Christie recommends delaying while the state fights litigation filed by N.J. education advocacy group on school formula
David Sciarra, of the Education Law Center, argues against the state's position during arguments about school aid funding in front of the State Supreme Court in Trenton in this 2009 photo.
After the bill signing Gov. Chris Christie says that he was mislead by Education Commissioner Bret Schundler. TRENTON — A review of New Jersey’s state education spending is due Wednesday, but Gov. Chris Christie today said he has advised the education department not to release the report because it could hurt the state in a current legal challenge.
Though Christie stopped short of saying the state would not produce the report, due by law every three years on Sept. 1, he said he recommended delaying it while the state fights litigation filed in June by a New Jersey education advocacy group.
The Education Law Center filed a motion challenging New Jersey's budget, charging that school aid cuts "indisputably violated" the state's legal obligation to distribute funding based on a formula upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court. Christie said he wanted to wait for a determination from the court. Oral arguments have not been scheduled.
“I’m not so sure that should come out tomorrow or that we should be putting forward any report until we get a resolution of the current legal challenge before we buy ourselves another one,” Christie said. “I’m going to [put] one legal challenge behind me before I buy myself the next one.”
The Newark-based center, which advocates on behalf of children in the state's poorest districts, wants to force the state to restore nearly $820 million cuts in Christie's first budget that covers the 2010-11 school year.
"The state's action ... effectively deprives plaintiffs and their peers statewide of the resources the state itself determined were necessary," the ELC wrote in the motion.
The state, in its response filed by the Attorney General's office in July, said the decreases were unavoidable in a year when the state was "pummeled by a national recession."
The state said the Legislature cut funding in a way that was consistent with the funding formula "and a principled commitment to minimizing the brunt of decreased funding on those districts most reliant on state aid."
Five other education organizations in New Jersey and seven school districts also filed briefs in support of the case, according to the law center.
The report would analyze a complex formula that determines what it should cost each district to educate a child - which currently starts at $9,971 for an elementary school child and is increased if the child needs special services.
A panel of educators from 16 school districts met to discuss the formula in mid-August. The state Board of Education is scheduled to receive an update Wednesday, but no action is expected to be taken.
By Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger and Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau
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