Your Turn

David C. Abbott

Guest Column

State comes up short on school funding reform Marlboro, as well as all other school districts across the state, is working hard to inform the public about its upcoming 2007-08 school year budget and encouraging everyone to vote on April 17. At the same time, we clearly are aware that the lack of progress made to date by the Legislature in revising school funding directly affects the lack of real property tax reform.

Property taxes and school funding are inextricably linked. A new school funding formula has yet to be developed. The old CEIFA formula has not been fully funded or updated by enrollment increases or CPI increases, going into the sixth year.

Last month, Gov. Jon Corzine announced an increase of state aid for most school districts. For Marlboro that translated into an increase of 3 percent, or $305,584. While we certainly appreciate this additional unexpected revenue, what does it really mean in savings to Marl-boro taxpayers? It means that our original projected tax increase was reduced by approximately one cent per $100 of assessed valuation.

For a home with an assessed valuation of $300,000, that represents a savings of approximately $30, or less than one-half of 1 percent on the school portion of the property tax bill on that home.

Unless and until the state takes the final step of leadership to revise our school funding formula and restore overall equity, predictability and stability to the school funding process, our schools and property taxpayers alike will continue to suffer.

An implemented equitable school funding formula is an essential component necessary to achieve significant long-term property tax relief and also offer viable potential for property tax reform.

The Joint Committee on Public School Funding, co-chaired by Sen. John Adler and Assemblyman Herb Conaway, was ready with its recommendations for a new school funding formula by Nov. 15, but the recommendations were never translated into bill form and the public was let down from its expectations of productive debate on the issue.

I ask that the following points be considered in the legislative debate during the appropriations act process for Fiscal Year 2008:

+ School funding should be based on the educational needs of children, regardless of whether they live in poor, middle income, or wealthy communities.

+ Extraordinary Special Education Aid (for special education students costing over $40,000 to educate annually) has been fully funded only once by the state. This year the amount of extraordinary aid that Marlboro was entitled to totaled $530,020. Last week we were notified by the Department of Education that we would receive only 23.3 percent of this money back, or $123,665. The rest of these "extraordinary" costs must therefore be funded by the Marlboro taxpayers.

+ Unfunded state mandates still stand out as budget cost drivers that local districts (read "taxpayers") must fund. By its own count, the Department of Education's recently released list of regulations that extend beyond IDEA requirements stands at 78.

+ The last state aid payment in the 12-month payment cycle to schools that was held off - stated to be "borrowed" in the early McGreevey years - still is not scheduled to be repaid to schools. For Marlboro, that represents almost $600,000 in outstanding revenue.

On the surface, legislating caps within caps as a way to control school budget increases from year to year sounds like a reasonable solution, but in reality, it doesn't work unless a school district has no student growth, no contractual agreements that include salary increases, no increases in healthcare premiums, no unanticipated increases in fuel and other costs, no unanticipated repairs or purchases, and more.

One just has to read the newspaper to know how the caps are negatively affecting many school districts. Sports, extracurricular activities, art and music, guidance counselors, curriculum supervisors, custodians and more are being cut from 2007-08 proposed budgets. While Marlboro does not have to make these extraordinarily difficult decisions this year, it is entirely possible that in the near future, we, too, will have to cut programs and services.

School districts should absolutely be held accountable for their expenditures, and should do everything possible to be fiscally responsible and efficient, while at the same time providing a well-rounded education for each and every child in their care. But Trenton needs to step up to the plate by supporting its schools in a more substantive way so that reliance on property taxes is significantly and permanently reduced. New Jersey is among the wealthiest states in the nation, if not the wealthiest, but ranks 46 out of 50 (50 being the lowest) in its financial support of public schools. That needs to change.

Once again, I entreat everyone to vote on April 17. These are your schools; your surest guardian of your properties' wealth and your best investment in your children's future. Every vote counts!

Dr. David C. Abbott is the superintendent of schools in the Marlboro K-8 School District.