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Another example of why big government is silly
Again, we have another fine example of why big government and bureaucracy is a joke and will end up hurting us all in the long run if its not done away with. New Jersey was up for a large education grant along with several other states. Each state had a fill out a application... a 1000 page application. New Jersey filled out their application and sent it in. They come to find out that on one single page of the 1000 page application, there was a clerical error... they were asked for some figures from a particular school year and had inadvertently sent figures for a different year. The right thing for US dept. of Education to do was to simple call, get the correct figures and put them in there and everything would be good. Of course that's to easy and in the end, New Jersey just missed out on receiving about $400 million dollars for their schools. Why the application was 1000 pages to begin with is simply silly and a waste of our time. I can't imagine what they would need 1000 pages of information for.... big government run amok.
I do have to say that I do like New Jersey's governor.. he's a no nonsense type of guy and isn't afraid to tell you exactly how he feels. His type of attitude is partly what is missing in Washington these days... to many people there only telling you want you want to hear and then doing whatever is on their agenda. At this point there are not to many republicans or democrats I would consider voting for for president, Chris Christie is one I would consider though!!
New Jersey admits error on federal school funding application, asks for leftover aid
New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said Wednesday he has asked the U.S. secretary of education to give the state the remaining $75 million in unallocated Race to the Top funds.
But Democratic legislators want to know how the state Department of Education made a mistake on its grant application, costing New Jersey $400 million in federal education funds.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver, D-Essex, Passaic, said Wednesday that Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nellie Pou, D-Bergen, Passaic, will hold a hearing to explore what she called a glaring misstep in the application.
Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, and Majority Leader Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, said the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee also will schedule a hearing with the goal of changing the state’s method of handling similar applications in the future.
Gov. Chris Christie admitted Wednesday that the state submitted data for the wrong year in response to one item in the 1,000-page application packet, which cost the state five points on the rating system. But he also went on the offensive, criticizing the U.S. Department of Education’s review process for eliminating an otherwise eligible application for funding because of a clerical error.
“You’re not going to grant the award to New Jersey because of a mistake, a clerical mistake, or one piece of paper?” he asked. “That’s the stuff that drives people nuts about government, and that’s the stuff the Obama administration should answer for.”
He said the error was noted by reviewers and the state submitted the correct information two weeks before the final decision on which states would get funding. He said he would take responsibility for the error, and would not fire the person who compiled the report for making the one mistake.
A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the department announced that nine states and the District of Columbia were chosen from 19 finalists to receive funding. New Jersey was one of the finalists, but its final score of 437.8 ranked it 11th and just out of the money. Ohio, which was 10th, scored 440.8 out of a possible 500. The top-ranked state, Massachusetts, scored 471.
In a news release Duncan said many of the applicants’ point totals were very close, but the deciding factor on the number of winners hinged both on the quality of the applications and the funds available. He said he hoped there could be a third round of funds.
“We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round,” Duncan said.
Schundler on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, asking him to consider giving New Jersey the $75 million that remains unallocated from the $4 billion fund. He wrote that the state had the next highest score among the finalists and could use the money to achieve some of its goals, including building its data collection system, training teachers and developing curriculum and testing.
Christie said Wednesday that the total application still scored 51 points higher than the one submitted for the first round of funding, when Jon S. Corzine was governor. Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, got funding in that round.
New Jersey’s score also jumped from 403.4 when the finalists were first announced, to 437.8 during the second tier of review. A review of the final scoring shows the state lost the most points in areas that relate to its contentious relationship with the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association.
The state got only 34 points out of a possible 45 points for securing commitments from other educational groups to support the application. The NJEA pulled its support after Christie rejected compromises Schundler had made with the union on the application’s treatment of teachers. The state also got just 51 points out of a possible 65 for articulating the state’s reform agenda and how other educational groups (school districts and unions) would participate in that agenda.
NJEA President Barbara Keshishian on Tuesday placed the blame for the state’s loss squarely on Christie, saying he had hijacked the application process for his own political purposes.
The state also lost points for its lack of a fully implemented statewide system to track student performance, earning just 14 points out of a possible 24.
The state scored very high in other areas, getting 69 points out of a possible 70 for its plans for standards and assessments. The application also got 49 points out of a possible 50 points for its plans to turn around the lowest-achieving schools, and earned the full 15 points for integrating so-called STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, into its plans.
Other states that received funds Tuesday were Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/new_jersey/article_70...
I do have to say that I do like New Jersey's governor.. he's a no nonsense type of guy and isn't afraid to tell you exactly how he feels. His type of attitude is partly what is missing in Washington these days... to many people there only telling you want you want to hear and then doing whatever is on their agenda. At this point there are not to many republicans or democrats I would consider voting for for president, Chris Christie is one I would consider though!!
New Jersey admits error on federal school funding application, asks for leftover aid
New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said Wednesday he has asked the U.S. secretary of education to give the state the remaining $75 million in unallocated Race to the Top funds.
But Democratic legislators want to know how the state Department of Education made a mistake on its grant application, costing New Jersey $400 million in federal education funds.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver, D-Essex, Passaic, said Wednesday that Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nellie Pou, D-Bergen, Passaic, will hold a hearing to explore what she called a glaring misstep in the application.
Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, and Majority Leader Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, said the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee also will schedule a hearing with the goal of changing the state’s method of handling similar applications in the future.
Gov. Chris Christie admitted Wednesday that the state submitted data for the wrong year in response to one item in the 1,000-page application packet, which cost the state five points on the rating system. But he also went on the offensive, criticizing the U.S. Department of Education’s review process for eliminating an otherwise eligible application for funding because of a clerical error.
“You’re not going to grant the award to New Jersey because of a mistake, a clerical mistake, or one piece of paper?” he asked. “That’s the stuff that drives people nuts about government, and that’s the stuff the Obama administration should answer for.”
He said the error was noted by reviewers and the state submitted the correct information two weeks before the final decision on which states would get funding. He said he would take responsibility for the error, and would not fire the person who compiled the report for making the one mistake.
A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the department announced that nine states and the District of Columbia were chosen from 19 finalists to receive funding. New Jersey was one of the finalists, but its final score of 437.8 ranked it 11th and just out of the money. Ohio, which was 10th, scored 440.8 out of a possible 500. The top-ranked state, Massachusetts, scored 471.
In a news release Duncan said many of the applicants’ point totals were very close, but the deciding factor on the number of winners hinged both on the quality of the applications and the funds available. He said he hoped there could be a third round of funds.
“We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round,” Duncan said.
Schundler on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, asking him to consider giving New Jersey the $75 million that remains unallocated from the $4 billion fund. He wrote that the state had the next highest score among the finalists and could use the money to achieve some of its goals, including building its data collection system, training teachers and developing curriculum and testing.
Christie said Wednesday that the total application still scored 51 points higher than the one submitted for the first round of funding, when Jon S. Corzine was governor. Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, got funding in that round.
New Jersey’s score also jumped from 403.4 when the finalists were first announced, to 437.8 during the second tier of review. A review of the final scoring shows the state lost the most points in areas that relate to its contentious relationship with the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association.
The state got only 34 points out of a possible 45 points for securing commitments from other educational groups to support the application. The NJEA pulled its support after Christie rejected compromises Schundler had made with the union on the application’s treatment of teachers. The state also got just 51 points out of a possible 65 for articulating the state’s reform agenda and how other educational groups (school districts and unions) would participate in that agenda.
NJEA President Barbara Keshishian on Tuesday placed the blame for the state’s loss squarely on Christie, saying he had hijacked the application process for his own political purposes.
The state also lost points for its lack of a fully implemented statewide system to track student performance, earning just 14 points out of a possible 24.
The state scored very high in other areas, getting 69 points out of a possible 70 for its plans for standards and assessments. The application also got 49 points out of a possible 50 points for its plans to turn around the lowest-achieving schools, and earned the full 15 points for integrating so-called STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, into its plans.
Other states that received funds Tuesday were Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/new_jersey/article_70...
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Edie Lindsey on
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With a 2010 budget of $46.7 Billion, the federal Department of Education was the brainchild of Jimmy Carter. This super-constitutional organization was supposed to be eliminated by Reagan when he won in 1980, but he failed to do so. Bob Dole had it in his platform in 1996 to eliminate this waste of funds, but he lost. GWB with his no-child-left-behind only strengthened the beast, and of course the D-side loves it.
Leave learning to the States and Yokels. Begging for federal funds is so unbecoming for states to do.
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