Christie Fires Education Commissioner Over Funding Gaffe

New Jersey governor Chris Christie has fired state education commissioner Bret Schundler in the wake of a clerical mistake that may have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funds.

KYW's Paul Kurtz reports that the firing comes after Schundler was first asked to resign but refused.

The State of New Jersey was denied up to $400 million in "Race to the Top" money because of a clerical error on the application form -- someone did not check off a particular box.

In a statement, Christie says he fired Commissioner Schundler basically for lying to him about what transpired at the "Race to the Top" presentation to federal officials.

Schundler had told Christie that he tried to correctly answer a bungled question, but the governor, after looking at a videotape of the presentation, says that's not what happened.

Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, says Christie has scapegoated Schundler:

"Back in May, Commissioner Schundler worked with NJEA and other stakeholders to put together a 'Race to the Top' application.  It was a good application and would have been a winning application.

"At the last minute, Governor Christie got word of this, became furious that NJEA had been involved in the process, threw out that application, and submitted his own application -- a weaker application that didn't win."

Schundler, a former Jersey City mayor and gubernatorial candidate, is an outspoken proponent of educational reform.

Christie issued a written statement this afternoon that said:

"I was extremely disappointed to learn that the videotape of the 'Race to the Top' presentation was not consistent with the information provided to me by the New Jersey Department of Education and which I then conveyed to the people of New Jersey.  As a result, I ordered an end to Bret Schundler's service as New Jersey's education commissioner and as a member of my administration.

"As I have said before, I never promised the people of New Jersey that this would be a mistake-free administration. However, I did promise that the people serving in my administration would be held accountable for their actions. As I said on Wednesday, I am accountable for what occurs in my administration.  I regret this mistake was made and will do all I can to have my administration avoid them in the future."

New Jersey Democratic state party chairman John Wisniewski reacted to the firing with the following written statement:

"It's no surprise that Governor Christie chose to let Commissioner Schundler take the blame for his blunder.  No matter what happened at the presentation, the fact remains that if the governor didn't scrap the agreement
painstakingly negotiated with various stakeholders including teachers and instead submit his own application at the last minute, we'd be celebrating the awarding of $400 million to New Jersey schools.  Instead
we're left to watch New York and Delaware qualify for nearly $1 billion in 'Race to the Top' funding for their children."

New Jersey assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester County) is a member the Education Committee:

"First he tried to blame the Obama administration for this 400-million-dollar mistake, when it turned out the videotape showed it wasn't their fault but his own people. Now he wants to blame his education commissioner. He needs to man up and take responsibility for a 400-million-dollar mistake that will cost taxpayers in the State of New Jersey."

Stay tuned to KYW Newsradio 1060 for updates on this developing news story.