HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Education Department released eight pages of electronic ID card records Thursday that indicate embattled former secretary Ron Tomalis was at its Harrisburg headquarters for 126 days this year.

The record of card activity was produced more than three weeks after Tomalis’ schedule and work activity were questioned in a story in a Pittsburgh newspaper and about a week after Tomalis quit as a special adviser on higher education.

“We expect that this information puts this issue to rest so that the department can continue to focus on the education of Pennsylvania students,” said the department’s press secretary, Tim Eller.

There have been about 158 work days this year, depending which holidays are counted.

The newspaper said it found scant evidence of Tomalis’ work over a 14-month span, including a schedule that had weeks of little or no activity, phone logs averaging barely a call a day and only five outgoing e-mails. The records released Thursday did not go back to 2013.

Acting Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq defended Tomalis, saying she had regular contact with him and that he works 40 hours a week.

“This information shows, as the secretary has stated on several occasions, that Mr. Tomalis was and is reporting to the office,” Eller said on Thursday.

In May, for example, the records indicate he was at the Education Department headquarters on 18 days, but only once was he inside the building for at least eight hours. On seven days he was there for fewer than six hours.

Tomalis stayed on as a special adviser on higher education after stepping down as education secretary in May 2013, and maintained the $140,000-a-year salary he collected as agency head.

In his resignation letter, Tomalis said he was exploring new opportunities and that his departure was in the department’s best interests.