Article

Many want more data before passing judgment on $532 million proposal

Friday, December 14, 2007 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL AND JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff

Whether they praised Gov. Jon Corzine's new school funding plan or decried it, almost everyone who spoke at a public hearing on the proposal yesterday said they don't have enough information to fully judge it.

"Last week I was saying, 'Show me the money,'" said Tom Dunn, former superintendent of Elizabeth schools and now a lobbyist for the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. "Today I say, 'Show me the formula.'"

Yesterday's five-hour hearing before the Senate budget and education committees followed Wednesday's unveiling of a school aid formula that Corzine calls "A New Formula For Success: All Children, All Communities."

The new plan would change the way New Jersey hands out $7.8 billion to public schools, boosting overall state aid by $532 million next year. It would steer hefty increases to some of the state's older suburbs and its fastest-growing towns by attempting to tie state aid to actual student needs.

But the distribution plan unveiled Wednesday blunts the effect of the formula by capping any community's aid increase at 20 percent, and by including about $860 million in extra funding to ensure that communities that would lose state aid under the new formula get a 2 percent increase.

"What you're seeing now is a series of calculations that are designed to mask the full effect of the funding formula," said Richard Shapiro, an attorney who has represented Elizabeth and other school districts in funding lawsuits.

Corzine said that without the cap on increases, the new formula could have required up to $1.5 billion in new state funds, triple the amount his plan calls for and currently too costly.

"We may be magic, but we're not magic enough to do $1.5 billion right away," he said during an appearance in Carteret, which would get a $4.2 million increase under the new plan.

"I see the $4.2 million, but two years ago, we had to cut $4 million," said Superintendent Kevin W. Ahearn, whose district's voters have rejected all but two of the last 38 school budget proposals. "Hopefully when it all shakes out and the politicians are done with it, there will be a nice piece of money for us."

He said it will take cuts elsewhere in the state budget to come up with the additional $532 million.

State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy spent the day defending the new school aid plan before the Senate committees and across the state. During two hours of testimony in Trenton, Davy at least three times defended the plan as "fair and equitable."

Yesterday's Senate hearing in Trenton was unusual in that witnesses had to testify on a complicated piece of legislation that has not yet been drafted.

Instead, comments were based on a set of spreadsheets listing the dollar amounts and percentage aid increases each of the state's 618 school districts can expect under the new plan.

Of the 10 senators present when the hearing began, five will leave office when the current legislative session expires Jan. 8. That deadline left many observers concerned lawmakers will rush the formula through without adequate review, leaving school districts facing a flawed and underfunded school aid system for years to come.

"Does this process lead to good legislation? No," said David Humer, a Maplewood Township Committee member who assailed the proposed state aid plan.

David Sciarra, lead attorney in the long-running Abbott v. Burke school funding lawsuit that has steered billions of dollars in special state aid to 31 communities found to be incapable of supporting their public schools, was blunt in his assessment of Corzine's proposal.

"He is asking you to adopt a school aid budget, one part consisting of aid driven by so-called 'adequacy budgets' manipulated by the DOE behind closed doors, and the other part consisting of a substantial amount of 'hold harmless' aid larded on top to secure your votes," Sciarra said.

Under Corzine's plan 22 of the 31 Abbott districts, which currently receive better than half the state aid delivered by the state, would be held to the minimum 2 percent increase allowed under the plan, an outcome that will choke ongoing reforms in those communities, advocates for the Abbot districts testified.

Democratic lawmakers, making their first public comments on the proposal, were generally supportive.

"It's a good start," said Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester). "We are not going to solve the problems we have in this state in one year, but this is a very good start."

But a potential roadblock to speedy passage emerged when Sen. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) took issue with provisions in the new formula that would adjust school aid to reflect lower labor costs in certain counties.

"That's a very, very dangerous concept," said Bryant, who was chairman of the Budget Committee until a federal investigation that led to his indictment on corruption charges surfaced last year. "I think that may affect folks' view whether they want to vote for this or not."

It's wait-and-see on school aid plan

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