Democrats says they believe the application was filled out improperly; Christie spokesman says Corzine is at fault
TRENTON — Democrats and Republicans Monday blamed each other for New Jersey’s failure to get $14 million in federal charter school funding.
The state applied for $14 million through a competitive process to be used over three years to fund the start-up costs of new charter schools.
When the federal Department of Education denied the state’s application in August, it cited a lack of oversight to measure how successful current charter schools are.
Since the application was due in May, Gov. Chris Christie’s spokesman said the denial was the result of what he called anti-charter school policies by former Gov. Jon Corzine.
"There was a definite change in culture and attitude toward charter schools," spokesman Michael Drewniak said. "Most importantly there has been a huge increase in applications since we came into office."
The state got the denial notice on August 3, a few weeks before learning it missed out on $400 million in Race to the Top education funding because a question was unanswered on the application. News of the charter school money surfaced only Monday in a Philadelphia Inquirer report on the denials for New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
That wasn’t missed by Assembly Education Chairman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), who said he just learned of the charter school application rejection Monday.
"When things aren’t transparent, people become suspicious by nature," Diegnan said. "That makes me uncomfortable."
Since the state received money from the same program four times before, Diegnan said it must have been a problem with the way the administration filled out the application. New Jersey received $6.2 million in 2006, the last round of federal funding.
"And what happened in the four intervening years?" Drewniak responded in an e-mail. "Governor Corzine sucked up to the NJEA, which holds a death grip on the education status quo and opposes expansion of charter schools at all costs."
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) Monday called it another "botched" application.
"The bottom line appears to be this — the Christie administration again dropped the ball and submitted a very sketchy, thrown-together application," she said in a statement.
The administration is hopeful next year’s the application will be granted, Drewniak said. Proposed reforms, including ones that would allow Rutgers University to approve and monitor charter schools, are pending in the Legislature.
Drewniak said lawmakers are hampering reform efforts, including the governor’s proposed "tool kit" for municipalities. "Maybe they could get constructive and start looking at the reforms rather than protecting the special interests," Drewniak said.
Previous coverage:'
• N.J. misses out on $14M federal aid to start up charter schools
• N.J. Department of Education sees surge in charter school applications
• Charter school applicants hope to boost number of charter schools in N.J. cities
• N.J. Department of Education receives record number of charter school applications
• Acting N.J. education chief announces $30M in low-interest bonds for charter schools