P'burg
advised funding new school should top wish
list
Monday, August 08, 2005 • By
PRECIOUS PETTY • The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- Before Phillipsburg
School District officials learned the new high school had
been cut from the state's to-do list of construction
projects, they were worried about the potential for another
state-funding disaster.
Phillipsburg was named as one of 12 poor
school districts around New Jersey that would lose its
Abbott status, and thus extra state aid for school
construction projects and pre-kindergarten classes, under
legislation introduced in July.
But attorney Richard Shapiro, who
specializes in education law, assured Phillipsburg officials
last week they needn't fret about being eliminated from the
state's muster roll of Abbott districts.
The Office of Legislative Services study
which bolsters the bill is flawed, he explained to officials
and the public at a special board of education meeting
Thursday.
The study evaluated districts based on
only two of three criteria -- economics and demographics --
the Department of Education uses to determine Abbott status,
Shapiro said. The third criterion -- educational adequacy --
is the most important measure of whether a district needs
extra help from the state, he said.
Shapiro said Abbott v. Burke, the New
Jersey Supreme Court case from which Abbott districts'
derive their name, was about educational adequacy and that
Phillipsburg would almost certainly fall below acceptable
adequacy levels without extra funding from the
state.
The district's Abbott money in 2003-04
accounted for 36.4 percent of its net budget -- the second
highest percentage on the list of districts that would be
eliminated if the legislation becomes law.
He said it would be all but impossible
for the education department to retract Phillipsburg's
Abbott status on the strength of the Office of Legislative
Services study.
"It's not going to happen quickly and
it's very difficult for it to be accomplished," Shapiro
said.
He noted that when education department
Commissioner William L. Liberia recommended changes to the
list of Abbott districts in May, he only had a few districts
in mind, and none of them was Phillipsburg.
Shapiro said securing state money to
build the district's new $90 million high school should
remain at the forefront of district officials'
minds.
Despite Phillipsburg's status as an
Abbott district, a state agency announced July 27 that it
had decided against plans to pay for the high school with
the last $1.4 billion of a special fund.
Phillipsburg and other Abbott districts
were left in the lurch when the New Jersey Schools
Construction Corp. revealed it only had enough of a $6
billion fund remaining to finance a fraction of hundreds of
anticipated projects.
At the meeting Thursday, which was called
to discuss the impact of the construction agency's
announcement, Shapiro urged audience members to pressure
their local legislators to determine how much it will cost
to pay for the unsatisfied construction projects and then
fund them.
In the meantime, Shapiro plans to file a
petition with the Supreme Court asking it to force the state
to pay for the new high school and other Abbott districts'
projects.
Reporter Precious Petty can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by e-mail at ppetty@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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