A concise overview of school aid issue Thursday, December 13, 2007• The Star-Ledger Questions and answers on the formula: What is this school funding formula? Every year, the state budget includes about $8 billion in income tax receipts and other tax revenues that are distributed to the state's 618 school districts to help them pay the costs of running public schools. The formula attempts to ensure the appropriate amount of state funds are directed to each of the school districts, accounting for the money available locally through property taxes and complications that can affect the cost of schooling. Don't we already have a formula? Officially, the state is currently distributing school aid in accordance with the Comprehensive Education Infrastructure and Financing Act, a 1996 law that attempted to define the cost of the "thorough and efficient" education called for in the state Constitution. However, lawmakers have not fully funded that formula since 2002, and the state Supreme Court declared the formula unconstitutional for 31 of the state's neediest communities, ordering supplemental state aid for them. What's new about Corzine's plan?Corzine attempts to dissolve the court's "Abbott" distinction by targeting aid to individual "at-risk" students in any school district, rather than determining aid on a districtwide basis. Under Corzine's formula, "at-risk" is defined as coming from a family whose income is no more than 185 percent of the federal poverty level, the level at which a family qualifies for federally subsidized lunch programs. How would Corzine's formula change the current distribution of aid? The biggest winners are blue-collar communities like Woodbridge and Belleville that have been strapped under the current system and now stand to benefit because the new formula would identify "at-risk" students in their districts and target them for additional state aid. In all, about 300 districts stand to get at least 10 percent increases in state aid, most of them in the middle-class suburbs. Who are the other winners and losers? Among the state's 107 poorest communities, about half would receive the minimum increase allowed under the formula. Among the state's 125 wealthiest communities, by contrast, 72 qualify for the maximum increase in aid permitted under the new plan. How is it possible any of the state's wealthiest districts got big aid boosts? The formula employs a variety of factors, and for many districts with rising enrollments or especially high tax burdens -- even in wealthy communities -- stand to gain. Why should I care about a school aid formula? In most towns, the share of public school expenses that are not covered by the state must be picked up by local homeowners through property taxes. The more funds your hometown gets through the state aid formula, the less the school board will have to raise from you. According to the state, the new aid will boost the share of school costs covered by the state to an average of 43.8 percent across all 21 counties, up from 40.9 percent. What happens next? The governor must win approval from the Legislature before any plan takes effect. He hopes to secure passage of the new formula before the current Legislative session ends Jan. 8. Once approved, the formula faces almost certain review by the state Supreme Court, which rejected two earlier attempts by Govs. Jim Florio and Christie Whitman to craft state aid formulas, declaring they shortchanged poor school districts. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.