11.19.08

If New Jersey wants the state's highest court to approve its new formula for funding its schools, the state needs to show that it is providing sufficient resources for its poorest districts.

The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered fact-finding hearings on the state's new education-funding formula before the justices will rule on whether it should permanently replace the old system that favored certain largely poor, urban school districts.

The court also held that it will be up to the state to prove the new funding enacted earlier this year is constitutional and will sufficiently provide for those mostly urban districts. The court ordered the Education Law Center, which represents the Abbott districts, to prove its contention that this year's school funding is inadequate.

The 31 so-called Abbott districts, which got a larger share of education funding under the old system, will also be able to present their side in the process.

The court also ruled yesterday that while the Abbott's current state funding is 102 percent of last year's aid and "presumptively sufficient," the districts will have the right to seek additional funding while the case remains under review.

The state hoped to get the court to declare its new formula constitutional and free the state from numerous court-imposed education mandates. The new formula, under which all districts in the state would get some aid increase - at least 2 percent but no more than 20 percent - sought to spread aid more evenly across districts with poor children.

The Education Law Center, representing the Abbott districts, is challenging the state's attempt to do away with decades of prior court mandates.

The new funding formula was approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Corzine in January. Its proponents said it was an attempt to get aid to districts with needy children no matter where they lived and reduce increasing property-tax burdens. Critics say the Abbott districts have already been hurt and may lose aid in the years to come.