By GEOFF MULVIHILLTRENTON -- The New Jersey Supreme Court has rebuked Gov. Chris Christie and ordered the state to increase spending on poor schools by an estimated $500 million. But in its split ruling, the court stopped short of the scenario Christie frequently and publicly said he feared: An order to hike spending on all schools to the tune of $1.7 billion.
The $500 million is about the same amount the state treasurer says the state has in a windfall due to higher than expected tax revenues.
Two of the court's seven justices recused themselves for the case. The court voted 3-2 in favor of the decision, with Justice Edwin Stern, who was temporarily assigned to the court, casting the deciding vote.The ruling Tuesday was the 21st decision in the decades-long court battle known as Abbott v. Burke, the legal part of New Jersey's definitive political conundrum.
Over more than two decades, the state's Supreme Court has ordered the state to pay more to subsidize 31 school districts in low-income communities to satisfy the requirement in the state constitution that New Jersey provide children with a "thorough and efficient education."
In many respects, the state's public schools are regarded as among the best in the nation, with top graduation rates and high scores on the SAT and other standardized tests that are given across the country. But the schools in the state's cities, which include places that rank among the nation's poorest, have lagged behind.
The court orders have led to free preschools for 3- and 4-year-olds in the cities, new and improved school buildings and extra literacy tutors, among other items. And now, most of the so-called "Abbott districts" have among the highest-spending districts, on a per-pupil basis, in the state.
While the gap in test scores has narrowed between the city schools and others at lower grades, it is still wide.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Education News »new jersey, chris christie, education news
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