Corzine Lauds Supreme Court Decision on School Funding

TRENTON – Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Thursday, May 28 praised the decision by the state Supreme Court affirming the constitutionality of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008.
“I am deeply gratified on behalf of the state and all of our children. This is a truly historic ruling that brings to conclusion decades of conflict and litigation that many thought would never end,” Corzine stated in a release.
“By agreeing that the new funding formula is constitutional and that the prior Abbott remedies are no longer necessary, the court has allowed us to focus in a unified and predictable way on meeting our obligation to all of our children while in no way prejudicing those who have benefited from the Abbott rulings in the past.”
The court concluded that the School Funding Reform Act is constitutional and may be applied to the Abbott dis-tricts. The opinion states that the act may be implemented as it was designed, “as a state-wide unitary system of education funding.” The court further ruled that the state is not required to continue the separate funding streams that had been mandated under past orders as continuation of supplemental funding may undermine or distort the effectiveness of act.
As soon as the governor took office in 2006, he addressed the inequities of funding education in New Jersey, making the creation of a new funding formula a priority of the administration. A report released by the Depart-ment of Education in December 2006 outlined the components of a school funding formula and the Department began a series of public hearings and meetings with legislators and other stakeholders.
The new plan established an adequacy budget for each district based on children’s needs and determined a local fair share for each municipality based on accurate assessments of income and property values.
“For the first time in years, state aid allocation will be based on educational needs of students and not where they live,” Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy stated. “Today’s state Supreme Court ruling is a victory for school children in New Jersey.”
The governor announced the proposed School Funding Reform Act on Dec 12, 2007; the Legislature passed it on January 7, 2008 and Governor Corzine signed the measure into law on January 13, 2008.
Attorney General Anne Milgram, who argued the case before the Supreme Court last month, said, the ruling is a vindication of those efforts.
“The court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 is a significant finding that upholds the work of the governor and the Legislature in creating a funding formula that ensures a thorough and efficient system of public education for children, no matter where they live,” Milgram stated.
“The SFRA creates a uniform, statewide, system for education funding, takes into account all factors that con-tribute to the cost of educating children, and attains the desired goals of a successful funding formula: transpar-ency, predictability and equity.”
Since taking office, Corzine has increased total school aid by nearly $786 million over the FY 2006 Appropria-tions Act. Total school aid is funded at $11.2 billion, inclusive of about $1 billion in federal stimulus funding, which is well over one third of the $28.6 billion FY 2010 Budget.
Combined aid for preschool through 12th grade education and Higher Education represents more than 46 per-cent of the total budget.
New Jersey has begun to realize the positive impact of increases in state aid and the tax levy cap, which are re-ducing the growth in the school tax levy. For the 2008-09 school year, the increase in the school tax levy state-wide was 2.65 percent compared to 4.45 percent in 2007-08 and 6.6 percent in the 2006-07. The 2.65 percent increase for the 2008-09 school year is the lowest increase in over 10 years.