On January 16, the Education Subcommittee of Governor Christie's Transition Team released a report focusing, in part, on PreK-12 education and offering an array of recommendations to the new governor. Earlier that same week, the governor appointed Bret Schundler, former Jersey City mayor, as the new Commissioner of Education.

With Mr. Schundler's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee yet to occur, and Governor Christie's plans for public education not yet outlined, it's impossible to know which of the Education Subcommittee's recommendations will be adopted by the new administration. But it's interesting to take a closer look at the portion of the report concerning school funding.

The subcommittee, in its report, favors the establishment of an expert task force to "review, analyze, and make recommendations about the structure of education funding in the state." The subcommittee calls for the task force to report within 90 days on "immediate opportunities to eliminate waste and to reclaim expenditures from practices and purposes that are low priority or making no or only limited contribution to the quality of education provided to children." A second task force report, to be completed within six months, should provide "an assessment of the overall funding system and recommendations for its improvement."

The report doesn't make specific recommendations regarding the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA), and until the new governor presents his budget address to the Legislature on March 16 there is no telling whether the new formula will be fully funded in FY 2011.

By contrast, the NJ Supreme Court in its May 2009 decision upholding the formula noted that the SFRA is constitutional as long as state aid is provided to school districts at the levels determined by the new formula. (See Supreme Court: New School Formula Must be Funded and Revisited.)

In FY 2010, the SFRA was underfunded by millions (see New School Aid Formula Underfunded by $300 Million.) It should be noted that for FY 2011, there is very little federal stimulus money available to NJ for education, and the state budget hole has been estimated at over $10 billion.

Regardless of how the governor proposes to handle school aid in the coming budget, the public has made up its mind. A Monmouth University-Gannett New Jersey Poll released in early February found that 62 percent of New Jersey residents surveyed said they will be very upset if Governor Christie cuts spending on education.

Further complicating the picture -- but not addressed in the subcommittee's report -- is the fact that the SFRA law contains provisions for a review of the census-based method for determining special education aid (due June 2010) and a review of the formula itself and its impact on districts (September 2010). The Supreme Court also cited these evaluations in its decision, hinging constitutionality of the new formula on "the mandated review and retooling of the formula's weights and other operative parts after three years of implementation."

Will a school funding task force consider the Supreme Court's decision on funding the formula and the evaluation deadlines? Those are details not addressed in the Education Subcommittee's report.

Prepared: February 15, 2010