Quote:

What I don't understand is why the state lets Abbott district cities give tax abatements to developers.

People have written here before that the public schools do get something when Jersey City grants a tax abatement, but I think the percentage is a lot lower than if the property owners would pay regular property taxes.

If I were an official in some middle-income city that made everyone pay property taxes, I'd be really angry to see my residents' tax money going to subsidize Gold Coast Jersey City schools.

Lets see if Epps can make a case for funding Jersey City schools like he makes a case for expanding his own salary.

Corzine takes a harder line on funding for Abbotts

Sunday, February 25, 2007
BY JOHN MOONEY
Star-Ledger Staff

For more than a decade, New Jersey's education policy has focused on one Herculean task: fixing poor, struggling urban districts that the courts said were failing to educate their children.

Now, Gov. Jon Corzine wants to turn the focus away from just the 31 poorest districts, known as Abbotts, and embark on broader reform that considers middle-class districts the governor believes have long been neglected.

This shift appears to represent the biggest change in focus and structure at the Department of Education in years.

The first signals came only last Thursday during his budget address. The next day, Corzine visited Rahway -- a classic blue-collar town not quite poor enough to qualify for Abbott funding -- to trumpet a 10 percent increase in state aid to that district.

Tomorrow, when detailed state aid numbers are released for all districts, Corzine said, Abbott districts, such as Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth, will see no increases in aid unless they can individually make a case for it. Even then, raises will likely be modest.

Corzine's reforms don't end with a shift in how aid is distributed. The administration also is in the midst of reorganizing the Department of Education and is expected to dismantle the Division of Abbott Implementation. Its high-profile director, Gordon MacInnes, already has announced he is leaving state government. And, in another personnel shift, a former State Police major will be assigned to ferret out waste and corruption, signaling tougher policing by the department.

"I believe in the Abbott concept," Corzine said on Friday during a meeting with The Star-Ledger editorial board. "I don't believe in the Abbott execution."

MONEY FOLLOWING KIDS
MacInnes, a former Morris County legislator and public face of the state's Abbott programs for five years, said in an interview that leaving was his own decision. At 65, he cited the grind of a long commute and a wish to branch out into the nonprofit or foundation world.

A Democrat first appointed during the administration of former Gov. James E. McGreevey, MacInnes said he supports Corzine's idea of pumping aid into other districts outside the Abbott boundaries.

"We've come down to a situation where a student's constitutional opportunity to get a good education is defined by geography," he said, noting court mandates to help poor students have been limited to the 31 Abbott districts. "I'm in favor of having the state ensure that every kid has a fair shot at a constitutionally required education."

That attitude is good news for the hundreds of other districts, where officials have had their state aid capped since the McGreevey years and are straining to serve a growing number of impoverished students. The problem is most pronounced in working-class towns like Rahway or others on the edge of large cities, where parents have taken extreme measures like using the addresses of friends or relatives to register their children and get them out of urban districts they perceive to be failing.

In the far suburbs there has long been rebellion over the flood of state money pouring into Abbott districts.
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But Corzine said he supports the struggles that got the state to this point.

He endorses the state Supreme Court decisions in the case of Abbott vs. Burke -- first filed in 1981 -- which have led to the additional funding, mandatory preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds and $6 billion in new urban school construction.

But given the state's fiscal woes over the past five years, the governor argues that the Abbott focus has begun to come at the expense of other districts.

Corzine stressed in his budget address that aid will now follow needy children, regardless of where they attend school.

Clearly, he is not turning his back on the large urban districts, which tend to be Democratic and are huge Corzine supporters. But he and other education experts believe the billions of dollars invested in those districts in recent years have shored them up appreciably.

"It's a recognition that 10, 12 years ago, they (the Abbotts) were grossly underfunded, but now that they have the funding, maybe the focus should be on how to use that money to improve outcomes," said Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. "It's a focus away from just the money."

Davy said part of that shifting focus will include eliminating the Abbott division, which has 100 employees. She said they are not eliminating jobs, but there will be a broad reshuffling.

A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN
There also is a feeling in some quarters that with so much money poured into the Abbotts in recent years that not all of it is being spent properly.

In his proposed budget, the governor set aside $120 million for additional Abbott aid -- but he stressed districts must make a case for a dime of additional funding.

"There are 31 districts," Corzine said of the Abbotts. "Some are doing a good job, and some are doing an awful job. Union City is getting a lot more for its $13,000 per student than others that are spending $18,000."

Part of the new approach will be a get-tough attitude about waste, mismanagement or fraud.

Davy recently announced the formation of an office within the department that would consolidate investigations and audits, with an opening focus on the Abbott districts.

To head the new division she tapped State Police Major Robert Cicchino, a 29-year veteran of the force and former director of its internal affairs division.

First on Cicchino's list will be following up on audits commissioned by the state that found shoddy accounting and questionable expenses in the Camden schools and three state-run districts in Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson.

In an interview, Cicchino said the audits on first reading "certainly piqued my interest" with their references to out-of-state trips, catered food, and more than $15 million in other expenses the auditors termed "questionable."

"When you look at what's happening in the state and the dollars assigned to these Abbotts, you want to make sure the money goes to the intended purpose of providing better education ... to the children of this state," Cicchino said.

"Every dollar not going there is doing the citizens and the children a disservice."

POTENTIAL PITFALLS
Taking the exclusive focus off Abbotts won't necessarily be easy.

Any dilution of the state's investment in the Abbott districts -- last year alone the price tag was $4 billion -- will surely be challenged in the courts.

Corzine's proposed budget includes no additional funding for school construction -- the $6 billion approved by lawmakers in 2000 is running dry with many needs unmet -- and he predicted Friday that decision, too, will be challenged in court.

Officials in the Abbott districts and their advocates were being cautious in their reactions last week.

"I don't see what's happening as a threat," said Jersey City superintendent Charles Epps Jr. "I see a string of accountability pieces on us to ensure that the dollars do follow the child. ... I got no problem with that."

Others are more wary, saying the Abbott districts have been under siege for a few years.

"I hope we can get to a point where it's not either-or," said David Sciarra, director of the Education Law Center, the Newark organization that first brought the Abbott lawsuit. "We've had too much either-or for too long.

"We have a lot to do in the schools everywhere," he added, "including the Abbotts."

John Mooney may be reached at jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.