Statement on
"A New Formula for Success: All Children, All Communities"
Prepared for Joint Meeting
Of Senate Education and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees
December 13, 2007
The New Jersey School Boards Association, a non-partisan federation of the state’s local boards of education, thanks Governor Corzine and Commissioner Davy for their goal of a sustainable, adequate school funding formula – one that local school boards can rely upon starting in 2008.
We would like to thoroughly analyze the proposal and its impact on local school districts – especially four years from now when the hold-harmless provisions expire. But that has not been possible since we have not seen the actual legislation. Therefore, it is difficult to weigh in with a position on the overall plan. Nonetheless, we can address some of the concepts in the bill, based on our existing beliefs on school funding.
- Foremost is school tax relief. The Administration says the proposal would increase the state's share of education costs by 3 percent in 2008-2009. NJSBA hopes that the increase represents just adown-payment toward the state's assumption of a larger share of public school costs. The foundation of our state's tax problems is over-reliance on property taxes to fund education. As a January 2007 report by Rutgers-Newark shows, six years of flat funding only worsened the situation and resulted in large property tax increases across the board, but particularly in middle-income communities and poor non-Abbott districts.
Yesterday, Governor Corzine indicated that the plan would have a provision for some local school districts to direct part of their aid to property tax relief. We were told that the mechanics of this provision had not yet been worked out. NJSBA believes that such a provision would add an unnecessary complication to the formula. State aid for education should go toward education programming. Doing so provides the opportunity for property tax relief while ensuring adequate education services.
- State aid for special education should be distributed on a per-pupil, categorical basis, without regard to community wealth. We therefore oppose the concept of distributing part of special education aid on a wealth-equalized basis. If this is to be a formula under which money follows the services that our children need, then it would be consistent for
special education aid to be allocated per student regardless of where they live – and without wealth equalization. A September 2007 study by NJSBA showed that poverty is not a significant contributing factor to learning disability. Conversely, learning and physical disability knows no economic boundaries.
In addition, more time will be needed to examine the impact of the new format for distributing the portion of special education funding that will continue to be distributed on a categorical basis.
We also want to express our appreciation for the inclusion of the cost of full-day kindergarten in the advocacy model, which will be used in the calculation of state aid. The previous funding system only considered the cost of half-day programs. This presented difficulty to school districts in starting and maintaining full-day kindergarten, which has proved to be effective academically.
NJSBA thanks the Administration for proposing the addition of more than half a billion dollars in school funding for next year. We also appreciate the effort to extend the hold harmless period for state aid to three years. But the mechanics of the system must be reviewed. Our concern is a process, which lacks time and opportunity for adequate analysis.
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The New Jersey School Boards Association, a federation of district boards of education, advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education.
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