State rebuilds school construction program

Legislation tears down scandal-rocked SCC, creates a new agency to manage spending

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL

Star-Ledger Staff

Seeking a fresh start for New Jersey's effort to rebuild hundreds of decrepit public schools in the state's poorest communities, Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday signed legislation that formally abolishes the scandal-plagued Schools Construction Corp.

The corporation was set up five years ago to jump-start an $8.6 billion court-ordered school building program, but collapsed amid widespread waste and mismanagement.

The bill Corzine signed will replace the corporation with a new state agency, the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, with expanded powers to control costs and reserve land for schools.

"The reorganization of the SCC is testimony to the commitment of this administration to implement reforms that put an end to the waste and mismanagement of the past," Corzine said. "We now have a more streamlined entity with the proper controls in place. This will ensure more efficient delivery of quality schools which are greatly needed across the state."

Critics, however, contend the changes are too superficial to remedy the deep-seated problems that derailed the ambitious school building program two years ago.

"It's like giving gum drops to a terminally ill patient," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington), a sponsor of the legislation in 2000 to finance the school building program. "I don't think this (new) legislation guarantees we don't have a repeat of the fool's folly we just had."

The overhaul of the construction program began in 2005, after a Star-Ledger analysis found the first six schools built by the SCC cost, on average, 45 percent more than schools built by local boards of education at the same time.

A subsequent series of state audits and reviews showed the original corporation wasted hundreds of millions of dollars through poor planning, excessive professional fees and lax oversight in a rush to get school projects under construction quickly.

Since its establishment five years ago, the corporation has spent $5.7 billion of the $8.6 billion allotted to it.

That includes $1.7 billion distributed in grants to suburban communities, and $4 billion spent on the hundreds of aging schools the state Supreme Court ordered the state to repair or replace, under terms of the long-running Abbott vs. Burke school funding lawsuit.

With that $4 billion, SCC records show, the state has erected 33 new school buildings, built additions to 56 more and made repairs to about 400 schools.

Supporters of the school building program say the changes formalize a series of reforms that have made it more accountable and efficient, and want the Legislature to authorize borrowing another $3.25 billion for a new round of projects.

"What this legislation does is provide additional accountability to the people of New Jersey, to the governor and to the people of New Jersey," said Scott Weiner, chief executive officer of the schools corporation.

Weiner, like most of the key personnel at the corporation, will retain his post in the new authority. He was brought on board last year as part of a management overhaul that set up new systems of budgeting and accounting for the construction program. Staff Writer Rick Hepp contributed to this report. Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com.