Schools learn who wins, loses in Corzine budget

Two days after Gov. Jon Corzine warned that state funding for schools would be frozen again next year, aid figures unveiled yesterday contained a few surprises, with some individual districts seeing big drops or increases.

Two in three districts would see nominal changes or none at all for a fifth straight year. But while past funding freezes have been largely across the board, this time some fast-growing districts would get a boost, while schools with declining enrollments would see cuts.

And the needy districts that fall under the state Supreme Court's Abbott vs. Burke court order, which were expecting increases, found out their overall aid will be nearly flat.

On top of that, eight of those districts were told to expect steep cuts under a new Corzine administration strategy to require local taxpayers to bear a larger share of Abbott school costs. Newark would lose more than $8 million, and Jersey City would see a reduction of $6 million.

The proposed aid figures released yesterday by the state Department of Education also include cuts for some suburban districts, including a more than $1 million reduction in Woodbridge and $515,000 in Montclair.

"This is a very difficult budget year, and the governor has said he will not permit a continuation of past practice that allowed New Jersey to spend year after year more money than it takes in," said acting Education Commissioner Lucille Davy.

But a few districts, urban and suburban, won unexpected increases.

Perth Amboy is among those Abbott districts the state wants to raise more through local taxes. But because of its rising enrollment, it would receive an overall aid increase of $2 million, officials said.

In one of the state's wealthier districts, the Chathams schools could get nearly $200,000 more, also due to rising enrollments.

"That was a complete shock," said Superintendent Jim O'Neill. "We never get more aid, only less."

The surprises reflected several changes in how Corzine's first budget funds public schools. Among the most far-reaching were the adjustments for schools that are seeing big increases or decreases in enrollment. An extra $5.6 million will be distributed to fast-growing districts, while those that lost students over the last four years will see cuts totaling $3 million.

Suburban districts have long complained that the state's funding ignored enrollment changes, and last year won some help in then-Gov. Richard Codey's budget. Advocates for those districts said they are pleased Corzine is going further in that direction even though some shrinking districts could take a hit.

"Not that the day is over -- flat funding is really taking a toll on districts and only jacking up property taxes -- but it's encouraging that he's at least giving us a symbolic nod and paying attention," said Lynne Strickland, director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, a group of more than 100 suburban districts.

But the big fight will remain around the Abbott districts. State officials yesterday conceded that the aid for K-12 programs will only go up about $4 million -- not the nearly $96 million claimed in Corzine's budget presentation on Tuesday. That figure included $92 million already earmarked for the districts this year.

Abbott districts have already submitted their 2006-07 budgets for state approval; officials said yesterday they will now have to redo them to match up with the new figures. "Our goal is to work with them to get their budgets within these numbers," said Davy.

That didn't go over well with the districts, eight of which are also taking cuts because administration officials say local taxpayers are not paying their fare share.

Newark will see the biggest hit, with the state proposing to reduce its overall aid by $8.2 million for the coming year and telling the district it should raise local school taxes by the same amount.

Superintendent Marion Bolden said she didn't have a problem with local taxpayers bearing some of the additional costs, conceding that Newark's school taxes have not risen in more than 20 years.

"That's the only fair thing, that's the right thing," she said. "It has become very difficult to make a case for the budget if there is also the ability for us pay our fair share."

But Newark's proposed budget calls for 6 percent spending growth to keep up with rising costs, and Bolden said without any additional help from the state it could be forced to eliminate needed programs. She said she would go to court if necessary to prevent that.

"If there is a cut in something I need to be successful, of course I will go back to court," she said.

It may be a busy court docket. Davy said the state will itself return to the court to defend its flat funding for the Abbotts, and the chief lawyer for the Abbott schoolchildren said the state should count on a fight.

"This budget is going to have a devastating impact on Abbott schools and kids," said David Sciarra, director of the Education Law Center, the Newark center that first brought the Abbott suit.

"This is really a reduction budget for schools statewide," he said. "This is deeply disappointing."

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