Gov. Phil Murphy is remaining frosty to calls from top lawmakers to fold the embattled Schools Development Authority into another agency, saying that the SDA serves a unique function and has yielded enormous benefit for some of the state’s most impoverished school districts.
Lizette Delgado-Polanco speaks during an Assembly Budget Committee hearing earlier in April 2019. (DANIEL J. MUNOZ)
This comes as Murphy ally Lizette Delgado-Polanco stepped down last week as head of the agency, dubbed a “patronage pit” under her watch. Delgado-Polanco also stepped down last week as vice chair of the New Jersey State Democratic Committee. Both organizations have been key Murphy allies in the state’s political landscape.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, and other key members of the state Legislature are looking at folding the functions of the SDA into the Economic Development Authority, rather than authorizing it to issue more bonds since the agency has run out money except for its rainy day fund.
“I’m not a supporter of that idea. I think it’s got its own unique mission, and it’s a very clear, vitally important mission,” Murphy said at an unrelated event in Atlantic City Monday afternoon. “Not just investing in educators and the process of teaching, but in the actual, physical structure, particularly in communities of need.”
Delgado-Polanco’s SDA resignation came in the wake of numerous NorthJersey.com reports which found that under her watch dozens of longtime workers were let go as part of a “restructuring,” only for their posts to be filled by her friends and family and awarded six-figure salaries even though they often lacked many relevant qualifications.
The SDA currently finances construction of schools facilities in 31 of the state’s neediest school districts, called Abbot districts. On April 26, Murphy appointed Manuel Da Silva, vice president of construction operations for the SDA to serve as the agency’s acting chief executive.
“That’s a very clear, specific mission, and I think it should remain so,” Murphy said.
