Page 18 - 40thAnniversaryNJPSA

NJPSA has been part of all of these conversations and statewide tax increase to pay for it. The QEA redistributed
has participated in the legislative process and the policy millions in state aid from over 200 school districts that would
development world of the NJDOE and State Board of see the loss of most if not all their state aid to poor urban
Education on behalf of NJPSA members. Consider the districts and about 350 districts that would see state aid
following to be a written slideshow of our advocacy work increases.
over the decades:
What followed was a public uproar where the sales tax,
1. School Funding - Abbott v. Burke cigarette, and “toilet paper taxes” became the symbol of a
Begins the 1990s with “Equity and government that had simply gone too far (and perhaps gotten
Adequacy” – Ripple Effects too personal?). It should be noted that Governor Florio and
Continue Today the Legislature also enacted the strongest assault weapon
ban in the nation at the same time, so public controversy
In the spring of 1990, during an economic recession, the was evident on more than one front. Grassroots taxpayer
landmark New Jersey Supreme Court case of Abbott v. revolts organically sprouted across the state led by “Hands
Burke issued, finding the state’s school funding statute to Across New Jersey.” As the new tax package supported our
be unconstitutional as applied to students attending school public schools, NJPSA was on the side of the angels or the
in 28 largely urban school districts in our state. The Court’s devils, depending upon your perspective. In the 1991 midterm
remedy ordered the State Legislature to enact a new school elections, the State Legislature would flip from Democratic
funding formula by the 1991-92 school year that would majorities in both houses to veto-proof Republican majorities in
ensure a “foundational level” of funding that was “substantially both houses.
equivalent to” the funding levels in the suburban school
districts in the state AND that was “adequate” in the sense that In this battle, as in all discussions of school funding, NJPSA
it provided for supplemental programs needed to address the represented all New Jersey school districts and their interests.
extreme disadvantages experienced by poor, urban children in It is our mission to present the needs of all members’ districts,
the 28 Abbott districts. so legislators understand the complexity of school district
costs, budgets, local fair share contributions under New
By the June 1990 budget (FY 1991), Governor Jim Florio and Jersey’s taxing structures, the needs of all students, and the
the Democratic Majority Legislature had enacted the Quality school costs associated with meeting them. On funding issues,
Education Act (QEA), a new school funding formula to comply NJPSA has worked in coalition with our partners in public
with the edicts of Abbott, and a comprehensive $2.8 billion education from public education groups like the NJEA,