Corzine admits court is key to school plan He says funding proposal must win backing Saturday, November 10, 2007 • BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff Gov. Jon Corzine conceded yesterday that his imminent school funding proposal will need approval not only from the Legislature, but from another important body in Trenton: the state Supreme Court. In comments at the New Jersey Education Association convention in Atlantic City, Corzine said his plan to steer money based on individual children's needs is all but certain to go before the high court, which in its landmark Abbott vs. Burke cases has directed additional funds to 31 "special needs" districts. "That's one of the concerns we've been operating under: What will be acceptable to the court?" Corzine said. "The court has tended to focus on the districts ... but we're going to argue that those same needs are true for children in other places, as well as those communities." Corzine said he expected to have the funding proposal presented to the public by Thanksgiving, and approved in time for his own state budget presentation in February and local school budgets in the spring. The governor was vague about what specific parts of his yet-undisclosed plan would likely come under legal challenge. But he has not hidden his hopes to break away from the Abbott designations for specific districts and instead aim additional money at low-income children, wherever they live. Corzine used the word "Abbott" only three or four times as he spoke to urban educators at the convention for close to a half-hour. But he said his funding plan would not reverse the state's commitment to low-income children, much of it laid out under the Abbott rulings. "We will be no less committed if we do this right to children at risk as we are today," he told the group. "Whether everyone will love the plan, we'll see. But I will say there is no backing away from our at-risk kids." Still, whether the Abbott district designations survive is sure to be a point of contention in the upcoming debate, both in and outside the court. Joyce Powell, president of the NJEA and an important ally of the governor's, said she would oppose doing away with the special status of those districts. "We need to make sure we retain the Abbott designations and fulfill the Abbott promise that the Supreme Court has insured will occur," she said. In a related matter, Corzine said that his administration will not shirk its responsibility to meet the court's Abbott order to provide funding for school construction in the neediest districts. "I think it's almost immoral that we haven't moved on addressing some of the deficiencies," he said. "We have an obligation, and we have every intention of meeting it." The construction program stalled last year after spending more than $6 billion but leaving scores of projects incomplete. Corzine's administration is already back in court seeking more time to come up with additional funding. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.