Dash: State DOE miscue hurt all schools
By Chris Sykes, Staff Writer
An East Orange charter school director said state education officials must work to avoid the mistakes which caused New Jersey to miss out on up to $400 million in federal funds.
Education Commissioner Brett Schundler was fired by Gov. Chris Christie last week after the state’s application for federal Race to the Top funds failed to secure education funding for New Jersey’s public schools.
Local media outlets revealed that mistakes in the 1,000-page application resulted in the state losing out on $400 million of the $3.4 billion which was awarded. Under the scoring formula, New Jersey ranked 11th, just outside the top 10, which received funds.
Ohio, which beat out New Jersey’s application by 3 points, was the 10th-ranked state.
Christie initially accepted responsibility for the expensive errors, then later blamed the federal government and President Barack Obama for not giving New Jersey the opportunity to correct the mistakes before making final decisions about the funding allocations.
At the time, the governor said he based his remarks on information from Schundler regarding the application process. It was later revealed that federal education reviewers gave Schundler and his staff two opportunities to give correct budget information during their presentation. They were unable to do so.
In the wake of that misinformation and past differences of opinion, Christie asked Schundler to resign. Schundler declined, preferring instead to be fired so that he may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits.
An East Orange charter school director said state education officials must work to avoid the mistakes which caused New Jersey to miss out on up to $400 million in federal funds.
Education Commissioner Brett Schundler was fired by Gov. Chris Christie last week after the state’s application for federal Race to the Top funds failed to secure education funding for New Jersey’s public schools.
Local media outlets revealed that mistakes in the 1,000-page application resulted in the state losing out on $400 million of the $3.4 billion which was awarded. Under the scoring formula, New Jersey ranked 11th, just outside the top 10, which received funds.
Ohio, which beat out New Jersey’s application by 3 points, was the 10th-ranked state.
Christie initially accepted responsibility for the expensive errors, then later blamed the federal government and President Barack Obama for not giving New Jersey the opportunity to correct the mistakes before making final decisions about the funding allocations.
At the time, the governor said he based his remarks on information from Schundler regarding the application process. It was later revealed that federal education reviewers gave Schundler and his staff two opportunities to give correct budget information during their presentation. They were unable to do so.
In the wake of that misinformation and past differences of opinion, Christie asked Schundler to resign. Schundler declined, preferring instead to be fired so that he may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits.
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