State told to pay for schools Must cover extra costs of opening new projects. Tuesday, May 23, 2006 • From staff and wire reports TRENTON | New Jersey must pay the extra costs associated with opening the schools it is building in some of the state's poorest school districts, the state Supreme Court said Monday. But it remains to seen whether that decision will require the state to maintain new athletic fields at Phillipsburg's proposed new high school. The School Construction Corporation has already spent $16 million to acquire and develop six athletic fields at the new school property on Belvidere Road. "The question becomes will they provide money to support the fields," Phillipsburg Superintendent Gordon Pethick said. "There are some open issues here," he said. "If the SCC doesn't keep that up, we'll be facing some problems." Phillipsburg's new high school project is one of 97 that remains on hold, the result of a funding shortfall at SCC. It will be another three months before state officials can re-evaluate and reprioritize the projects. Phillipsburg is already reeling from a reduction in state support. Earlier this month, the court ruled that New Jersey -- for this year only -- could require a group of 31 needy school districts to make do with little or no increases in state aid. For Phillipsburg, that meant cutting its requested supplemental funding down from $8 million to $2.6 million for its 2006-07 budget. Over the years, the court has required that the state give those schools extra help, but agreed to ease some requirements for the 2006-07 school year because of a tight state budget. But in an order issued Monday to clarify some points in its new ruling, the court said the state does have to pick up costs of opening new schools in those areas -- even if it means increasing aid to some districts. The ruling also gives the state until June 14 to provide school districts with funding allocations. Pethick said he was encouraged by the expedited timeframe since the district would probably appeal for more money. "It's great to know there is a schedule set up," Pethick said. The school districts had told the court the costs associated with opening the new schools -- which the court said the state had to pay to build as one of the rulings in the Abbott v. Burke lawsuit -- would be around $80 million. The state said the task could be done for about half that amount. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.