District
may lose dollars soon
District could be off poorest
schools list, and lose a big percentage of annual funds.
Thursday, May 19, 2005 • From staff and wire
reports
The New Jersey Department of Education is
considering new rules that would cut the number of school
districts getting extra money from the state, and
Phillipsburg is one of those on the chopping
block.
The department is working on a proposal
that would tighten the criteria for schools to be on the
list of those affected by the landmark Abbott v. Burke court
rulings, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Wednesday's
newspapers. The rulings in that legal battle, which dates to
the 1970s, requires the state look out for its poorest
districts.
Currently, 31 districts get extra help,
including having the state fund pre-kindergarten classes and
school construction projects.
A legislative analysis of the state
proposal found that 13 schools, including Phillipsburg,
would be taken off the list and one would be
added.
Aside from Phillipsburg, among those
removed could be schools in Jersey City and Elizabeth -- two
of New Jersey's larger cities. Most of the worst-off
districts, such as Newark, Paterson, Trenton and Camden,
would not be affected.
"It would be thoroughly devastating for
the district and it would be an injustice for the children,"
Phillipsburg School Board President Rod Pianelli said of the
chance the district could be stripped of its Abbott
status.
Phillipsburg's Abbot money in 2003-04
accounted for 36.4 percent of the district's net budget --
the second-highest percentage on the list of districts that
would be eliminated under the change.
Pianelli said the designation as such has
been questioned for a long time because of Phillipsburg's
sending-receiving relationship with more affluent districts
like Greenwich, Pohatcong and Lopatcong townships and
Bloomsbury.
From Phillipsburg's standpoint, it is not
a valid question, he said.
"I would hope that they would give the
children the opportunity that they deserve," Pianelli said,
adding that the district would be prepared to fight against
anything less.
Phillipsburg Superintendent Gordon
Pethick said district officials are concerned and intend to
keep their eyes trained on the situation.
"We're not going to overreact," Pethick
said Wednesday. "We're going to make sure we are aware of
everything that is going on."
Since garnering the Abbott classification
in 1998, Phillipsburg has received more than $79 million in
additional state funds.
The district is requesting $3.687 million
in additional Abbott aid for the 2005-06 school
year.
The state is also footing the bill for
construction of an $18.7 million Early Childhood Center off
Center Street and a roughly $100 million high school off
Belvidere Road in Lopatcong Township.
There's no question, Pethick said, that
being an Abbott district is a very important component for
Phillipsburg's schools, as it allows for many programs that
would otherwise not be possible.
"We are watching this," he said. "We will
address it as we see fit when and if that time
comes."
Education Secretary William L. Librera
would like to add requirements that at least 40 percent of a
district's students be poor enough to qualify for free
lunches and that the property tax rate is at least 30
percent above the state average for schools to be on the
"Abbott" list, according to the published report.
Most of the schools that would be taken
off the list, according to the legislative analysis, are in
relatively small communities. The regional Penns
Grove-Carneys Point district in Salem County would be the
only new addition.
Districts that fear being dropped from
the list are getting ready to defend themselves.
"I would fight this to the end," said
Rafael Fajardo, president of the Elizabeth Board of
Education. "Our kids are finally going to be up to par with
the rest of the state, and the state would do this to
us?"
In Elizabeth's case, aid could be cut by
about $60 million per year through the changed designation.
That amounts to about one-fourth of the district's annual
budget.
Librera would not discuss which schools
might lose their Abbott status, but he did say it is
important to revisit the requirements.
"You don't stay permanently in Abbott,"
he said. "That's very important." Staff reporter Linda
Lisanti contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
|