Education Law Center asks N.J. Supreme Court to reverse $1B in school spending cuts
Published: Tuesday, June 08, 2010, 3:25 PM Updated: Tuesday, June 08, 2010, 9:32 PM
Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger 
David Sciarra, of the Education Law Center, argues against the state's position during arguments about school aid funding in front of the State Supreme Court in Trenton in April 2009.
TRENTON -- A motion being filed in the N.J. Supreme Court today on behalf of school children seeks to force the state to fully fund the school aid formula upheld by the state's highest court last year.
If the action brought by Education Law Center is successful, it could force New Jersey to spend about $1 billion more on schools and impact Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget, which cut about that much next year.
Christie's proposed a $1.08 billion cut in state formula aid to schools next year. Offset slightly by increases in spending for preschool and teacher pensions, the governor's budget includes an overall reduction of $820 million for schools. Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the school aid cuts were forced by "an unprecedented budget crisis," adding that "no district was singled out for disparate treatment."
Drewniak also said that Christie’s budget did not have $1 billion in federal stimulus funding Corzine spent on schools last year.
"This year’s budget decisions reflect the simple fact that an endless pot of money does not exist and we cannot continue government and school funding at unrestrained levels," Drewniak said in a prepared statement. "Our state budgeting and education policies cannot continue to be dictated by court edicts that don’t adequately consider the realities of student performance and budgetary limitations."
Since laying out the cuts in March, the governor has stressed that he had no choice but to take from school aid because it is the single largest chunk of the state's budget. No school district lost more than 5 percent of its budget in state aid, although that meant some wealthy suburban districts saw all of their formula aid disappear.
School districts across the state were sent reeling by the cuts, causing local districts to reduce budgets by laying off staff, cutting programs, reducing busing; increasing property taxes, and instituting new charges like student activity fees.
In its brief, the Education Law Center said Christie's cuts "deprive all New Jersey children, particularly vulnerable 'at risk' children, of a thorough and efficient education. The sheer magnitude of the aid cut has devastated all components of districts' educational programs."
The Education Law Center, which is based in Newark and advocates for students in urban districts, tried to reach out to the state Attorney General to request voluntary compliance with the court decision, but was unsuccessful, according to Executive Director David Sciarra.
Sciarra said the motion is being delivered to the Supreme Court this afternoon.
The Education Law Center is hoping for a ruling in time to affect school budgets for September.
Christie has taken issue with the state Supreme Court's involvement in school funding, telling a town hall audience last week that the rationale behind the Abbott formula decisions has "proven to be wrong."
"This has been an experiment that's been going on for 20-plus years now, and yet we don't see much, if any, improvement in our urban schools," Christie said in Robbinsville. "So the Supreme Court's theory that if you put more money in it, it's going to just by magic get better, has proven to be wrong.
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