FINAL 400 MIL POTPOURRI

Wednesday this Star Ledger's Editorial summed up what is known about the Governors role and Commissoner Schundlers role in the loss of Federal money for our schools. I am reprinting it for the benefit of those who would blame Christie as the only villain. Yes he bears responsibility for his error as the Governor. However the culprit has to be Schundler and the Consultants.

Bear in mind that these near 5 points lost are glaring and visible, but there were 44 other points lost some through other parties negative actions. These points also contributed to the State's loss.


The Star Ledger Editorial.
(bold type -mine)

Gov. Chris Christie said yesterday he wants to close down the embarrassing discussion about his administration’s mistakes that caused New Jersey to lose $400 million in federal education grants.

“There’s really no enduring mysteries left in this,” he said.

Sorry, but the forensic autopsy on this episode is not finished. In fact, Christie himself raised the temperature yesterday by calling former education commissioner Bret Schundler a liar. That’s no way to end a conversation.

Begin with the most startling news: This was no clerical error, as the administration has been saying from the start.

Schundler now says he changed the answer to the infamous question about funding of schools, a move that cost the state 5 points and $400 million. The question was intended to ensure that new money would be used to push reform, not to fill holes created by state budget cuts. It asked about funding in 2008 and 2009, the most recent years for which budgets were audited. Instead, he substituted data for the current year.
“The governor had a very high profile relative to cutting spending,” he says. “I feared that reviewers might take points away from New Jersey if they thought we were pulling back from our financial commitment.”

New Jersey schools lost more than $800 million this year, but that was because federal stimulus funding ran out. Schundler wanted the feds to know that the state contribution actually grew. His purpose was political.

But mysteries remain. Why was the 2008 and 2009 data removed when it would have strengthed the state’s case? And why didn’t the state’s highly paid consultants catch the mistake? The Legislature will have to sort that out in hearings.

Meanwhile, Christie is taking cheap shots at Schundler to divert blame from his own rash attack on the Obama administration.

The governor believes federal rules banning changes to the application after the deadline were too strict. Fine. But then he claimed that Schundler supplied the needed budget data to federal reviewers and was rebuffed. That bit of detail, it turns out, was not true.

Schundler says he made that clear to the governor personally. And he has e-mails sent to the governor’s senior staff that make the same point.

The governor claims that Schundler fed him false information verbally, a charge backed up by Maria Comella, his communications director.

Maybe we’ll never know. But this, too, is something the Legislature should examine.

7:15 am; This mornings Courier has a long story about a letter sent to the Media from Schundler.

I have not read it yet nor anything in the Ledger. I am reserving an author's right to add to or amend any remarks I have written. This will be an ongoing story until November's election in the least.

The "forum" from yesterday's post has become too long. Anybody who wishes to make significant constructive pro or con remarks please send to today's post. And despite one "anon's" opinion if in good taste I will post.