And I'm sure that the charter schools in Abbott districts will once again be excluded from any Abbott funding. No Abbott funding, less than the per pupil allocation from the state, and paying for their own facilities. And yet the waiting lists at some charter schools get longer every year.

Times of Trenton Op-Ed: Achieve parity for Abbott schools

Friday, December 26, 2008
BY ALEXANDER BROWN

Although the 1947 New Jersey state Constitution requires that the Legislature provide a "thorough and efficient system of public schools" for urban districts, the inequitable reliance on dwindling local property taxes to fund quality schooling was not possible and continued the discrimination of urban children in segregated schools.

Property-rich districts were better able to ensure a consistent quality educational experience for their children than property-poor communities. This violation of the state Constitution resulted in the first of many legal actions that would be filed on behalf of the urban child. In 1970, the Jersey City School District filed suit on behalf of student Kenneth Robinson in Robinson vs. Cahill, challenging state law for financing public school based on property taxes; and in 1973, the courts found that the property-tax system for funding public school was indeed unconstitutional.

The Legislature responded by passing the Public School Act of 1975, which established minimum state aid per pupil and included curriculum improvement, but did not address disparity in funding. Accordingly, in 1981, parents from Camden, East Orange, Irvington and Jersey City joined and filed another complaint on behalf of their children, claiming that the 1975 act violated the state constitution and the equal protection clause, and initiated the Abbott vs. Burke case. The student named in the complaint filed against the Commissioner of Education, Fred G. Burke, was Raymond Arthur Abbott.

Neither the executive nor the legislative branches of state government, whether Democratic or Republican, over the next nine years would give anything but lip service to the issue of funding disparity affecting the education of urban children, and continued their disdain for improving the financing of the segregated urban public schools. Once again, in 1990, the parents of the "Abbott" children had to remind the state of its responsibility to address equitable funding, and again contended that the 1975 act did not address funding or educational disparities. But, rather than provide parity in funding, the lawmakers came up with yet another law, the Quality Educational Act (QEA) that, by 1993, was declared unconstitutional by the Superior Court, which again did not ensure funding or address parity with affluent districts.

The state appealed the decision, but it was sustained by the courts in 1994. Again, the Legislature continued its tactic of avoiding a direct response to parity funding for urban school children by promoting the Comprehensive Improvement and Financing Act (CEIFA) in 1996, which allegedly was intended to address academic standards and funding, but was declared unconstitutional but the Supreme Court for not guaranteeing sufficient funds to urban schools.

Since the Supreme Court had determined that the executive and the legislative branches of New Jersey state government, over the years, had failed to meet their responsibility to address urban school funding, and after the court had provided them with seven additional years to respond to the 1990 court order to comply, in May 1997, it intervened and directed the state to provide 100 percent funding for the "Urban 30 Abbott Schools" to ensure parity in per-pupil cost; to implement supplemental programs, health and safety improvements and construction of new classroom to reduce class sizes; and to put an end to the deliberate discrimination of urban school children. Finally, in 2000, the Legislature passed the unprecedented school construction initiative, which would not only provide billions of needed school construction funds for the Abbott school districts, but would also provide necessary funds for suburban schools as well.

Despite the courts' effort to bring educational equity to the urban schools, Gov. Jon Corzine, along with the state Legislature, passed a school-funding bill that is intended to replace the CEIFA with the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008, which would also eliminate the "Abbott" school designation. The net effect of the act would reduce funding to urban schools and spread the funds to other districts.

However, the Supreme Court has once again been forced to intervene by preventing the new funding formula from being fully implemented. The court has directed the governor to explain how the new formula will provide adequate funding for urban schools' regular educational cost, address at-risk student supplemental aid and the schools' right to appeal for additional supplemental funds, ensure that local districts are capable of providing a local fair share in light of municipal overburden, and ensure that local governments have the capacity to raise taxes for school purposes as required by the new law, including funds for particularized needs and special-education services.

Urban educators, parents and students still face many challenges as a result of the lingering effects of racism, discrimination, racial antipathy, prejudice, urban economics, poverty, crime and low-income housing decisions, which will continue to contribute to the perpetual segregation of urban public schools. However, a segregated school system need not be inequitable or ineffective as long as there is a commitment to provide sufficient funds. Clearly, those committed to urban education have enough issues with which to contend without the added burden of protracted adjudication.

The urban school districts are fortunate to have the state Supreme Court as an ally in the struggle -- the only branch of government capable of rendering a fair assessment of the funding needs of the Abbott public schools to ensure that urban children receive the quality education they deserve.
Alexander Brown is vice president of the Trenton School Board.
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