State education commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan plans to step down in January after three tumultuous years for New Jersey’s public schools statewide.

Gov. Phil Murphy and others Monday confirmed the commissioner’s departure as the state Legislature begins to take on a wide range of proposals to address issues and challenges facing the state state’s schools.

For instance, Monday was the first meeting of the state Senate Education Committee since the election, and its docket is full. Included were several proposals to address the mental health crisis for many students post-pandemic. One would provide students excused mental health days. The committee’s vote was postponed for further revisions.

State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), the committee’s chair ,said Allen-McMillan’s departure comes at a critical time.

“This is the end of the school funding formula next year; we’ve got a lot of challenges, as it relates to making sure we employ more teachers in the state,” said Gopal. “We did a lot of bills today as relates to the teacher shortage.”

Of the next commissioner, yet to be named, Gopal added: “We want to make sure we have a [department] and a commissioner that sides with us.”