Gov. Chris Christie is blaming teachers unions. Teachers unions are blaming Christie.
The enmity, which goes back to last year's gubernatorial campaign, intensified with a memo from the Bergen County Education Association to local union leaders that hints about the governor's death.
The memo, first reported by The Record of Bergen County, reads, in part: "Dear Lord this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett, my favorite singer, Michael Jackson, and my favorite salesman, Billy Mays. I just wanted to let you know that Chris Christie is my favorite governor."
Association president Joe Coppola said the "prayer" was a joke and was never meant to be made public.
The New Jersey Education Association was more contrite. It issued an apology on Friday, saying the attack wasn't funny and that it takes away from the more serious discussion the group would like to have with the governor. NJEA President Barbara Keshishian said she would try to apologize personally to Christie.
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak says there's nothing professional about the group.
The memo - even if it was a joke - escalates an ongoing war of words.
During the Republican Christie's run for governor last year, he didn't mind offending the teachers union.
He refused to meet with the NJEA as it interviewed candidates to consider whom to endorse. And he attacked the union on the campaign trail. In July, he said: "Frequently, the leadership of the NJEA has been a strong advocate for the status quo, whether the status quo is succeeding or failing."
The union endorsed incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in the election - and paid for fliers, staffed phone banks and knocked on doors on his behalf.
This year, the state education association has aired television commercials critical of the governor.
It intensified last month when Christie proposed a state budget that called for state and federal aid to school districts to be cut about 11 percent.
Most districts will lose more state aid than that for their main programs - including some that won't any. The majority of school districts are planning layoffs as part of their budgets. On top of that, many are planning to hike their property taxes by close to the legal limit of 4 percent.
Christie, though, says that he'll give extra aid to any district where educators agree to freeze their salaries for the year and start paying a portion of their health insurance costs. Any layoffs, he says, will be the fault of the unions - not him.
The governor said this week that school employees in 115 of the states' 590 districts have agreed to wage freezes. But in most of those districts, the concessions came from administrators rather than teachers. The NJEA has not encouraged its locals to make the deals.
Steve Baker, an NJEA spokesman, said the group hopes the memo dustup will create an opportunity for the group to meet with Christie to talk about the future of the state's schools. "Frankly, we have been talking at each other and we haven't been talking with each other," he said.
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Mulvihill reported from Philadelphia.
