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Plan seeks legislative approval before lame-duck session ends
Friday, December 28, 2007 • BY JOE DONOHUE • Star-Ledger Staff

Gov. Jon Corzine won key support yesterday from the state's powerful teachers union in his bid to overhaul the system for funding public education.

Opposition from the 200,000-member New Jersey Education Association, a major political donor that commands one of Trenton's largest lobbying teams, would have been difficult to overcome.

Administration officials are working to win final legislative approval of the new school funding formula before the lame-duck session ends at noon Jan. 8.

Joyce Powell, NJEA's president, said administration officials tinkered with their plan in recent days to remove potential pitfalls.

"We had some concerns and we raised those concerns with the administration, and those concerns have been addressed," she said.

Powell said the group generally likes the governor's plan, because it would increase overall state aid to public schools by nearly $530 million, adds money for preschool programs and makes other changes "we've been advocating for many years."

The key philosophical change in the new formula is it directs money to districts based on the needs of individual students. In the past, the brunt of state funding was funneled to the poorest 31 districts, but the new formula increases funding to other districts with growing numbers of poor or immigrant children on the theory they cost more to educate.

"Is it perfect? I don't know if you'll ever find a perfect solution. Is it workable? I think so," Powell said just prior to testifying before two legislative committees.

The Assembly Budget and Education Committees jointly held a marathon hearing on the plan that began yesterday morning and stretched into the evening. No vote was taken.

During earlier testimony, state education Commissioner Lucille Davy said the administration's goal "is to have a fair, equitable and predictable funding formula." She confirmed the negotiation of last-minute amendments, some sought by NJEA. "We have taken lots of input from many, many individuals," she said.

One change of particular importance to the union would funnel more money into about 120 school districts spending more than state officials deem "adequate." The governor has proposed that any state aid increase of more than 2 percent be passed on to local taxpayers in those towns as property tax relief.

Davy said administration officials agreed to change the cutoff to 2 percent, or the cost of living, whichever is higher. Since the current cost of living is 2.89 percent, the affected districts could keep that much before returning the rest to taxpayers.

Powell said NJEA felt the change was needed to help districts better cope with inflation, particularly in future years when it might increase.

While NJEA announced its backing, not everyone was thrilled with the funding plan or the timetable for approving it.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) said he saw no reason to "rush this process to a conclusion in the next 11 days."

"This clearly is a highly complex formula, and I don't believe the Legislature will have enough time to responsibly study and understand this bill by Jan. 8," he said. However, Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), the budget committee chairman, said the bill could be delayed another year or more if it is carried into the new legislative session.

He vowed to press the administration for answers to key questions, such as whether the Attorney General's Office has prepared a legal brief that indicates the plan will satisfy the state Supreme Court.

For more than three decades, state school funding decisions have been driven by court edicts intended to provide quality schooling to hundreds of thousands of poor students.

"The governor has met with us and said this will meet constitutional muster," Greenwald said.

Davy said yesterday the court itself "has to decide if it's constitutional or not." Testifying via a telephone hookup, Professor Myron Orfield of the University of Minnesota Law School said Corzine's plan is a "significant step in the right direction," because it "recognizes the struggle and stress of the older suburbs."

But Richard Shapiro, an attorney who has represented Elizabeth and several other poor school districts in funding lawsuits, said, based on past court decisions, "I think it violates numerous mandates."

"The fundamental flaw in this formula ... is that it ends up penalizing the disadvantaged children in this state," he said.

NJEA backs Corzine's school-funds makeover

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