Bret Under the Bus

(Updated 8/28/10)
It looks like not only was New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler squished like a bug under the wheels of the school bus but he may have dived under it himself.

Or maybe not. This one is murky.

Schundler was fired by Governor Christie yesterday morning. Why?

As you may know, New Jersey lost a whopping $400 million 'Race to the Top' federal education grant, and New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler was both blamed for a bungled answer during his presentation to the U.S. Department of Education, and then lying to Governor Christie about it. Said bungle described in the NJ Star-Ledger:

The state lost a competitive grant contest for education funding by 3 points. While the state lost points across a number of areas for substantive issues, a blunder on one 5-point question has caused an uproar in Trenton. The state lost 4.8 points by seemingly misreading the question, which asked for information from 2008 and 2009 budgets. The state provided information from 2011.

So Schundler couldn't provide information for 2008 and 2009 budgets. But the plot thickens.

According to the New Jersey Teacher's Association, the information for the correct budget years was in an earlier (May 27) application draft submitted, and suggested that the 'administration' had changed it for the final June 1st submission. Why? To scrub compromises made with the state's largest teacher's union, New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), Christie's nemesis, for those years under the Corzine administration.

Which begs the question, who ordered the removal of the budget data that tripped up Schundler?

If it came from 'higher up', is it fair to scapegoat Schundler for not having the answer at the presentation?

Perhaps realizing the magnitude and consequence of his blunder Schundler may have then made a bad call to deceive his boss on the presentation. Not a great plan. But is it FAIR to blame Schundler for not delivering the grant if critical information was pulled out of the application? The panel would not have needed to ask for the data had it been included.

It's still unclear how the error was made. The New Jersey Teachers Association produced a version as of May 27 of the bungled answer — from a draft including compromises later jettisoned — that included information for the correct budget years. The NJEA said the paper proved the administration had changed it in the process of re-writing the application to take out the compromises with the state's largest teachers union, which has been Christie's most vocal combatant during his first year as governor. The application was submitted June 1.

Further, based on the June kerfuffle with Governor Christie, as reported on June 3rd in the Star-Ledger, one can surmise that Schundler's boss was tinkering and tweaking with the state's application data right up until the June 1st submission.

Gov. Chris Christie continued to publicly criticize his own education commissioner today, ignoring the teachers’ union’s claim that he is undermining the credibility of one of the state’s most important officers.

The governor also renewed his attacks on New Jersey Education Association, and said he doesn’t believe his rejection of an agreement worked out by Commissioner Bret Schundler and the union will endanger the state’s application for up to $400 million in federal school funding.

At issue is the second round of funding available through President Obama’s competitive grant program, designed to reward states for aggressive and new approaches to improving schools. New Jersey filed a first-round application in January, but failed, while Delaware received $100 million and Tennessee got $500 million. Up to 15 states are likely to win funding out 36 that applied.

The state hand-delivered its application Tuesday.Christie made his comments a day after publicly scolding Schundler for agreeing to compromises on teacher tenure and merit pay - which were to be part of the application for $400,000 in Race to the Top funding from the Obama administration.

Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a Washington think tank, said the political scuffle in Trenton probably would have no effect on New Jersey’s application but losing the NJEA’s endorsement could.

"It’s not as if they’re going to deduct 10 points because the governor had a nasty clash with the union," Jennings said. "It’s all a matter of how many points you gain for each element of the application. By not agreeing with the teachers union, the state is losing points. Then again, its comparative. You have to know what’s in all 36 applications (from other competing states)."

Maybe you were wrong, Jack. Maybe the political scuffle in Trenton had everything to do with New Jersey's application, as in the removal of Corzine concessions with the teacher's union, the data that Schundler didn't have at the presentation.

Well, it's over and done for Bret Schundler.

I'm guessing the writing was on the wall, but who knew he'd be bearing the weight of a devastating $400 million dollar loss to New Jersey public schools, one which will certainly dog him for the rest of his political or business career.

Not nice, Governor.

(Original post: 06/04/10)


Look who's mad at New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler!

It appears that Mr. Schundler went off the ranch in his negotiations with the New Jersey Education Association, and was publicly accused by his boss on Monday of caving in to union demands.

On Tuesday, Christie repeated his criticism to the Star Ledger.

Christie made his comments a day after publicly scolding Schundler for agreeing to compromises on teacher tenure and merit pay - which were to be part of the application for $400M in Race to the Top funding from the Obama administration.

During an exclusive interview, Christie said Schundler was never empowered to negotiate away key provisions of the governor’s education agenda and any impression to the contrary was wrong. The governor said the deal Schundler reached with the union did nothing but cave in to the NJEA and gut his plan for improving state schools. Christie said he heard Thursday night that an accord had been reached but knew no details.

Ouch.

It's one thing for a boss to reprimand an employee in his office, it's another to do it in front of a nation. Schundler might have had national aspirations, but he's just been kneecapped by his popular Republican boss, made to look like a freelancer instead of a party loyalist, and no doubt he's damaged goods for the rest of his term should he choose to stay. Certainly his credibility has been seriously undermined by the Governor's public spanking. State-wide and nationally. So Christie sacrificed Schundler to send a message: autonomy is a state-of-mind; in MY state you follow MY orders.

At issue is the second round of funding available through President Obama’s competitive grant program, designed to reward states for aggressive and new approaches to improving schools. New Jersey filed a first-round application in January, but failed, while Delaware received $100 million and Tennessee got $500 million. Up to 15 states are likely to win funding out 36 that applied.

The state hand-delivered its application Tuesday.

Christie has been battling the NJEA since last year’s nasty gubernatorial campaign when the union backed Gov. Jon Corzine aggressively. So when news of a deal was announced last week it was welcomed as a sign that peace had been reached between the two sides.

Uh, yeah. Peace.

What were the concessions that Schundler made against the Governor's wishes? And how do these concessions 'gut' his plans for improving state schools? He doesn't say. But...

My overall impression of Schundler is much improved from when he was appointed. In spite of disagreements with his policies, such as his support of vouchers, he seems to be a principled guy, not a party hack. That's how I saw it when he attended the Hoboken Republican Club's 6th Annual Lincoln Dinner here in Hoboken during the recent very heated BoE race.

Commissioner Schundler was invited as the keynote speaker. There he praised the current (Kids-First majority) BoE's performance on their substantial budget decrease and getting custodial union givebacks on healthcare, in front of their all-Republican opponents, Team Real Results. That was not an act of hackery. That was Schundler praising the achievements of our School Board, irrespective of party affiliation.

So now that he has strayed off his boss' righteous path, how far did he go and is the impact really so grievous to the accomplishment of Christie's plans?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Whether Schundler can stay on unbowed and unrepentant, or if he caves or if he quits.