School-building
agency retooled
Included in new goals listed by
Corzine: Deciding whether SCC should continue
Wednesday, February 08, 2006 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL
• Star-Ledger Staff
Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday launched an
overhaul of New Jersey's $8.6billion public school
construction program, appointing six new directors and a
special panel to determine whether the troubled agency in
charge of the venture should be disbanded.
In an extensive executive order signed
yesterday, Corzine also directed the attorney general to
take legal action to recover damages from any contractor who
overcharged the schools program or delivered faulty
work.
"This executive order reflects my
commitment for reform of the schools construction program,"
Corzine said in a statement.
Corzine named Barry Zubrow, a former
Goldman Sachs executive, to serve as chairman of the SCC's
12-member board of directors. He also appointed Scott
Weiner, a former state environmental commissioner, to the
board and to the temporary post of special counsel in charge
of reviewing the construction program's operations on the
governor's behalf.
Those two, working with the state
treasurer and the commissioner of education, are scheduled
to report back to Corzine by March 15 about how best to
restructure the school construction program and whether the
SCC should continue to exist.
"Specific recommendations are to be
developed addressing the reorganization of the Schools
Construction Corporation, considering such options as
creating a new educational facilities authority in the
Department of Education or the Department of Treasury, or by
enhancing the capabilities of the New Jersey Building
Authority," Corzine's order states.
Along with that interagency task force,
Corzine formed a five- member Citizens Advisory Panel to
serve in a consulting role.
The SCC was formed about three years ago
to oversee a court- ordered rebuilding of hundreds of
decrepit, outmoded school buildings in Newark and 30 more of
the state's neediest communities. It was allotted $6 billion
for that purpose, and another $2.6 billion to help finance
school buildings in suburban districts.
The schools program has been buffeted by
controversy and turnover for a year, since a Star-Ledger
report showed the first six schools built by the agency
cost, on average, 45 percent more than 19 schools built
without the corporation's involvement at the same
time.
That report prompted an ongoing review by
the state inspector general, which found the corporation
riddled with management weaknesses that left the program
vulnerable to "waste, fraud and abuse."
After these reports, the corporation's
board chairman and chief executive officers resigned, a new
chief financial officer was installed and the SCC's rules
for professional contracts and change orders were revamped
to rein in overruns.
In July, the retooled board suspended
work on hundreds of pending school projects, saying the
entire $6 billion allotted for urban schools would be enough
to erect only 71 of almost 200 new schools slated for
construction.
Zubrow, whose role as operations head at
Goldman Sachs included oversight of construction of its
high-rise headquarters in Jersey City, said he wants to make
sure management controls are in place before seeking
additional school building funds from the
Legislature.
"I don't have a time frame for when we'll
start thinking about new revenues," he said. "The first
priority has to be to make sure we have the business
management controls in the corporation fixed."
Corzine's order also directs the new SCC
directors and the interagency task force to launch a
"broad-based" search for a new chief executive officer for
the corporation, who would be the fourth in its brief
history. The current head, Peter Maricondo, was hired as the
corporation's first chief financial officer in May, then
named chief executive when former CEO Jack Spencer
resigned.
Corzine's strategy for overhauling the
construction program drew praise from David Sciarra,
executive director of the Education Law Center, the Newark
organization that won the court order for school
construction.
"This to me is a very positive step," he
said. "It creates a very structured process in which all of
the operations of the SCC, the Department of Education, have
to be reviewed, looking toward the development of a
comprehensive reform effort."
Dunstan McNichol covers state government issues. He may
be reached at dmcnichol@starled ger.com or (609) 989-0341.
© 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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