Bill aims to prevent repeat of Freehold High School diploma mill debacle
Legislation to create more stringent standards to ensure teachers and school administrators do not abuse school district paid-for tuition assistance programs by attaining bogus degrees was approved Monday by the Assembly Education Committee.
The bipartisan bill, A-3671, stems from an episode at the Freehold Regional High School District where three administrators used $8,700 in taxpayer funds to pay for doctoral "degrees" from Breyer State University - an unaccredited Alabama-based online diploma mill. Before the bogus nature of the degrees was uncovered, the district provided each with a $2,500 salary increase, which was commensurate to being awarded actual doctoral degrees.
"The use of school money to buy a fraudulent degree from a diploma mill is not only academically and professionally dishonest but slap in the face of taxpayers," said Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), chairman of the committee and sponsor of the proposal. "This kind of sham should never be allowed to happen."
