NJEA President Barbara Keshishian issued the following statement upon learning that Gov. Christie has finally applied for New Jersey’s $268 million share of the Education Jobs Fund money which has been available to states for nearly a month:
"We are pleased that the governor has finally applied for New Jersey’s share of this important federal funding. We continue to be dismayed, however, that he waited until almost the last possible moment to do so. If his objective was to keep 3,900 New Jersey educators unemployed for as long as possible and to create maximum chaos and confusion in our classrooms, he has certainly succeeded.
"While he dragged his feet, other states that applied as early as August 13 have already received their funds. By failing to act quickly and decisively to get this money to New Jersey, Gov. Christie ensured that our schools would open with fewer people working and larger class sizes. Nearly 4,000 people who could have gone to work this morning are unemployed today because of the governor’s irresponsible delay.
"I hope New Jersey residents will look at the application and decide for themselves whether there is any justification for taking nearly a month to decide which of two boxes to check, because that is all he’s had to do since August 13.
"Now that we know the money is headed to New Jersey and how it is going to be distributed, the governor should direct the Department of Education to immediately advise every district in the state of how much funding it will receive, so districts can act quickly to begin getting educators off the unemployment rolls and back into our schools."