| Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and Paul Kanitra say the Department of Education is acting like a state-sponsored mob and may have broken the law when it threatened to revoke the licenses of Toms River Regional Schools’ Superintendent Michael Citta and Business Administrator William Doering for rejecting a school budget that would not provide a thorough and efficient education after the state cut millions more in aid. The lawmakers are calling on the Attorney General’s Office to immediately investigate.
“It is a crime in this state to threaten to harm a public official in order to influence a decision or vote of that official on any public issue. Whether that threat is physical or economic makes no difference. This is on the same level as organized crime in my opinion. I don’t see any difference,” McGuckin (R-Ocean) said. “Attorney General Platkin must take these threats seriously and investigate them fully. If true, acting education commissioner Kevin Dehmer and any other state official who conspired to issue such a threat should be fired immediately by Governor Murphy.”
McGuckin and Kanitra say the department potentially violated a state statute that makes threatening a public servant with purpose to influence a decision a third-degree crime.
“The DOE isn’t even trying to hide its disdain for certain school districts. The verbal harassment has devolved into slanderous public statements and thinly veiled threats. It’s time the leaders of the department are held accountable for this reprehensible behavior,” Kanitra (R-Ocean) said. “I hope the AG’s office acts swiftly to restore a sense of dignity and decorum to a state agency tasked with overseeing our children’s most important futures.”
The Toms River school board said discussions with the DOE over school funding and the district’s budget were diplomatic in the beginning, but grew contentious and even hostile.
After the department adopted a budget that school officials rejected, it issued a statement threatening further action if the district doesn’t meet its obligations.
Toms River schools, even with the state-imposed 9.9% tax increase, remains nearly $80 million under adequacy. The district is suing the state, the Education Department and the acting education commissioner for creating a revenue crisis. |
