TRENTON – Senator Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), chair of the Senate Education Committee and vice chair of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee, released the following statement on Commissioner Bret Schundler’s departure from the Department of Education:
“Firing someone provides no answers as to how we submitted an inaccurate application to the federal government for critical education funding.
“More importantly, it tells us nothing about how we are going to institute the measures of change that our state was moving toward before this occurred.
“Now that we’ve lost $400 million, the Governor’s Office and the Department of Education still must explain where the funding will come from to ensure that we move forward with reforms that will improve educational opportunities for our students.
“Given today’s turn of events, hearing from the Department of Education and the Administration at our upcoming meeting of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee now becomes more important than ever.
“New Jersey’s students deserve answers. But more than that, they deserve an effective state government that is committed to their educational success.”