Responding to Gov. Chris Christie’s State-of-the-State address, Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr. issued the following statement Tuesday:
“Between the Race to the Top and charter school grant funding debacles, the firing of education commissioner Bret Schundler, the failure to fill the position of secretary of higher education and his continued vilification of teachers, one can only conclude that education was not given proper attention by Gov. Christie in his first year in office.
Hopefully, today’s speech by the governor is the first step in restoring the education of our children as a top priority for our state.
“I will take the governor at his word. Let’s all commit ourselves to improving New Jersey’s schools.
“It’s time to stop vilifying teachers and properly fund education in the upcoming budget, work cooperatively to obtain federal dollars and appoint a secretary of higher education.”