Experts depict school aid funding formula as 'fatally flawed' Tuesday, January 23, 2007 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL • Star-Ledger Staff A 2003 study of education costs that state officials hope to use as the basis for a revised school aid program is so deeply flawed that it should be scrapped, a parade of ex perts told state lawmakers yesterday. Lawmakers have been working for more than seven months on a new formula for distributing $7 billion in state school aid. Gov. Jon Corzine said in his State of the State address this month that he still hopes to have the new formula in place for use in distributing state aid in March, but most of those who testified yesterday said that is impossible. "The process is fatally flawed," said Paul Trachtenberg, a Rutgers- Newark law professor who has successfully sued the state over constitutional flaws in five school funding formulas. "In my judgment, the only thing the Legislature and the state can do is to start over with an independent study." As a foundation for the new distribution formula, state officials have been relying on a 2003 study in which state Department of Education officials attempted to define the number of teachers, specialists, aides and other resources needed to educate all students in school districts of various sizes. The study concluded that the median cost for educating a stu dent in a K-12 school district in New Jersey was $8,496 in 2004. The study concluded that New Jersey districts should have spent $15.3 billion on public schools, but actually spent $337 million less than that. Among low- and moderate-income school districts, the shortfall exceeded $500 million, but that was offset by about $200 million in overspending among the state's most affluent communities, the report concluded. Critics lined up at yesterday's Assembly Education Committee hearing to decry the study's projected cost estimates as unrealistically low. "Speaking as a researcher, a public school parent and a longtime resident of New Jersey, I feel it would be a disservice to the children of New Jersey and to the citizens of our state to base policy on this study," said Margaret E. Goertz, professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania, in a letter to state Education Commis sioner Lucille Davy. As an example of shortcomings she found in the department's report, Goertz said the median cost of a teacher's salary and benefits, tabbed at $62,279 in the report, is $9,000 below the actual average cost of teacher pay and benefits in the state. Using the actual average would add $600 to the projected cost of educating a student, she said. In lieu of rushing to impose a new funding formula, the experts suggested the state should consider simply updating the existing formula, the 1996 Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act. It was last updated in 2002. Updating and fully funding the existing formula would boost total state aid by about $846 million, with most of the additional funding being targeted to districts in the middle or lower income ranges, a Rutgers study released last week showed. Department of Education officials are scheduled to hold a series of public hearings on the cost study later this week. Assemblyman Craig Stanley (D-Essex), chairman of the committee, said Davy is scheduled to present the cost study to his committee at a future hearing. Dunstan McNichol may be reached at (609) 989-0341 or dmcnichol@starledger.com. © 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.