Court could get taken to school

Sunday, June 01, 2008

I attended the governor's speech to the Garden State Coalition of Schools last week at the Forsgate Country Club. The weather was so wonderful that I felt like golfing instead of working. But I don't golf, so I went inside and listened to Jon Corzine.

He gave a good speech. The emotional highlight came when he described his visit earlier in the week to six schools in the Iron bound section of Newark. Those schools are 40 percent over capacity, he said.

"The one that I was in yesterday hadn't had any serious renovation since 1922," he said. "That's just flat-out wrong."

Indeed it is. But it was not the fault of the people to whom he was speaking. The coalition is made up of middle- and upper-class school districts that have been deprived of state aid for decades because the bulk of that aid has been diverted to cities like Newark.

The schools in those cities were supposed to be renovated with $6 billion borrowed by the state without voter approval. But the Democrats blew through that dough the way Atlantic City tour groups blow through the rolls of quarters they're handed as they get off the bus.

And now Corzine wants to bor row another $2.5 billion in your name without letting you vote on it, even though the state constitution says you get to vote on money borrowed "in any manner."

Now that's flat-out wrong.

Ray Lesniak wants to right that wrong. When I spoke to Lesniak earlier in the week, the state senator told me he wants to see that bond measure go on the November ballot. He wants to present it to voters as part of a reform package for the Abbotts.

"I think we need to get all these schools on a three- to five-year budget to bring their efficiency to the level of similar schools," Lesniak said. "But absent that, voters wouldn't support it and shouldn't support it."

I was surprised to hear such heresy coming from a Democrat. I was surprised even more when, in a news conference after the speech, Corzine left the door open for such a vote. He said he would prefer to see the Legislature borrow the money without a referendum. But he added, "If the Legislature doesn't want to do that and they want to put it on a ballot, then they can put it on a ballot and see how the voters deal with it. And if that doesn't work, we'll need another spending plan."

We will indeed. And I suspect it will be one much less favorable to the "former Abbott" districts. In his speech, Corzine used that term to describe the largely urban districts that get special treatment under the state Supreme Court's Abbott school-funding decisions. It is the official line of the Corzine administration that the new school- funding formula makes the Abbott distinction obsolete. Students are now funded based on need rather than home town, they contend.

It's about time. The Abbott system is an embarrassment. Middle- class school districts are starving for state aid while Abbott districts have so much dough that they can afford to give golden parachutes like that $740,000 severance package awarded to the outgoing superintendent in Keansburg.

But if the Abbott system has in deed ended, as Corzine contends, then why do the 31 districts formerly known as Abbott still get 100 percent of their construction costs paid by the state? Let us imagine for a second that Lesniak gets his way and that the new bonding plan goes on the November ballot. And imagine it's voted down.

What would the court do? In prior decisions the court has ig nored the plain language of the Constitution. In this situation, the justices would have to ignore the plain will of the voters.

Now that would be fun. And I suspect it would be the true end of Abbott. So maybe the Democrats have something up their sleeves here.

If so, the guy I met as I was walking back to my car would be happy. He was hanging around a catering truck. When he saw the press pass around my neck he wanted to chat.

About what? About property taxes, of course. The guy told me he lived in Highland Park, a pleasant little town near the main campus of Rutgers. He loved the town but he didn't like the taxes: $10,000 a year.

Highland Park is a member of the Garden State Coalition. Like other member towns, it gets very little state aid. So the burden of supporting the local schools falls on working stiffs like that caterer. And even though Highland Park, like many middle-class towns, is packed to the gills with liberal Democrats, even liberal Democrats have their limits. If this bond measure goes on the ballot, we'll find out just what those limits are.

Paul Mulshine may be reached at pmulshine@starledger.com. To comment on his column go to NJVoi ces.com.