New Jersey governor: “The time to eliminate teacher tenure is now.”

Mr. Christie, in the past, has proposed taking tenure away from ineffective teachers. But on Tuesday he called for abolishing it, saying “the time to eliminate teacher tenure is now.”

During an interview at The New York Times on Wednesday, Mr. Christie elaborated on his education proposals, saying he is focusing on teachers because “the most important thing for learning is the quality of the teacher standing in front of the classroom.”

“All the rest of the stuff helps, enhances the process,” he said. “Parental involvement, the atmosphere in the school, the level of technology, all the rest of that enhances it. But if you don’t have a good teacher in front of the classroom, all the rest of that stuff is a sideshow.”

He said it might be possible to achieve change without ending tenure. He said teachers could be given five-year contracts. “And at the end of five years, you know, up or down, are you kept or aren’t you, based on a merit decision,” he said.

Mr. Christie already has fans, both in New Jersey and in education circles across the country. Michelle Rhee, the former Washington schools chancellor, who sat beside Mr. Christie’s wife during Tuesday’s speech in Trenton, has committed her new organization, StudentsFirst, to providing policy support for Mr. Christie’s education initiatives. “I think it’s incredibly courageous of the governor to take these issues on,” Ms. Rhee said Wednesday. “These are ones that have long been considered sacred cows.”