A state judge has ruled that Gov. Jon Corzine’s school funding reforms, which tie aid to students and not districts, are constitutional — a move that experts say could spell the end of special status for many of the state’s urban school districts.
The Record is reporting that Superior Court Judge Peter E. Doyne in Bergen County issued a 280-page opinion today that the state’s
new method of distributing state aid among New Jersey’s 600-plus school districts secures “the thorough and efficient education so desperately needed for the development of our youth.”
The new school funding formula “represents a thoughtful, progressive attempt to assist at-risk children throughout the State of New Jersey, and not only those who by happenstance reside in Abbott districts,” he wrote.
The decision appears sound, though I admit I have yet to read it (280 pages?!?), because it takes into account all students — giving smaller communities with large populations of poor students a leg up that they otherwise would not get.
That was what Gov. Jim Florio had attempted in 1990, when he pushed his massive income and sales tax increases. That plan included what seemed like a radical redistribution of school aid — not only into Trenton and Newark, but into Manville and other working-class districts, as well.
The decision is likely to create a showdown between advocates for urban districts and others with high concentrations of at-risk students, primarily because the state’s educational funding pie is too small, especially when you consider the non-school problems that urban educators face.
Consider: There is a higher concentration of homelessness and hunger in the state’s cities, a larger number of students who do not speak English, more pollution and crime. These may be outside the purview of the schools, but they have their impact in the classroom.
Rather than reducing aid to urban schools, a new formula should be targeted to address these issues and more general educational concerns. Plus, the pot of money available for school aid needs to grow significantly.
While the governor has increased aid to schools over the last two years, the reality is that the total amount the state spends — as opposed to what is raised locally — does not go far enough. If we are going to spread the money around to more districts, we need more money — money, of course, that does not exist at the moment.
The only way to do that is to shift the responsibility for school taxes from local property taxes to the state.
Hank Kalet 