New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says the classroom is no place for mediocrity and he's not talking about the students.

"Every good teacher in front of a classroom is a treasure," said Christie.

Christie says for teachers who are treasures getting tenure will be easy but for those who are not more training or termination is now a greater possibility.

Thanks to the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability Act, gone are the days of automatic tenure after three years.

"If it's a bad teacher we want them out but if it is all of a sudden for a political reason or other things like that that they at least have a place to be heard and that it was a fair dismissal," said Michael Kruczek, President of the Warren County Education Association.

Kruczek says the act provides due process protections for teachers, which should keep good teachers in place and strengthen the state's education system.

Phillipsburg Superintendent George Chando says while it's still unclear exactly what impact the act will have, he believes it could empower districts.

"I think it gives districts a little more latitude to be able to make those decisions on an individual that's going to be offered tenure," said Chando.

The act has received a lot of support thus far and some would say that's because it represents a collaboration between districts, teachers, parents and legislators.

Education officials say the next step is formulate the evaluation process for teachers that will be the basis for tenure or termination.