I wasn’t going to comment on what is, really, nothing more than a clerical error — an expensive error, to be sure. But Gov. Chris Christie’s arrogance over this is remarkable. Consider this comment, published in today’s Star-Ledger:
While taking responsibility for the “clerical error,” Christie also blamed the Obama administration for refusing to let the state correct the error.
“This is the stuff, candidly, that drives people crazy about government and crazy about Washington,” the governor said, adding that the reviewers appeared to be more concerned with technical details than the educational proposals.
Christie said President Obama needs to explain “to the people of the state of New Jersey why he’s depriving them of $400 million that this application earned them, because one of his bureaucrats in Washington couldn’t pick up the phone and ask a question, couldn’t go on the internet and find information.”
It was the governor’s people who made the mistake, but the governor has decided to push blame off on the Obama administration, which was just following its rules. Imagine how the governor would have reacted were the New Jersey and Ohio positions reversed and the Obama administration opted to give Ohio a second shot at the application because it was the one that made the mistake.
The fact is, the Christie administration submitted an application knowing that it did not have the opportunity to make changes in the paperwork after the deadline. It made the mistake, which cost the state some points and left the state short. He should man up, as they say.
Bob Braun, in his Ledger column, makes it clear that the state lost out not just because of the clerical error — he’s a bit soft on the feds on this one — but because the application was weak and damaged by the contentious relationship between Christie and the teachers union, one that federal reviewers said raised flags about the ability of the state to implement its goals. New Jersey “didn’t get such high grades on its ability to persuade educators to sign on to its plan — a reflection on the contentious Christie-NJEA feud that climaxed with the governor’s last-minute rejection of a plan that his own education commissioner, Bret Schundler, negotiated with the union.”
“This lack of greater involvement will challenge N.J.’s efforts to meet its goals,” another reviewer concluded.
The reviewers also raised questions about the development of a statewide database to track pupil success and failure — something Schundler had earlier praised as an early accomplishment of his tenure.
“A detailed plan with specific goals, activities, timelines, and responsibilities was not included, so only medium points are awarded,” a reviewer noted.
The points deducted for issues like a database or the failure to bring educators to accept the plan cost New Jersey far more than the points deducted for including the wrong year.
The failure to garner Race to the Top money — which is incredibly flawed and based on some truly questionable goals (school choice and merit pay, both of which are conservative talking points — is only part of the problem here. The fractious relationship between Christie and the union is going to have its impact in the classroom at some point, and that’s just unacceptable.
Hank Kalet 