Opinion ID: 2332761
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facilities and Supplemental Program Funding

Text: In Abbott V we addressed preschool funding: If any Abbott schools are able to obtain the space, supplies, teaching faculty, staff, and means of transportation that are necessary to implement these programs for the 1998-1999 school year, they should be supplied with the necessary funding to enable them to do so. The Commissioner shall ensure that all other Abbott schools shall have the resources and additional funds that are necessary to implement pre-school education by the commencement of the 1999-2000 school year. [ Abbott V, 153 N.J. at 508, 710 A. 2d 450.] Plaintiffs and amici, specifically the cities of Asbury Park, Elizabeth, and Passaic, allege that the State has failed to comply with the Abbott V mandate because DOE has denied funding for preschool facilities improvements. It is also alleged that the districts' requests for supplemental programs and transportation funding have been uniformly rejected by the DOE, again in contravention of Abbott V. In February 1999 Assistant Commissioner Barbara Anderson sent a form letter to the districts denying their supplemental funding requests and advising that such requests should not be submitted as part of the districts' operational plans, but rather through a separate specified process. It appears that prior to this point the districts had received little by way of instruction from the DOE about supplemental funding applications. The lack of early guidance from the DOE resulted in submissions the DOE then deemed unsatisfactory and this, in turn, caused frustration with the supplemental funding process. The Agency's decision to deal with district operational plans separately from supplemental programs is no doubt within the agency's prerogatives. The DOE asserts that supplemental requests are being approved and funded under its procedures, as are requests for temporary facilities when they are needed. These matters are precisely the type of fact-sensitive disputes that the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) is prepared to handle. We cannot decide them here without a record, nor should we. Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the DOE's form-letter response to the districts' requests, and caution that reasonable requests to fund supplemental programs must be handled fairly and quickly. Abbott V held that even though it is not feasible at this time to ascertain or mandate a specific funding level, adequate funding remains critical to the achievement of a thorough and efficient education. Abbott V, supra, 153 N.J. at 517-18, 710 A. 2d 450. We also said that the Commissioner may, before seeking new appropriations, first determine whether funds within an existing school budget are sufficient to meet a school's request for a demonstrably needed supplemental program. Id. at 518, 710 A. 2d 450. The Commissioner indicates that he sought and obtained 37 million dollars in supplemental funding for the 1999-2000 school year and that if there is a need for additional monies during the course of the school year he will entertain applications from the districts at any time in accordance with the DOE's regulations. The DHS has made available approximately $12 million dollars to child care centers for facility expansion, renovation, equipment, and supplies. Only after a review of individual applications from the districts can it be determined whether adequate funding ... critical to the achievement of a thorough and efficient education has been provided. We urge the Commissioner to work with the districts to resolve funding issues expeditiously; when an amicable resolution is not possible, decision making must occur early enough in the school year to allow programs to be implemented by the next school year. See infra at 119, 748 A. 2d at 95.