Coalition head reports little progress on aid formula BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer MARLBORO - Board of Education members were brought up to date on New Jersey's school funding issue at their Nov. 6 meeting. Lynne Strickland, the director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS), gave an overview of the coalition and discussed its goals. At present there are about 150 school districts that make up the GSCS. These districts are working to get the state Legislature to craft a new funding formula for New Jersey's public schools. It was explained that the present school funding formula has not been implemented since the 2001-02 school year. Enrollment increases have not been accounted for in the amount of aid that is supposed to be distributed according to that formula. Any amount of aid that a school district receives is very important, according to Strickland. She noted that the evening of Nov. 6 was Election Day and said none of the candidates running for office had really spoken about coming up with a new school funding formula. "These issues have been avoided," she said. A published report in a daily newspaper on Nov. 8 indicated that the issue of revising the school funding formula could be addressed in the lame duck session of the Legislature between now and the end of December. The report said it is unclear whether the lame duck session will address the matter or whether it will be held over until January when the new Legislature is seated. Board Vice President Joseph Waldman asked Strickland when officials from many school districts could get together to initiate a class action lawsuit against the state. Strickland said litigation could take up to 15 years to resolve. She said the topic of a lawsuit had been brought up before and could eventually be a possibility if no action is taken by legislators in Trenton. The board members thanked Strickland for her presentation and her dedication to helping school districts like Marlboro in this ongoing matter. The issue of state aid for school districts has a direct impact on the amount of property taxes that property owners in a municipality pay. When a school district's state aid remains constant or is increased only slightly and its expenses (salaries, utilities, insurance, supplies, etc.) increase, the difference is made up in the tax levy that is collected from property owners in the municipality.