According to New Jersey Newsroom, the NJDOE missed a “self-imposed deadline” of 5 p.m. yesterday to turn over to Senator Barbara Buono documents related to our Race To The Top loss. Sen. Buono requested the documents through the Open Public Records Act for the continuing investigation over the application snafu.

She ascribes the lack of OPRA compliance to “a heightened level of panic at headquarters of what these documents show, or underscores a greater and disturbing effort to withhold vital information and censor what will eventually trickle out.” Another guess: a public display of the paper trail will unveil the DOE’s embarrassing level of implosion and dysfunction. Like maybe no one can find the documents. A call to Wireless Generation, the consultants who were paid $500,000 to keep track of everything, might be in order. Maybe they can’t find the phone number.