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Christie school funding plan gets skeptical reception at South Jersey forum

Gov. Christie got pushback Tuesday during a forum in Burlington County on his pitch to revamp New Jersey's school funding system, as he faced questions on how poor districts would absorb the cuts his proposal would necessitate.

Gov. Christie answers a question during a forum in Bordentown, Burlington County, on his proposal to reorganize school funding.
Gov. Christie answers a question during a forum in Bordentown, Burlington County, on his proposal to reorganize school funding.Read moreMICHAEL ARES / Staff Photographer

Gov. Christie got pushback Tuesday during a forum in Burlington County on his pitch to revamp New Jersey's school funding system, as he faced questions on how poor districts would absorb the cuts his proposal would necessitate.

"You can't get blood from a stone," Sue Altman, an education consultant who recently moved to Camden, told the governor in Bordentown City. She questioned how Camden residents could compensate for the loss of most of their school district's state aid under Christie's plan, which the governor is promoting as a tax-relief measure.

As Christie began to praise charter and Renaissance schools in Camden, Altman cut in. "Gov. Christie," she said, prompting Christie to toss the microphone at her. Charter schools serve a "different demographic" of student, she continued.

Christie said charter schools were "working under different rules" from traditional public schools, where he faulted union rules with stymieing change.

In proposing his school funding redistribution - which would boost aid to suburban districts and slash aid to urban districts - "we're forcing change," the Republican governor said later.

He was responding to a man who brought up comments Monday by Newark School Superintendent Christopher Cerf, reported by NJ.com, that the governor's proposal would be "catastrophic" in his district.

Christie said he had spoken Monday night to Cerf - his former education commissioner, whom he appointed to oversee the state-controlled Newark district.

"We disagree," Christie said Tuesday. But, he said, "I think we agree" that "what's more injurious to Newark" than his proposed cuts are last-in, first-out work rules.

Christie noted that his proposal to revamp aid, which he says would increase state funding to most districts in New Jersey, allowing for lower property taxes, would be phased in over three years. Districts that lose aid would have time to adjust, he said.

Democratic leaders in the Legislature have opposed Christie's proposal, which would give each district equal state aid of $6,599 per pupil. The state's current funding formula is weighted to give districts more money for poor students and English-language learners, among other factors.

Christie says he would continue funding for special education students.

The current formula was supported by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which, in a series of rulings dating to the 1980s, has directed funding to children in the state's poorest districts to ensure a "thorough and efficient system" of education, a provision of the state constitution.

Christie has proposed enacting his plan through a constitutional amendment. But Democratic lawmakers would need to vote on the measure before it could go on the state ballot.

On Tuesday, Christie said the court had "screwed it up" with its school-funding decisions, known as the Abbott rulings.

"This is 30 years of doing it this way, and 30 years of abject failure," Christie said, referring to the performance of students in the mostly poor, urban districts.

He said the court's rulings had caused "inequity in the other direction," resulting in a disproportionate tax burden for non-Abbott districts.

With the redirecting of aid under Christie's proposal, in Bordentown, residential property taxes would drop about $1,100, he told the crowd gathered in a firehouse Tuesday. In 2015, the average property-tax bill in Bordentown was $6,728, according to the state.

In Moorestown, also in Burlington County, where the 2015 residential average was $11,008, taxes would drop about $2,500 per home, Christie said.

Other districts wouldn't receive such a benefit. Catherine Roth of Bordentown asked what Christie would say to her 73-year-old mother in Irvington, who Roth said is working part time after her job as a teacher's aide was cut. Under Christie's plan, "her taxes will not go down," Roth said.

"There are going to be some winners and some losers," Christie said.

mhanna@phillynews.com

856-779-3232 @maddiehanna

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