Academic

Can Courts Save our Schools? New Jersey Supreme Court Alters Financing Scheme.

By Roger Dennis

Last week the New Jersey Supreme Court functionally ended almost 40 years of litigation concerning the funding of urban education in New Jersey.  According to The New York Times:

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a new school financing formula that replaced a controversial one that had favored poor urban districts. The new formula was adopted by the state early last year in response to widespread complaints that the previous version, a two-tiered financing system, had concentrated education spending in 31 so-called Abbott districts, while shortchanging the state?s 584 other districts in suburban and rural areas. The new formula apportions money to all districts based on the characteristics of their students, like family income, language ability and special academic needs. In a 136-page ruling, Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote that the new formula was constitutional and that the state no longer had to provide supplemental money to the Abbott districts, which got their name from a long-running lawsuit about inequalities in school financing, Abbott v. Burke.  

The Abbott v. Burke case is a classic example of the power and limits of law. It shows that structural litigation can lead to significant bureaucratic change, but that politics and exogenous socio-economic factors remain enormously powerful forces, even in the face of a determined Supreme Court.

Like most states New Jersey relies heavily on the property tax to fund the K-12 education system. An anecdote frames the problem this engenders. I live in Cherry Hill. The assessed valuation of property in Cherry Hill is almost $5 billion. The nearby urban city of Camden has an assessed valuation of well less than $1 billion. The school districts have a similar number of students. Without major funding outside the property tax, the children of Camden with their massive needs would face gigantic disparities in the resources provided for their education.

The Abbott v. Burke litigation has had a profound impact on K-12 urban education in New Jersey. In over twenty reported opinions the Court persistently forced change on the governor, on the legislature and on school districts. The litigation caused the state to adopt an income tax and then raise its income tax rates. The infusion of state funding into the covered urban districts has been striking. The 31 Abbott districts in the 2007-2008 academic year received $4.1 billion of state aid while the remaining 616 districts (yes we have 647 school districts in New Jersey, but that is another story) received $7.8 billion in aid. The litigation also forced targeted programmatic improvements. The urban districts now provide preschool education for all three- and four-year-olds. Comprehensive, rigorous content standards were imposed. Other supplemental programs address the needs of high poverty, minority urban learners such as early literacy courses, small class sizes, and social and health services were adopted. A major investment in facilities also ensued.

Despite the court mandated investment in urban education, a persistent achievement gap in student performance remains. Student test scores in the urban districts have only marginally improved and still materially lag behind those of students in suburban districts. The dropout rates in the urban districts remain scandalously high. So what?s up? One unfortunate answer is that the urban districts are very challenged in their ability to spend resources wisely. Shock of shocks, waste, fraud and abuse is not only a slogan but it is a real phenomenon. The problems of urban New Jersey are also imbedded in issues of housing, jobs, the criminal justice system, and the culture of personal responsibility. Hillary Clinton was on to something with the It Takes a Village thing. A final fact. There are about fifteen adults to every child in Cherry Hill; in Camden that ratio is three to one. Our village needs fixing, and it cannot happen only in the schools.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on June 01, 2009 (boomark / email).