NJ Revamps School Construction Group

TRENTON-The scandal-ridden Schools Construction Corp. is no more. Under legislation signed at the end of last week by Gov. Jon Corzine, the group has been formally dissolved and is being replaced by a new state agency, dubbed the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.

“The reorganization is a testimony to this administration’s commitment to implement reforms that put an end to the waste and mismanagement of the past,” Corzine says, in a prepared statement. “We will now have a more streamlined entity with the proper controls in place [to] ensure more efficient delivery of quality schools… .”

Created in 2002 and allotted $8.6 billion to build new schools and rebuild old ones, the now-defunct SCC spent almost $5.7 billion of that allotment on new buildings and repairs to existing institutions numbering nearly 500 facilities. But the corporation collapsed earlier this year amid charges of major cost overruns and mismanagement.

The new NJSDA will be headed by Scott Weiner, former executive director of the old SCC. Weiner was hired to the latter post late last year as part of a management overhaul that eventually led to creation of the new NJSDA. Legislation has also been introduced to authorize the borrowing of an additional $3.3 million to be added to what remains of the former SCC’s original allotment.