School funding experiments kept under wraps Wednesday, June 13, 2007 • BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL • Star-Ledger Staff State officials devising a new formula for distributing almost $8 billion in state aid to schools each year can tell you how much your town would gain or lose under three proposals. But they won't. In a court battle that briefly reached the state Supreme Court last week and may ultimately be decided there, officials with the Department of Education argue they need to keep secret the impact of three "alternative funding formula simulations" they experimented with in the fall of 2003. Advocates hoping to have a say in how the state changes its system for dishing out state aid disagree. They sued and won a judge's order for the release of the information, which they say is vital to an informed debate on the $8 billion state aid program. At issue is a 12-page memo on the funding alternatives that appears to spell out how much each variation would cost the state, and how implementing the new formulas would affect state aid to school districts based on their wealth. The memo also appears to spell out how much property taxes would have gone up or down in each type of community under the proposed distribution alternatives. Copies of the memo released to a Newark non-profit agency that sued the state Department of Education indicate that's what they say. But the memos have one significant problem: The portions that show how the new formulas played out were blacked out. State officials claim that letting the public see how "novel" aid formulas play out would generate controversy, stifle creativity and leave state officials "subject to criticism for actions that have not yet been taken." "When DOE (Department of Education) has thoroughly evaluated and analyzed all options, a final funding formula will be vetted in the Legislature, and the public may more fully participate at that juncture," state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said in a statement submitted as part of the court case over the memo. Davy and her department have been fighting to keep the memo under wraps since April 23, when Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ordered the full text of the memo released. "Any privileged information appearing on these documents is outweighed by the public interest in its disclosure," Feinberg wrote in her order calling for the memo's release. The state appealed Feinberg's order to the Appellate Division. But that court, ruling solely on the arguments made in court papers, rebuffed the state last month. Last week, however, the state Supreme Court said the appellate court must first hold a hearing to consider the state's argument for keeping the document secret. The high court agreed to let the state keep the memo's contents under wraps until the matter is resolved. The Education Law Center, a Newark-based non-profit that has spearheaded efforts to steer extra state aid to New Jersey's neediest communities, says disclosing how the proposed formulas play out is vital to letting the public have an informed discussion of the planned overhaul. "We think more information is better than less," said Elizabeth Athos, senior attorney at the Law Center, who is working on the case. "It's important to have an informed public." Davy declined to comment. But in her written statement to the court she argued that disclosure of the trial runs would be counterproductive. "Because the task of developing a new statewide school funding formula involves extremely complex and specialized issues, it is imperative that those involved in the initial phase of considering different options be free to suggest any novel, innovative or possibly controversial concept," she wrote. "To have these ideas vetted in the public arena prior to a final determination would detrimentally interfere with DOE's decision-making abilities." The appeals court has yet to schedule the hearing. Dunstan McNichol may be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341. © 2007 New Jersey On-Line LLC. All Rights Reserved.