Under protest, school plan passes muster Corzine proposal ruled constitutional. Mayors, black legislators protest new formula. Friday, January 04, 2008 • FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS • The Express-Times TRENTON | Attorney General Anne Milgram on Thursday deemed Gov. Jon S. Corzine's proposed school funding plan constitutional as the Jersey City and Newark mayors and black legislators rallied against it. Milgram, in a letter to Corzine's chief counsel, said the plan meets constitutional requirements that all New Jersey schoolchildren receive a "thorough and efficient" education. Assembly and Senate budget committees released the plan Thursday for Monday votes by both houses, but only after Assembly lawmakers debated late into the night whether the plan was fair to suburban districts battling rising property taxes or harmful to struggling city schools. Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and black legislators -- all Democrats like Corzine -- worried the plan could lead to deep program cuts and increased property taxes in struggling city school districts. "We're getting burned by this," Healy said. The proposal would give districts a 2 percent to 20 percent increase in state funding, with the smallest boost going to many of the Abbott districts, which include Phillipsburg. For Phillipsburg, the district's 2 percent jump in state funding next year would mean a $743,000 increase to $37.9 million. Representatives for the 31 Abbott districts have said the proposed 2 percent increase for many of those needy districts would fail to cover a rise in fixed costs. Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, echoed those concerns. "My conclusion is that this is going to continue to drive property taxes through the roof," said Turner, who abstained from voting on the measure in the Senate Budget Committee. Republicans argued that the formula would also hurt non-Abbott districts, since a large part of special-education funding would be wealth-based. Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance argued that special-education funding should be equal no matter where children live. "We believe this new formula violates the governor's statement that education funding should follow the child," said Lance, R-Warren/Hunterdon. Lance attempted to amend the bill to cap funding increases to Abbott districts at 3.5 percent, remove the wealth-based provision from the process by which special-education dollars are distributed and require the administration to identify how the $7.8 billion proposal -- increased by $532 million over last year's funding -- would be funded. The opposition called into question whether Corzine and Democratic leaders could get the plan approved before the legislative session ends Tuesday. "I think it will be close, but I think in the end the governor will prevail," said Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex. Still, Codey acknowledged it would require a lot of lobbying to get the 21 votes needed to pass the bill.