Corzine would boost education budget nearly 5%

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Last updated: Tuesday April 8, 2008, EDT 6:39 AM

BY KATHLEEN CARROLL

TRENTON – Overall education spending would increase by nearly 5 percent next year, even as most state programs brace for budget cuts, under a plan proposed Monday by the Corzine administration.

The $11.5 billion education budget represents 35 percent of the $33.3 billion state budget proposed for fiscal year 2009, which begins July 1. The state's 2008 education budget is $11 billion.

"The governor has made his priorities clear – and we are one of those priorities," Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said during a hearing before the Senate budget committee on Monday.

New Jersey has roughly 1.4 million students in more than 600 public school districts, including 78 districts in Bergen County and 21 in Passaic County.

The plan assumes that local property taxes would cover 52 percent of per-pupil costs, which average $9,182 statewide. It also includes a 4 percent cut in administration costs at the Department of Education. Among them are reductions to the department's early childhood education and after-school programs divisions.

The fiscal 2009 budget is the first proposed since New Jersey adopted a new law that governs how aid is shared among districts.

The school-funding formula estimates how much districts should spend and factors in extra costs for low-income students and English-language learners. It also takes into account the ability of a district to provide funding, based on property values and average incomes.

The law also may help to eliminate the special "Abbott" legal status given to 31 school districts in historically low-income cities — including Paterson, Passaic and Garfield — that has entitled them to billions in extra state aid and special oversight.

The Corzine administration has asked the state Supreme Court to void Abbott mandates in light of the new formula, noting that about half of low-income students live outside those towns.

Davy referred to affected communities as "former Abbott districts" on Monday.

Legislators, meanwhile, questioned Davy on high-school dropout and graduation rates. New Jersey's officially reported graduation rate of 92 percent is the highest in the United States. Legislators and education officials have questioned the accuracy of the rate. New student identification numbers, which were first assigned during the 2006-07 school year, will allow the state to track student progress from year to year and identify which students graduate high school, Davy said.

Under the current system, if a student leaves a high school, the system does not track whether that student dropped out or transferred to another school.

State officials have said more accurate dropout and graduation figures should be available for the Class of 2010.

E-mail: carroll@northjersey.com