BY PATRICIA ALEX
NorthJersey.com
staff writer
Legislators are balking at the lack of clear financial information in the governor’s plan to overhaul higher education, saying they’ve been kept in the dark as the executive branch fast-tracks the proposal.
“All we hear is what’s in the newspapers,” said Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, chair of the state Assembly’s budget committee. “I find it insulting. We’re moving so quickly without any knowledge.”
Rochelle Hendricks, secretary of higher education, assured members of the committee that the numbers would be forthcoming within the next two months, and urged legislators not to succumb to the “paralysis of analysis.”
“The time to act is now,” said Hendricks, in hearings before the budget committee on Wednesday. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney is drafting the legislation needed to implement some aspects of the plan.
Governor Christie has set July 1 as a deadline to begin implementation of the plan that calls for the breakup of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Rutgers University would gain a medical school in the process but lose its Camden campus to Rowan University, which has been tapped to become a regional research university, under the plan released by Christie in January.
The plan contained no pricetag — a sticking point for legislators and others. And Hendricks on Wednesday backed away from earlier statements that it could be “revenue neutral,” saying just some aspects of the plan would not require additional costs.
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