Opinion ID: 2424209
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 29

Heading: The State's Fact Witness

Text: Kevin Dehmer (Dehmer), employed by the DOE in the Division of Finance, testified concerning the figures generated in response to this court's inquiry regarding the amount by which State aid was reduced from the original formula, the quantification of the formula enhancements, and the various federal funding available to districts for the 2010-2011 year. Significantly, Dehmer testified in response to this court's letter dated January 28, 2011, in which the court, in an effort to focus the issues presented by the remand, requested to be provided with proofs concerning: 1. The percentage and dollar reduction of funding in the Abbott and non-Abbott districts in light of the current funding in relation to the SFRA formula; 2. The percentage and dollar amount required under SFRA for the Abbott and non-Abbott districts should there have been no augmentation beyond that which was strictly required by the experts in creation of the SFRA formula (that is, for example, (i) the formula applies a .47 at-risk weight, which was an enhancement from the .42 to .46 weights suggested by the PJP panel; (ii) for the LEP students weight, the PJP panel suggested a weight of .47 for each LEP student, but SFRA applies a weight of .50; and (iii) for students who are both LEP and at-risk, the non-overlapping resources were calculated to be 22.6% of the LEP weight, however, the DOE used a slightly higher figure of 25% in creating the combination weight) (hereinafter the enhancements). D-126. In response to the first inquiry, the data presented demonstrated the fully funded SFRA formula for FY 11 would yield $8,450,619,035 of State aid, and the actual State aid allocated was $6,848,783,991, resulting in underfunding of the formula by a total $1,601,835,044, or a 19% reduction. Dehmer, 8 T 19:3-14; D-124 at 19. Of this amount, $3,932,593,020 was K-12 State aid allocated to the former Abbott districts, or, in other words, 57.42% of total formula aid for FY 11 being allocated to former Abbott districts. See D-98. This data provided clear evidence of the levels of underfunding. The prior assertion the reductions totaled $1.08 billion was, actually, the difference in aid allocation between FY 10 of $7.930 billion and $6.848 billion in FY 11. See D-109. In response to the court's second inquiry regarding the formula's original enhancements and whether the same could allow the State to still provide the CCCS despite underfunding, the data demonstrated the enhancements provided only a minimal change. D-115. Specifically, the amount resulting from running the SFRA formula with the reduced weights in comparison to the original formula was $72,267,056. Dehmer, 8 T 44:2-8; D-115. Accordingly, the enhancements are self-evidently insufficient to even attempt to counterbalance the $1.6 billion underfunded amount. The State sought to elicit testimony from the witness to support its position federal funding need be considered, and moreover, should be considered as a source of funding to make-up the loss in State aid. Federal funding programs, discussed above, were identified as available to the school districts in addition to the State formula aid. The first was the Education Jobs Fund, the one-time federal program implemented for the purpose of offsetting layoffs, and which provided a gross monetary allotment of $262,742,648. See D-107. The allotment was allocated to districts to be spent within the period from August 2010 to September 2012. Ibid. The former Abbott districts received $138.8 million of the $262.7 million of federal aid. [52] See D-108. The districts had full discretion in spending their allocations, with the caveat money not spent by the end of the allotment period would be forfeited. Dehmer also testified concerning other one-time federal funding programs, particularly, ARRA Title I and SIA, and ARRA IDEA Basic and Preschool aid, as aforementioned. See D-110. Essentially, the State sought to demonstrate the various federal funding programs made available to States in response to the national fiscal conditions should have been used by the districts to make-up for the loss in State formula aid. D-111. Focusing on the former Abbott districts' $256 million reduction in K-12 State aid from FY 10 to FY 11, Dehmer pointed to data demonstrating the remaining federal funds available to these districts totaled $296.8 million. D-111. In other words, the districts could make-up or substitute their losses with these funds. The limited remand orders directed the Master to consider whether the present level of funding distributed through the SFRA formula was sufficient to deliver the CCCS. Federal funding is not within the SFRA formula. In Abbott XX, the Court made clear consideration of available federal funds should not be used as a crutch against some structural failing in the funding scheme itself. 199 N.J. at 174 [971 A. 2d 989]. Now the State appears to urge the position the Court explicitly rejected. The availability of federal funding was considered in lieu of providing the districts supplemental aid, in addition to fully funded formula aid, during the three year look-back period, and was not envisioned as a substitute for the State aid. Ibid. Accordingly, while the court permitted evidence of available funding for completeness of record, as previously discussed herein, the same does not assist the State in meeting its burden of showing current levels of SFRA funding are sufficient to permit districts to provide a thorough and efficient education to their students. Whether such funding should be considered is left to the Court's best discretion.