NAACP assails Corzine plan to audit poor school districts Saturday, June 10, 2006 • BY JEFF WHELAN • Star-Ledger Staff The state president of the NAACP harshly criticized Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday, questioning whether his administration was engaging in "racial profiling" by calling for audits of poor school districts that receive billions of dollars in state aid. James Harris, who previously compared Corzine to white Southern governors who fought integration in the 1960s, made his remarks after attending a breakfast Corzine hosted for about 250 black leaders at the governor's mansion in Princeton. Harris also called Corzine's proposed freeze in state aid for poor school districts "a step backward" and a "very large disappointment for civil rights" in the state. "He's painting a picture that the money going to the (poor school districts) seem to be mismanaged and not well spent," Harris said during a news conference at the First Baptist Church in Princeton. The Corzine administration is conducting audits of school districts in Newark, Jersey City, Camden and Paterson to ensure they are spending money properly to improve education for their students. "The NAACP wonders if that's not racial profiling," Harris said. Anthony Coley, the governor's press secretary, noted that Corzine recently signed legislation providing stricter state oversight of school districts statewide. "The governor wants to make sure we spend money appropriately and wisely. And that's what people in urban areas, as well as people in other areas across the state, want him to do," Coley said. He also said poor school districts would receive the bulk of direct school aid from the state under the governor's proposed budget. Under that plan, now under review by lawmakers, the state would provide $4.25 billion to the 31 "Special Needs" districts covered by state Supreme Court school funding rulings, and New Jersey's other 564 school districts would share $3.13 billion. Facing a budget crisis, the governor sought and won approval from the state Supreme Court last month to freeze funding for the poor districts at last year's levels. The poor districts want a $500 million funding increase. Other districts have already had their funding virtually frozen in recent years. Corzine showed up for court proceedings in that case, which prompted Harris to liken him to southern governors who physically blocked black students' entry into public schools despite court orders in the 1960s. Coley yesterday said of Harris' most recent remarks: "Thoughtful discussions not hastily arranged press conferences ... are the most appropriate ways to achieve one's desired results." Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), who also attended the breakfast, called Harris' remark about racial profiling "unfair." "It's a tough time. We've got suburban school districts that have been flat funded for five years," she said. "There are some school districts that are getting much more of their funding from the state and the state taxpayers. The governor has a right to look wherever he wants." © 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.