Newark, NJ – March 18, 2008

Calling it "the very least our constitutional duty demands," a New Jersey appellate court directed the State’s Commissioner of Education to carry out a needs assessment of the so-called Bacon school districts.

In an opinion released on March 14, the court found the assessment to be a prerequisite for determining whether the new school funding formula enacted by the State Legislature in January provides an appropriate remedy for these poor, rural districts.

To read the Appellate Division’s decision, click here .

The Bacons take their name from the case, "Bacon v. NJDOE," in which 17 public school districts petitioned for classification as Abbott districts. Subsequently, one of those, Salem City, was designated an Abbott.

In 2006, the State Board of Education determined that students in the remaining districts were not in fact provided with a "thorough and efficient" education as required by the State Constitution. At that time, the Board directed Commissioner Lucille Davy to examine the particularized needs of these districts. The Commissioner instead opted to wait for the new funding formula and a new school monitoring system, with the expectation that those would meet the needs of the Bacon districts.

"Whether the legislation just recently enacted delivers on that promise, and, more specifically, responds to the individualized, unique circumstances of the Bacon districts remains to be seen," the Appellate Division wrote on March 14.

Calling the requirement of a needs assessment "obvious," the court remanded the case to the Commissioner with a six-month deadline.

"I am very happy to see that the court also ordered the State to conduct an assessment and determine whether the new school funding act in fact addresses the constitutional deficiencies established in the record for the Bacon districts," said Elizabeth Athos, Senior Attorney at Education Law Center, which submitted an amicus brief in the Bacon case. "This decision can only help the challenge to the new school funding act that we are preparing on behalf of the Abbott schoolchildren."