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Njspotlight.com ‘Race to the Top Consultant Earned $500,000 for Two Failed Bids’
Star Ledger, ‘N.J. Democrats push for hearing on Race to the Top error, despite Christie's call to move on’
Njspotlight.com ‘Race to the Top Consultant Earned $500,000 for Two Failed Bids’
Star Ledger, ‘N.J. Democrats push for hearing on Race to the Top error, despite Christie's call to move on’
Njspotlight.com ‘Race to the Top Consultant Earned $500,000 for Two Failed Bids’
State Department of Education discloses new information about Wireless Generation
, September 1 in Education |1 Comment
Shedding more light on the private side of public education, additional details came out yesterday on New Jersey’s hiring of a Brooklyn consultant in its controversial -- and unsuccessful -- applications for Race to the Top money.
The firm’s fees now total more than $500,000.
Under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, the state Department of Education released new information on how Wireless Generation Inc. was first hired in December 2010 under former Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration. The contract was awarded after a hurried bid process to meet Race to the Top’s first-round January deadline.
Under the original contract, Wireless was paid $335,000, the highest of four bids for the work, according to the state. The lowest bid was less than half that amount at $145,500.
“Although Wireless was not the lowest bidder, the department’s evaluation committee scored the company’s bid higher than any other,” read a statement from Alan Guenther, the department’s spokesman.
A Clear Plan of Action
“The committee also said Wireless presented a clear, 25-day work plan to complete the application, and the company was willing to commit additional staff to finish the application without additional cost.”
Participants actually bid twice, with the first bids thrown out when Gov. Chris Christie’s transition teamput a freeze on all new contracts and then opened them again for the Race to the Top bid.
New Jersey failed to make the list of finalists in the first round, in which only two states ultimately won.
Wireless Generation was rehired by now-former state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler for the second round. Under that contract, the consultant was paid $179,750 for the application itself, and another $9,500 for advising the state’s oral presentation in August. The latter service was billed at $950 per day, according to the latest records.
A Losing Bid
New Jersey was among the finalists in the second round, but narrowly lost that bid as well, touching off a swirl of controversy. Christie fired Schundler last week over the miscommunications as to what went wrong.
Wireless Generation officials initially kept quiet about its role in the process, referring all questions to the state Department of Education.
Yesterday, it provided more details about its consulting work, which focuses on education technology but also supplies consulting about education reform initiatives, such as those included in the Race to the Top application.
“The company is highly respected for its proven expertise in educational data, technology and reform -- among the key elements prioritized by Race to the Top,” read the lengthy background statement furnished by the company.
Aligned with Institute for Learning
The statement said that Wireless also worked on the application with the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh. The IFL is led by Lauren Resnick, a nationally prominent education psychologist and researcher.
“The combined expertise of Wireless Generation, IFL, and the New Jersey Department of Education resulted in a highly competitive Race to the Top application,” the statement said.
According to documents provided earlier in the week, the company also was to be retained by the state for up to three years if New Jersey won the application.
The continued work was “to ensure that the project delivers the results that the United State Department of Education seeks, including data collection and analysis,” read the state’s waiver of competitive bidding rules.
Six-Figure Fees
Agreements for consultants to stay on once grant applications are completed are not unusual. Nor are the six-figure fees that Wireless Generation collected, said several consultants, who say company fees can be as high as $3,000 - 4,000 a day in some cases.
“With local money drying up, if you are a consultant right now, you follow where the grant money is, and that’s almost entirely in state and federal government,” said Richard Ten Eyck, a former New Jersey assistant commissioner and now an education consultant, although he said not with the state.
“Race to the Top, school improvement grants, these are all complicated enough applications that many states were looking for assistance,” he said.
Overall, the state education department spends tens of millions of dollars every year on professional services, according to New Jersey Department of Treasury’s website, YourMoney.NJ.gov.
In fiscal 2009 alone, it listed more than $35 million in professional services. One firm collected more than $6 million.
Star Ledger, ‘N.J. Democrats push for hearing on Race to the Top error, despite Christie's call to move on’
Published: Wednesday, September 01, 2010, 8:00 AM
Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday declared an end to the controversy over the state’s failed attempt for Race to the Top funding — saying the mystery of the fatal error had been solved — and called on top Democrats to cancel hearings on the controversial issue.
Democrats resisted, saying lingering questions remain about the error and the role of a consultant hired by the state to help complete the application for up to $400 million in federal education funding.
The Christie administration did not respond to requests for documents proving the error had been made by former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler. However, Schundler, who was fired last Friday, acknowledged he "must have" made the error. He said he learned the state had a draft of the application with edits, in his handwriting, that remove budget information federal officials had requested.
At a press conference in Morris County Tuesday, Christie said Schundler’s admission should close the book on the matter.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
• Gov. Chris Christie says it's 'time to move on' from Race to the Top error
• Fired N.J. education chief Bret Schundler says he made 'Race to the Top' error
• Future of N.J. school reform remains uncertain without federal funds, permanent education chief
• Tom Moran: Christie faces ugly political ramifications of 'Race to the Top' error, Schundler firing
• Schundler requested firing instead of resignation so he can collect unemployment
• Gov. Chris Christie fires N.J. schools chief Bret Schundler
• Gov. Christie blames Washington bureaucracy for state's failed 'Race to the Top' application
"There’s really no enduring mysteries left in this," he said. "We now know who made the mistake, we know how he made the mistake, we know when he made the mistake. And so it’s time now to move on."
The Republican governor also brushed aside demands by Democrats to apologize to the Obama administration, saying he stands by his criticism that the application rules are too rigid. Instead, he chastised Democrats, telling them to cancel their planned hearings and address the real matters affecting the state, like property taxes.
Christie said there is one clear lesson from last week’s fiasco: "Don’t lie to the governor," he said. "That’s the message."
The governor has maintained Schundler misled him about the state’s attempt to correct an error on the Race to the Top application during a presentation last month before peer judges in Washington, D.C.
Christie has said publicly the judges would not let the state correct the error. But a video released by the U.S. Department of Education contradicted those claims and showed the state did not try to correct the mistake.
The error was committed on a five-point question. The state provided school funding data for 2011 instead of 2008 and 2009, the years requested. The mistake cost New Jersey 4.8 points on the 500-point application.
In the end, New Jersey missed out on the funding by 3 points. Nine states and the District of Columbia were awarded more than $3.3 billion in Race to the Top funds, which reward states for aggressive and new approaches to improving schools.
Schundler has said he warned Christie not to say New Jersey tried to correct the error — which would have been against the rules — and produced e-mails from conversations last Tuesday in which he told the governor’s staff he did not provide new information to the judges.
But Tuesday, Christie said Schundler’s story was "the exact opposite" on Wednesday morning. He said Schundler told him he had "updated the panel at the hearing that he complied with the requirements of the question."
"It is, I think, pretty clear at this point that the truth wasn’t told," Christie said. "As governor, all you can do with cabinet officers is ask them questions and rely upon the fact that they’re going to give you the straight answers."
Schundler declined to comment Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex) said a hearing was still necessary to determine why, among other things, a consultant that was paid almost $180,000 for its work on the application did not catch the mistake.
The consultant, Wireless Generation, was paid $524,250 for work on two rounds of the federal competition, state contracts show.
"Let’s disclose all the documents, all the supporting documents, anything that was handwritten or marked up," he said. "Let’s have a thorough review of them, and then we’ll be able to turn the page and move on."
Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) said her chamber would move forward with a hearing.
"We’re not going to sweep this under the rug just because it’s politically expedient for the governor," Buono, the majority leader, said in a statement.
Staff writers Jessica Calefati and Matt Friedman contributed to this report.