Lakewood Board of Education President Isaac Zlatkin tells TLS that during the next Board meeting, the board will vote on a resolution to support the Education Law Center on behalf of the plaintiff parents and students in regards to the Bacon lawsuit. The vote will take necessary and appropriate legal and other action to enforce the orders from the State Board of Education and the Appellate Division for the provision of SFRA funding, preschool and other resources to remedy the violation of the Bacon student’s constitutional right to a thorough and efficient education.
Zlatkin adds, “our objective is to correct deficiencies in the current formula and restore the increases in the state aid under School Funding Reform Act and to correct “constitutional deprivation” as determined by Appellate court.”
As previously reported by TLS, the Lakewood school district is entitled to millions of dollars as result of the 1997 Bacon lawsuit.
ELC JOINS NJ LAWSUIT TO ENFORCE EDUCATION RIGHTS
Demands State Provide Rural Students with Constitutional Funding and Preschool
Education Law Center, led by noted civil rights lawyer David Sciarra, has joined the legal team in Bacon, et al., v. NJ Department of Education, a long-running lawsuit challenging inadequate resources and funding for students in 16 southern New Jersey rural districts under the State Constitution.
On July 28, Mr. Sciarra and Millville, NJ, attorney Frederick Jacob sent a notice<http://www.edlawcenter.
“The students in this case have waited long enough for the essential resources they need to succeed in school,” said Mr. Sciarra. “Governor Christie’s stubborn resistance to investing in our children leaves no alternative but to take appropriate legal action. We simply cannot stand idly by while the State continues to violate the education rights of students in some of the poorest communities in our state.”
“It’s time to ensure children in the Bacon districts receive a thorough and efficient education,” said Mr. Jacob, who has been certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney for more than 25 years and has represented school districts for over 35 years. “If the Attorney General does not respond to our request in a timely and appropriate manner, we will have no choice but to go back to court.”
After a lengthy trial in the Bacon lawsuit, the State Board of Education issued a ruling in 2006 finding that the right of students in the 16 districts to a “thorough and efficient” education guaranteed by the NJ Constitution was being violated.
In a March 2008 ruling<http://www.edlawcenter.
Despite this order, the State failed to deliver the mandated funding and preschool programs. As a result, five years after the NJDOE order, the State continues to violate students’ constitutional right to a thorough and efficient education.
“For years, we have been asking for the resources our students need and deserve to achieve success under the State and Common Core standards,” said David Lindenmuth, Superintendent of the Clayton Public Schools, one of the Bacon districts. “Our schools are challenged by high poverty and mobility rates, but we continue to struggle with inadequate funding for teachers and staff, reduced class sizes, facilities, and preschool programs.”
Following enactment of the SFRA, the Bacon districts received increases in K-12 formula aid in 2008-09 and 2009-10. However, from 2011-12 through 2013-14, the districts did not receive any of the funding increases required by the formula. Even worse, Governor Chris Christie’s massive school aid cut in FY2011 wiped out prior year increases.
The Bacon districts will not receive a funding increase or any funds for full-day preschool programs under the SFRA formula again this year – a blatant violation of the 2009 NJDOE order.
Mr. Sciarra is among the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers and serves as lead counsel in the landmark Abbott v. Burke education rights case. He has led the ELC legal team in securing groundbreaking rulings requiring adequate school funding, school construction and comprehensive school reform, along with the nation’s first high court ruling establishing the right of 3- and 4-year-olds to high quality early education. The Abbott rulings on education rights are considered to be the most important in the United States since Brown v. Board of Education.
• ELC SUPPORTS FULL FUNDING FOR STUDENTS IN RURAL DISTRICTS <http://www.edlawcenter.org/
• NEW JERSEY’S POOR RURAL SCHOOLS SEEK FULL FORMULA FUNDING<http://www.
[TLS]
In sum total, does this solve the bussing issue?
Does this concur with Aaron Lang’s lawsuit V the Abott formula?
This does NOT solve the busing issue. Even if the class action lawsuit results in a victory to the class members of the lawsuit including lakewood, increased funding to the district is contingent upon the removal of non mandated services including courtesy busing. So this whole show is just smoke and mirrors. Its sad how the public is being given false hope and being misled.
I don’t think this is sad at all. Should this legal action be successful, students in the Lakewood public schools will rightly receive the state funds to which they are entitled.