Growing South Jersey school district to sue for more state aid

The financially strapped Kingsway Regional School District is planning to take its case for more state aid to court, intervening in an effort by Gov. Christie's administration to reopen a landmark school funding case.

The Gloucester County school district said Friday that it planned to file a brief with the New Jersey Supreme Court next week, asking that the state be ordered to distribute aid to districts in accordance with a 2008 law that established a school funding formula.

It also said it would ask the court to order that so-called adjustment aid — money that was given to districts to ensure they did not get less than before 2008, but which has never been phased out — be ruled unconstitutional.

"The School Funding Reform Act was meant to provide for the education of all of the students in New Jersey, not just a select few," Kingsway Superintendent James Lavender said in a statement.

Requiring the state to comply with the law "in a way that is fair to every school district will put to rest any question as to our commitment that all students in New Jersey receive a quality public education," Lavender said.

The district, which says it gets less than half of the state aid it is entitled to by the formula, needs to hire 25 teachers, but "I'm going to be laying off two dozen" people, Lavender said.

The district's announcement comes as lawmakers in both houses consider changes to the school funding formula, which was found constitutional by the state's high court in 2009 but has not been fully funded.

Some districts, however, receive more money from the state than the formula specifies because adjustment aid is still distributed.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) supports phasing out that aid over five years — and giving more to districts like Kingsway, which, in addition to being underfunded, is dealing with growing enrollment.

But Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D., Hudson) has expressed caution about reducing adjustment aid.

"We don't necessarily see the Assembly moving quickly to get this issue resolved," Lavender, who supports Sweeney's proposal, said Friday.

Kingsway, which has a budget of $33.7 million, is facing a $2 million budget gap. "I need something to happen now," Lavender said.

By planning to intervene in Christie's effort to reopen the Abbott v. Burke school funding case, Kingsway did not want to be left out of the Supreme Court's decision-making, Lavender said.

Christie's administration asked the court in September to reopen the decades-old case, which directed additional resources to special-needs districts. Christie, who argues that the rulings have burdened taxpayers without adequately improving schools, wants the court to let him break collective bargaining agreements in the mostly urban Abbott districts and freeze current funding levels. Separately, he has proposed an alternate funding plan that would cut aid to Abbott districts and send more to suburban districts.

The Abbott districts include Camden, Burlington City, Pemberton and Gloucester City in South Jersey.

The court previously ordered Christie to restore $500 million that he cut from the Abbott districts after confronting a budget gap in 2010 — but not aid that was cut from others.

"That has screwed us," Lavender said. "We've had enough."

The Education Law Center, which represents a certified class of all school children in the Abbott districts, has argued that the court should not reopen the case.

Lavender said Sweeney "did not discourage us" from pursuing legal action.

In a statement Friday, Sweeney called the court plan "the inevitable result of the obstruction experienced in the attempts to reach an agreement on the reforms needed to the state's school funding formula." In addition to phasing out adjustment aid — the state distributes about $600 million — Sweeney wants to change the formula to let growing districts receive more aid.

He has also called for spending an additional $500 million over five years.

The formula is at least $1 billion underfunded.

A spokesman for Prieto said the speaker "has repeatedly said he supports fully funding" all school districts.