New Jersey Schools Agency Pushes To Be Best in Class
It took more than 25 years of litigation before the state of New Jersey agreed to equalize public schools in rich and poor communities. Two years after a single state-run school construction agency was formed and funded to the tune of $8.6 billion, new facilities gleam in the states oldest and densest neighborhoods. But the story is far from over as the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. copes with unforeseen costs and political uncertainty over dwindling funds for hundreds of facilities yet to be upgraded.
Many observers credit SCCs new CEO, John F. Spencer, a former engineering executive with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his predecessor, ex-Turner Corp. CEO Alfred McNeill, with extricating the agency from its bureaucratic roots and propelling results (see chart below.)