot more money for their trouble.

As the AP put it, “Christie’ proposal to lengthen school could antagonize an old adversary, the powerful public teachers union.”

The governor has recently been engulfed by a scandal allegedly caused by several of his staffers, who may have arranged for massive traffic backups by closing several lanes of the George Washington Bridge leading to New York City. The act was allegedly done to punish a local mayor who refused to endorse Christie’s bid for re-election last year.

Christie has denied any knowledge or involvement in the scheme, and four of his staffers have been fired or resigned over the resulting scandal.

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