Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-Bergen) has been appointed co-chair of the New Jersey Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Public Schools. Wagner will co-chair the joint committee with Senator Ronald L. Rice.

“I welcome the opportunity to serve on this important committee,” said Wagner. “With so much uncertainty surrounding school construction projects, and funding reductions by this administration making it more and more difficult for our public schools to adequately educate our students, the work of this committee is essential. Every student in New Jersey deserves a quality education, and I look forward to working with my fellow committee members to see that they get it.”

The Joint Committee on the Public Schools provides an ongoing study of the system of free public schools; its financing, administration and operations, and makes recommendations for legislative action. Created by statute in 1975, the committee is comprised of 14 members of the Legislature. Appointments are made by the Senate President and Speaker of the General Assembly.

The Joint Committee has been at the forefront of many important educational initiatives.

When the state took over the operations of the school districts in Jersey City, Paterson and Newark, the Joint Committee began continuous interaction with the superintendents, boards and community, and held numerous public meetings to provide a forum for transparency of the process, as well as being a reporting agent to the Legislature.

In 1995, the Joint Committee’s research into the nation’s relatively new charter school laws played a major role for the Legislature in developing and refining a legislative proposal that culminated in former Governor Christine Whitman’s signing of this enactment the following year.

Since 2002, the Joint Committee has taken the lead in providing legislative and public awareness regarding matters of school construction. TLS.