Corzine plan to distribute school aid cuts some special ed funds Friday, November 30, 2007 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL • Star-Ledger Staff Gov. Jon Corzine's new plan for distributing state school aid will include $450 million in additional funding, but could cut special education aid to some of the state's wealthier towns, according to lawmakers briefed yesterday. Lawmakers who attended the 90-minute briefing in the governor's office said they were disappointed they left without a key piece of information: a town-by-town listing of how $8 billion in state school aid would be distributed. But they said they expect that information in two weeks, and key lawmakers still hope to adopt a new formula before the current legislative session ends Jan. 8. "Our aim is to get this done in lame duck," said Senate President Dick Codey (D-Essex). "The school districts need to know what they should expect in funding." Joseph Donnelly, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden), said the Assembly leadership also hopes to pass a new school funding formula this session. Lawmakers have been discussing a new formula for doling out school aid for more than a year. According to those involved in yesterday's briefings, Corzine's new plan would tie the distribution of state aid to the economic status of communities and of the individual students in every school district. Districts with high numbers of "at-risk" students, defined as those qualifying for the federal government's free or reduced-cost school lunch program and students for whom English is a second language, would be entitled to higher amounts of aid. The formula would guarantee no community sees a decline in state aid next year, and would prevent any district from seeing a state aid windfall by capping any increase at 20 percent. Communities already spending more than the level considered "adequate" for educating their students would not be allowed to get an increase of more than 10 percent. That provision would limit the plan's benefits in the state's wealthiest communities. A preliminary assessment of school spending released last year showed that among the 128 wealthiest communities in the state, all but 35 were spending at rates above the level a consultant deemed "adequate." Among the 143 poorest communities, only 28 were spending above that level. Corzine's new plan would also alter the way the state distributes $1 billion in special education aid. Currently the aid is distributed to school districts based on the population of special needs students they include, regardless of the district's wealth. The new formula would factor in wealth for distributing a portion of that aid, potentially taking aid away from wealthier towns. The governor is also proposing a new provision to allow more communities to qualify for special assistance for school security. Devising a new school aid formula has become one of the Legislature's most pressing issues, since aid to most communities has been frozen for six years. Corzine told lawmakers he hopes his plan will boost state aid to middle- and low-income communities while preserving benefits to the 31 communities receiving special state aid under the Supreme Court's Abbott vs. Burke school funding lawsuit. But most of the lawmakers briefed yesterday said they are withholding final judgment until they see how it plays out in actual state aid awards. "I don't think any of us have enough detail to have a good conceptual grasp of what the formula is," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who was also among those briefed yesterday. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.