MORE EVIDENCE LINKING ABBOTT FUNDING TO IMPROVED STUDENT OUTCOMES

Another research study has linked the additional funding provided to New Jersey’s 31 urban school districts under the landmark Abbott v. Burke school funding case to improved student outcomes. More Detail and the Study Documenting Dramatic Gains....

THE REAL COSTS OF THE PROPOSED FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY RULES

The Education Law Center (ELC) strongly opposes the special education provisions of the proposed fiscal accountability regulations being promoted by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to replace the previous regulations set to expire on June 30. Read More....

ALREADY GONE? LEGISLATORS SET TO ABANDON NEW SCHOOL AID FORMULA

Trenton lawmakers are poised to abandon the new State school aid formula. If the State budget recently passed out of the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees gets final approval, the SFRA will effectively be ignored and replaced with funding levels set in the annual “Appropriations Act." Read More....

USDOE ACCEPTS NJ'S PLAN TO UNDER-FUND AT-RISK STUDENTS

In a decision ELC views as "regrettable," the US Department of Education has given the green light to Govenor Corzine's plan to provide unequal funding to New Jersey's at-risk students and schools in FY2010. Read More....

ED ADVOCATES CHALLENGE NJDOE ON SECONDARY REFORM COSTS

NJ education officials are ready to ratchet up course and other requirements for high school graduation without examining the costs to local schools or whether this will become another unfunded mandate from Trenton. Read More....

TRACTENBERG ON NEW ABBOTT RULING

"Before we sound Abbott’s death knell, we should look closely at what the Court’s ruling actually means," writes Paul Tractenberg, professor at Rutgers School of Law in Newark and ELC founder, in an opinion piece that appeared in NJ newspapers on June 7. Read Professor Tractenberg's editorial....

FAILURE TO FUND PRE-K EXPANSION WOULD VIOLATE ABBOTT RULING

Governor Jon Corzine recently announced that he was jettisoning plans to include $25 million in the FY2010 budget to allow for the expansion of preschool across the state. Because preschool expansion is mandated by the new school funding formula, failure to fund the program flies directly in the face of the NJ Supreme Court's May 28 ruling. Read More....

SUPREME COURT: NEW SCHOOL FORMULA MUST BE FUNDED AND REVISITED

Today the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a decision upholding the State’s new school funding formula, the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008. The SFRA is a major setback in the quest for educational equity for all New Jersey school children. Read More....

URBAN–SUBURBAN FUNDING GAP WIDENS UNDER SFRA

Just as the experts predicted, the gap in per pupil funding between urban and suburban school districts in New Jersey has widened in only the first year under the State’s new school funding formula as demonstrated by an ELC analysis of K-12 per pupil revenue. Read More....

NEW SCHOOL AID FORMULA UNDERFUNDED BY $300 MILLION

An Education Law Center analysis shows Governor Corzine’s proposed FY2010 budget will underfund the State’s new school aid formula by $303 million in just the second year of the formula’s operation. The proposed cuts to the SFRA will fall on moderate- or middle-income school districts and some high poverty districts. Read More....

ABBOTT MYTH 7: ABBOTT DISTRICTS OVERSPEND ON ADMINISTRATION

Critics often claim that the Abbott districts spend too much on administration and other non-instructional areas but rarely back-up these claims with actual evidence. Find out how experts for the Education Law Center have used the NJDOE’s Comparative Spending Guide to prove the critics wrong and bust this Abbott Myth. Read More....

STATE AID FOR 2009-10: TWENTY-ONE ABBOTT DISTRICTS FLAT FUNDED

State aid figures for the 2009-10 school year confirm that 21 of the 31 poor, urban districts will receive flat funding, and only six Abbott districts will receive Education Adequacy Aid. Education Law Center analyzed the aid figures to determine the percentage change from the previous school year. Read More....