Chris Christie Says Teachers Should Get Minimum Wage-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that teachers should get paid minimum wage and bonuses based on performance.
The Truth:
A fake news website started this hoax.
The rumor that Chris Christie said teachers should be paid wage and get bonuses based on their performance started with a story published by The Business Standard News:
Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has called for a reduction in teachers’ wages.
“Teachers are paid too much, that’s what’s bankrupting the system,” Christie said. “Some teachers make six-figure salaries and that’s not including retirement benefits.”
However, the teachers’ union points out only senior administrators make six figures and most of those jobs require doctorates. Most teachers make mid-level salaries.
Christie suggested a new teacher pay structure. He proposed teachers get paid minimum wage and a bonus for every student that passes standardized tests.
“Teacher pay should be determined by how well their students are doing,” Christie said. “They need to be held accountable. If students are failing, teachers are nothing more than glorified baby sitters.”
The phony report about Chris Christie’s plan to pay teachers minimum wage and performance bonuses sparked a backlash from readers. But The Business Standard is a “satirical site designed to parody the 24-hour news cycle” with outlandish stories, according to its About Us page.
Like many fake news stories, this one is a distortion of an actual news story. Weeks earlier, Chris Christie, a 2016 presidential candidate, had criticized a national teachers union and said it deserved a “punch in the face,” the Washington Post reports:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, struggling to gain traction in a crowded 2016 GOP presidential field, said Sunday that a national teachers union deserves a “punch in the face” and called it the “single most destructive force in public education.” Christie said the union cares only about higher wages and benefits and not about children.
But Christie didn’t say teachers should be paid minimum wage and performance benefits.