The New Jersey Supreme Court yesterday
agreed to give Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature a chance to
come up with additional funds for the depleted $8.6 billion school
construction program.
Rejecting appeals by attorneys
for Jersey City, Elizabeth and other needy communities for a court
order demanding additional funding, the justices opted to give
Corzine time to win approval from the Legislature for more school
construction funding.
Corzine promised the court he would
propose legislation this month that would authorize another $2.5
billion for the construction program in 31 needy communities.
In its 6-0 decision, the court will let attorneys reopen their
case if the promised relief is not delivered.
"The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed
with the administration's position and concluded any court involvement
would be premature," said David Wald, a spokesman for Attorney
General Anne Milgram, whose office argued the case before the
court. "The governor will now move forward and seek approval of
the bond issue."
The court ordered the sweeping
school construction program a decade ago as part of an attempt
to settle the long-running Abbott v. Burke lawsuit over state
aid for schools in New Jersey's neediest communities.
In the years since, the state has
raised and spent more than $6 billion on the construction program.
But funding for the program is all but tapped out.
A $2.6 billion allotment of funds
for suburban communities ran out in 2006, and the $6 billion authorized
for the urban communities covered by the court order has all been
spoken for, with hundreds of planned school projects unbuilt.
As a result, thousands of students
remain in outmoded, overcrowded or decrepit school buildings.
Justice Barry Albin served notice
in a concurring opinion that he was still mindful of those problems.
Albin, the only justice to comment
on the matter in yesterday's decision, noted the court had declined
to act on a similar funding request last May, arguing at the time
that Corzine or lawmakers could provide the required funding in
the pending state budget for Fiscal Year 2008, the current budget
year.
"The Legislature did not authorize
funding in Fiscal Year 2008," Albin noted. He then stated that
Corzine had not disputed the descriptions of "severe overcrowding,
inadequate facilities, and unsafe conditions" that superintendents
from Abbott communities described in filings with the court.
David Sciarra, lead attorney in
the Abbott case, said such concerns require prompt action on Corzine's
proposal, which has yet to be presented to lawmakers.
"We fully expect the governor to
follow through with a legislative proposal, and to actively work
for passage of the bill," said Sciarra. "We also expect the Legislature
to act quickly on the legislation, given the urgent and undisputed
need."