School board president Christopher Irving has been named to governor-elect Phil Murphy’s transition team.

Murphy on Monday morning appointed Irving as co-chair of his Education, Access, and Opportunity committee.

“It’s a really cool honor,” said Irving on Monday afternoon. “The fact that I’m the only Patersonian serving on the transition team means something.” He plans to champion equitable state education funding and local control for state-operated school districts.

Murphy has promised to fully fund underfunded school districts like Paterson. Irving has also stated he would like to see the state directly fund charter schools rather than channeling money through local district budgets.

For example, Paterson charter schools this year received $46 million from the district’s budget. Increase in fund transfer to charter schools left a big gap in the district’s budget that had to be closed by cutting teachers.

Irving is serving his third term on the school board. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public policy. He conducted research in K-12 education administration for his doctorate.

“Education is my love,” said Irving.

Irving is one of 82 people Murphy named to his transition team. This team will create a  blueprint for the Murphy administration that will take over Trenton in January.

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