State Assembly members Mila Jasey and John McKeon, while agreeing with colleague Shelia Y. Oliver's scheduling for a Sept. 7 hearing about New Jersey's "Race to the Top" application debacle, are hoping that the mistakes that led to state education commissioner Bred Schundler's Aug. 27 firing will be seen by all around as a lesson learned.
"The $400 million is lost," said Jasey, of South Orange, to Local Talk Aug. 31. "We have to move on to do what's best for our children's education."
"It's too early to tell what will happen to the programs that Race to the Top would fund," said McKeon, of West Orange, Aug. 30. "We're in a difficult economic time. I'd agree with the Governor that the system is more than one man but we don't know what direction the administration will now take."
Jasey and McKeon, along with Orange native-turned Roseland resident State Sen. Richard Codey, represent the 27th State Legislative District in Trenton. The district currently includes Orange, South Orange, West Orange and Maplewood.
The two assembly members joined most of their State House colleagues in commenting on Gov. Christopher Christie's Aug. 27 firing of Schundler. Christie, of Mendham, had first asked Schundler, of Jersey City, to resign Aug. 26 after viewing the U.S. Department of Education's videotape of the latter's "Race to the Top" presentation late last month. Schundler, a former Jersey City mayor and gubernatorial candidate, asked to be fired so he can qualify for unemployment insurance.
The videotape showed Schundler and a five-member New Jersey delegation unable to come up with data that Race officials had asked for during their appearance. The USDOE officials had asked for financial figures from 2008 during the presentation - and on the 1,000-page application.
The application was filed with 2009 figures instead, which became the lightning rod for reaction when USDOE announced Aug. 24 that New Jersey just missed becoming one the 10 qualifying states. Out of a 500-point scoring range, New Jersey was ranked 11th, three points short of collecting its share of the more than $1 billion "Race to the Top" Round Two.
"We were five points away from finishing in eighth place," said McKeon. "We would have gone past Ohio."
"There was one category on creating an electronic student file system, which we don't have but we're working on," said Jasey. "Having that system in place would've given us 18 points. That's something that no one has talked about."
Jasey was referring to a scholastic file system that would travel with the student from school to school or district to district. It is similar to the electronic patient database files that are part of President Barack H. Obama's Health Care Reform plan.
The Race to the Top qualifying categories also includes greater teacher accountability through student test performance and the volume of charter schools. Race to the Top's first two rounds were funded through the American Recovery and Reconstruction federal stimulus act.
"Instead of just giving out funds," said Obama in a wintertime public radio interview, "we're having states compete for the money. The competition would stimulate educational innovation."
The finger-pointing began almost immediately after the USDOE Aug. 24 announcement. Christie, in an Aug. 25 press conference, said that, as governor, was responsible for the mistake. While he asked aloud why the federal officials did not make a phone call for the 2008 figures, he said, in an Aug. 26 radio interview, that he wanted to see the videotape.
Christie and Schundler then questioned each other of whether the missing figures were replaced among three drafts in May and June. Schundler, at his home Aug. 30, said that he had inadvertently left out the data.
Jasey, a former South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education member and president, recalled an early March agreement that Schundler had reached with the New Jersey Education Association but Christie shot the compromise down.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
