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                <p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie outlined a plan to improve inner-city schools on Thursday, saying it required a Republican leader to fix a system dogged by failure.</p>
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Christie, a fiscal conservative often mentioned as a potential contender for the White House, said he aimed to restore "hope" to New Jersey students, borrowing the tagline of President Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign.</p>
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Citing issues of urban violence, drug use, promiscuity and teen pregnancy, Christie said: "All of those things can occur when you live in a society that is devoid of hope."</p>
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"These children growing up in these failing school districts, they know that they're getting a lousy education, and that strips away their hope for a better future," he told a gathering in New York.</p>
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Teachers should be judged half on student performance, as measured by standardized tests and grades, and half on peer evaluation based on classroom observation, he said.</p>
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Good teachers, especially those in the toughest schools, should be paid more, said Christie, who has been strongly criticized for cutting school aid. Last month, a court-appointed Special Master said his cuts impeded "thorough and efficient education" in high-risk schools.</p>
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But Christie said changes such as expanding access to semi-independent charter schools and making it easier to remove failing teachers -- not more spending -- is needed.</p>
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He excoriated teachers' unions as "clueless" enemies of reform and said the union in New Jersey "bullies and thugs its way" around the statehouse.</p>
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A Republican is needed to improve urban schools because Democrats, who represent many of the state's big cities, are captive to unions, he said.</p>
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"In a state like mine, only a Republican can do this," said Christie, comparing himself to President Richard Nixon, whose 1972 visit to Communist China was seen as angering the Republican Party.</p>
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New Jersey Education Association spokesman Steve Baker said Christie was engaging in "name calling" to distract attention away from the substance of his proposal, which Baker said would lead to a "massive expansion" of standardized testing.</p>
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(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jerry Norton)</p>
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