NJ Today

Corzine's School Switcheroo

All six African-American senators opposed Gov. Jon Corzine's state school aid plan but the measure cleared both houses of the Legislture with the minimum number of votes needed for passage. The senate vote was 21-8, with the Assembly approving the measure with a 41-36 vote.

Corzine hailed passage of the complex bill, which he made a centerpiece of the legislative agenda he promoted during the short lame-duck session that followed November's legislative elections. Nothing got done on the ethics reform package that was promised so many times, but we were also spared massive toll hikes and billions in new public debt.

"The new law replaces a flawed system with an equitable, balanced and nonpartisan formula that addresses the needs of all students, regardless of where they live," said Corzine. "This formula puts the needs of all children on an equal footing and will give them the educational resources they need for success."

Corzine's new formula will cost poor cities hundreds of millions of dollars, but lobbyists from the New Jersey Education Association were able to overcome objections by minority lawmakers and other education advocates.

"The governor's formula is deeply divisive and fundamentally flawed," said David Sciarra, the lead attorney in the long-running Abbott vs. Burke state Supreme Court case.

Unfortunately, the conflict leaves New Jersey's 618 school districts in terrible disarray with vast shortfalls in the learning achievements of our children.

The quality of education will not be addressed, and neither will the inequity of funding schools with high property taxes, until politicians take real responsibility.

That is, unless the state Supreme Court imposes an Abbott vs. Burke style ruling that eliminates the current hodge podge of 618 districts and demands a single statewide system of free public schools, as the state constitution clearly requires.

The state constitution is really a remarkable document. It would do a lot of good if lawmakers and others responsible for implementing government policy took the time to read it.

Meanwhile, it's politics as usual in Trenton. Black lawmakers will get pushed to the back of the bus by white multimillionaires like Corzine, as taxpayers and children go on being cheated by incomeptence, corruption and greed.