Abbott v. Burke

170 N.J. 537 (2002) ; Clearinghouse Number: 30938

Description

In Decades-Long School Funding Case, New Jersey Appellate Court Finds New State Regulations Constitutional

Abstract

A New Jersey appellate court upheld with slight modification recent state school reform regulations aimed at remedying disparities between property-rich and property-poor school districts. Plaintiffs challenged these regulations, which were adopted pursuant to earlier court orders in this twenty-year legal battle to remedy these disparities. In 1981 New Jersey public school students in districts with low property values challenged the state’s school financing system as contrary to their state constitutional right to a thorough and efficient education. Plaintiffs relied on a 1973 state supreme court decision that held unconstitutional the state’s school financing system because heavy reliance on property tax fostered excessive disparities between districts. When the legislature passed a new school finance law in response to that decision, plaintiffs claimed that, as implemented, it did not remedy the problem. In Abbott II the supreme court agreed with plaintiffs as to several poor urban districts and ordered that, without relying on local tax, funding be substantially equalized between these and property-rich districts, that the legislature provide funding for the special needs of students in poorer districts, and that school buildings in poor districts be improved. The court did not require equal expenditures per student; instead it set a substantive level of education as a floor. In Abbott III and IV the court found inadequate school finance legislation passed in response to each respective prior court decision. In Abbott V the court ordered the commissioner of education to implement regulations consistent with the court’s opinion, following a “whole-school reform” plan. In Abbott VI the court required some modification of the preschool education programs and state funding of all necessary building repair and construction costs in Abbott districts.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Appellants represented by: Maxim Thorne, Passaic County Legal Aid Society, 175 Market Street, 4th Floor, Paterson, NJ 07505 (973.345.8739)
Docket Date
2002-02-22 00:00:00+00:00
Attorney Email
pclas_admin@lsnj.org