Exposing Corzine’s School Spending and Aid Plan As Absurd and Unfair

We keep waiting for sensible lawmakers to expose Governor Jon Corzine’s proposed school spending and state aid plan for what it is - absurd and unfair. How else would an objective person describe a plan that proposes greater state aid per student for some districts than it proposes for others to spend per student?

For example, Corzine’s plan has established that Glen Rock in Bergen County should spend $12,489 per student. Yet, the same plan also proposes state aid of $18,755 per student for Pemberton Township in Burlington County. Both districts serve students K-12.

The Governor’s plan cranks out an average of $12,482 in state aid per student for all of Cumberland County, just $7 less than the state expects Glen Rock to spend per student.

Pork-laden and inequitable is how a fair-minded person would describe a plan that allocates $23,004 in state aid per student to Asbury Park and $866 to Glen Rock.

And don’t think Glen Rock is the only school district getting a raw deal – it’s one of hundreds. Look up you own distinct here.

How can Corzine keep a straight face and call this plan A Formula for Success for All Communities? Clearly, it’s a formula that will expand the failed Abbott school district model to more schools. It’s a formula for more government spending, higher taxes – state and property – and no accountability.

We keep waiting for someone with clout to demand Corzine release the total per student each school district will spend from all funding sources. (That would include the $1 billion in federal school aid the state will receive and distribute.) Common sense would dictate all funding sources be incorporated into the state’s school funding plan. Taxpayers have a right to know all the facts and the bottom line, but it’s not happening.

Democrats in Trenton are busy drafting legislation to enact Corzine’s plan, even before all the facts are known and the public has had a chance to understand it. The goal is to have this boondoggle passed into law before January 8. Obviously, Corzine is hoping to ram this though while few citizens are paying attention and before the new legislature is sworn in next year.

What are Republican and other sensible lawmakers doing to expose and stop this nonsense before it’s too late? What are you doing? We fear the answer is nothing.