March 17, 2009 – Newark, NJ

State school aid figures for the 2009-2010 academic year were released by the NJ Department of Education on March 11. Aid was determined in accordance with the new school funding formula (the School Funding Reform Act, or SFRA) signed into law in January 2008. Aid figures also included federal stimulus money directed to the states and earmarked for public education.

Application of the SFRA to the Abbott districts is the subject of litigation currently before the NJ Supreme Court. In fact, the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote on March 12 that, "The case was one factor in this year's aid levels, [NJ] officials said. They did not want to cut funding while defending the formula in court." Read full story.

Education Law Center (ELC), which represents the Abbott school children, analyzed the State aid figures for those districts. View the table here showing aid categories, total aid and any percentage change over the previous school year.

The numbers confirm that 21 of the 31 poor, urban districts will receive flat funding in 2009-10. In addition, only six Abbott districts will receive Education Adequacy Aid (EAA) in the upcoming year. According to estimates generated by NJDOE last year, Jersey City expected to receive $55 million in EAA under the SFRA, but instead is among those districts receiving nothing. ELC is in the process of investigating possible explanations for this dramatic change.

Abbott and other New Jersey districts will receive additional Title I and IDEA money from the federal government. But the use of those funds is restricted, and both the federal stimulus and additional title and special education money will be provided to school districts around the country for two years only.

With so many Abbott districts flat-funded in 2009-10, ELC urges community members and education advocates to ask their districts whether they have applied for supplemental funding. The deadline for applications is March 18. Supplemental funding, one of the Abbott remedies established by the NJ Supreme Court, is still in place, despite the SFRA, as per the Court’s ruling in November 2008.

It also will be important for education supporters to document cuts made by districts and report those findings to ELC. Many schools in need of improvement are still expected to provide tutoring and other supports, and increases in class size and the loss of after-school and other programs, to name just a few possible cuts, could be devastating to at-risk students.