State Seeks to End Abbott Designation

State Seeks to End Abbott Designation

With a new school-funding law in place, the Corzine administration is asking the state Supreme Court to deem the formula as constitutional and end the “Abbott” designation.

In a legal motion filed last week, Attorney General Anne Milgram said the new funding formula provides adequate levels of funding for all students, thereby eliminating the need for the Abbott status. The administration argues that gaps in per-pupil spending between the poorest and most affluent districts have also been eradicated.

In past Abbott rulings, the court declared the state’s previous school funding systems to be unconstitutional as applied to the 31 poorest districts. It ordered parity in spending between the poorest and richest districts, as well as other remedies such as preschool and full state construction funding in all Abbott districts.

The attorney general’s brief said the state’s newly enacted funding formula, the School Funding Reform Act of 2008, allocates aid through a “unified formula” based on the number of disadvantaged students in a district, and a community’s ability to pay. The state has argued that nearly half of the students who meet the established poverty levels live outside the Abbott districts and, therefore, have been denied the benefits of students in districts with the Abbott designation.

The legal motion states the new funding formula “embodies reasonable legislative determinations, grounded in sound educational policy and the current socioeconomic and demographic landscape of New Jersey’s communities, that are designed to provide a thorough and efficient education to all students.”

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, which represents students in the Abbott districts, is expected to challenge the administration’s efforts.