(TRENTON) – Assembly Education Chair Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr. on Tuesday issued the following statement concerning the School Development Authority’s (SDA) announcement that it will begin work on just 76 school improvement projects out of hundreds which are pending:
“The School Development Authority hasn’t built one new school during the 26 months of the Christie Administration. The announced list of 76 so-called emergent projects is basically a patchwork collection of school repairs.
“Maybe we should reach out to Sears or the Home Depot and see what they would bid to complete these maintenance projects. I have to believe it will be a fraction of the cost of running the School Development Authority. This bureaucratic albatross costs taxpayers almost $50 million per year in salaries and overhead. They have hundreds of professional staff including engineers and architects on the payroll and this is the best they can do?
“Replacing unsafe schools and building centers of learning is not a choice. It is mandated by both our Supreme Court and by our common decency. It’s time the SDA does the job it was established to do.”