NJSBA Comments on School Funding Motion

Although it strongly advocates full funding of the state’s current school finance law, NJSBA will not enter the Education Law Center’s (ELC) legal action before the state Supreme Court.

The motion, filed June 8, asks the court to force the governor and the Legislature to restore state aid cuts planned for 2010-2011.

NJSBA’s decision followed a review of the law center’s arguments and the Supreme Court’s May 2009 Abbott XX that upheld the constitutionality of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) as long as the law is implemented as the Legislature intended. The Association also considered economic conditions and their impact on state revenues to be significant factors.

NJSBA Leaders Address Issue A statement, issued Wednesday by the Association’s officers, stresses the organization’s long-standing belief in adequate levels of state support for all public school districts, while outlining NJSBA’s reasons for not seeking participation in the matter:

“The New Jersey School Boards Association is committed to equal educational opportunity for all New Jersey children, regardless of the community where they live, and to adequate levels of state support to ensure fiscal equity among communities.

“In determining if it would seek participation in the Education Law Center’s motion, NJSBA also assessed the likelihood of a favorable court decision in this current economic climate. New Jersey is facing unprecedented financial difficulties.

“Therefore, NJSBA would best serve the interests of local boards of education by instead applying its resources to areas that would have the most likely financial and operational benefits for local school districts.

“These strategies include advocating the use of any future available state revenue for school funding, opposing the diversion of state revenue away from public schools through proposals such as vouchers or tax credits, and advancing changes in labor law, statute and regulation that would enable school boards to control costs and direct available resources to the education program.”

The statement was signed by Raymond Wiss, NJSBA president; John Bulina, vice president for legislation/resolutions; Charles Miller, vice president for county activities; Donald Webster, vice president for finance; and Harry Delgado, immediate past president.

Legal Question The issue raised by the ELC motion is whether (a) in a time of diminished revenues, the state satisfied the Abbott XX decision by following the mechanics of the funding formula, even though it made adjustments that reduced the dollars going to schools, or (b) the Abbott XX decision obligates the state to provide the money that the formula would have produced if the adjustments had not been made.

If the court intervenes immediately and implements the remedy sought by the ELC, its action would compel the governor and Legislature to increase school funding, but would not force the state to enact new taxes.  And if the state chose not to raise revenues, the remedy would have to be implemented by adjusting the 2010-2011 budget.

Basic Argument In the June 8 filing, the ELC – which has represented the students in the state’s 31 special needs, or Abbott districts – contends that the May 2009 Abbott XX decision allowed the new school funding system, the SFRA, to go into effect on the condition that the formula be fully funded.

The law center quotes the court’s ruling, “Our finding of constitutionality is premised on the expectation that the state will continue to provide school funding aid during this and the next two years at the levels required by SFRA’s formula each year.” The ELC had initially argued against implementation of the SFRA in Abbott XX.

NJSBA supported many aspects of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 including provisions which recognize that poor and at-risk children live in communities outside the 31 Abbott school districts, as well as the greater levels of state aid initially provided to overtaxed moderate- and middle-income communities.

"NJSBA would best serve the interests of local boards of education by instead applying its resources to areas that would have the most likely financial and operational benefits for local school districts."

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