State approves funding
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
Cherry Hill Sun
1/17/2008

Legislature passes Corzine’s new school funding formula

Gov. Corzine’s controversial new funding plan for state-aid in school districts that he claims will provide a unified approach to school funding and allocate similar funding to similarly situated students, no matter where they live, was approved by the Legislature last week.

The proposal was passed by a vote of 21-8 by senators, only after an additional $20 million was pledged to boost state aid for special education. Earlier in the day, the Assembly passed the funding plan by a vote of 41-36.

“The new law replaces a flawed system with an equitable, balanced and nonpartisan formula that addresses the needs of all students, regardless of where they live,” Corzine said in a written statement. “This formula puts the needs of all children on an equal footing and will give them the educational resources they need for success.”

The new funding plan, however, has Cherry Hill School District administrators concerned about the future of state aid in the district.

Corzine’s new funding formula replaces the ad-hoc state aid system that currently exists.

Under “A New Formula for Success: All Children, All Communities,” approximately $7.8 billion will be distributed among K-12 school districts for the fiscal year of 2009, an increase of approximately $530 million.

All districts will receive a state aid increase of at least 2 percent during the first year of the plan, and no districts will see a decrease in aid during the first three years of the plan.

However, one of the significant changes in the new school funding formula can be seen in districts after the third year of the plan. Districts can see a decrease in aid if the districts experience a decrease in overall enrollment or “at risk” students.

The brunt of state aid in the previous formula-funding plan was funneled to the 31 poorest school districts in the state, the Abbott Districts, as they are known.

The new plan bases funding on the needs of the district’s individual students. Districts with growing numbers of poor or immigrant students will receive more state funding under Corzine’s plan.

The state Department of Education estimated that 49 percent of “at risk” students – students eligible for free or reduced price lunches – are outside Abbott Districts.

The new plan is based on the theory that “at risk” students, students with limited English proficiency and special education students cost more to educate.

The state will also look at each school district’s overall enrollment numbers from December 2000 to December 2007 to determine the growth or reduction rate of the student population.

Districts with growing enrollment rates will likely see increases in state funding.