Newark, NJ – May 1, 2008

Education Law Center (ELC) filed papers on Wednesday with the NJ Supreme Court opposing the State's request to stop providing extra help for poor children and schools, as ordered in the landmark Abbott v. Burke litigation.

ELC represents over 300,000 children in 31 poor, urban school districts across the state. Abbott was filed on their behalf seeking educational justice after decades of funding inequality and neglect in these districts.

In several groundbreaking rulings since 1998, the Supreme Court ordered the State to provide additional funding and to target that funding to programs and reforms, such as preschool and intensive literacy supports, designed to improve education quality and performance. Known as the "Abbott remedies," the Court's rulings are recognized as the most important for poor and minority schoolchildren since Brown v. Board of Education over 50 years ago.

ELC in its filing cites the lack of any study, research or data from the State to show that poor children no longer need the extra funding, or that the Abbott remedies are not working. ELC, on its part, presents the Court with detailed data showing solid educational gains in the urban schools, especially in preschool and early grades.

ELC also shows that the new funding formula - the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) - which the State offers as an alternative to the Abbott remedies, will significantly reduce funding for poor children in the coming years. In addition, the SFRA does not provide any funding earmarked for poor children or require that any funding be spent on programs to address their specific needs.

"The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that urban children are entitled to equal and adequate school funding, and that funding must reach the classroom for their benefit," said David Sciarra, ELC Executive Director and lead counsel in Abbott. "The new formula is not new at all. Sadly, it brings back unequal funding, with no accountability for how school funding is spent."

ELC's filing included reports from prominent experts who analyzed the flaws in the new formula. Several organizations, including the Association for Children of New Jersey and the Urban Mayors Association, along with a coalition of special education advocates, filed amicus briefs in support of ELC's position.

ELC is asking the court to deny the State's request or, in the alternative, to send the request to a trial court for a full hearing.

To read ELC’s legal brief, click here.