Policymakers, elected officials, educators, parents and advocates are currently engaged in long-overdue dialogue about how to improve our nation's public schools. Unfortunately, when it comes to school funding, the conversation is framed by recurring, but outmoded, adages: "Does money matter?" or "Can we do more with less?" or "Our state already…

The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act ("McKinney-Vento") provides federal funding to states to address the problems that homeless children and youth encounter in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in the nation's public schools. McKinney-Vento requires states to develop plans that ensure homeless children and youth the same access…

Building a more accurate, reliable and consistent method of analyzing how states fund public education starts with a critical question: What is fair school funding? In this report, "fair" school funding is defined as a state finance system that ensures equal educational opportunity by providing a sufficient level of funding distributed to…

This report calculates the full cost of providing well-planned, high quality pre-school for children in New Jersey, as required under "Abbott vs. Burke" (153 NJ 480 1998). The evidence on how high-quality pre-school improves the academic performance of children is compelling. After a rapid expansion over the last decade, many children in the…

Ordinarily, one might expect that an alternative education program that encourages thousands of secondary students to stay in school and remain on track to earn a high school diploma would have broad support. However, New Jersey's "special review assessment" or SRA, has been the subject of longstanding and, at times, contentious public debate.…

The Education Law Center (ELC) sought an independent review of special education funding in New Jersey as part of a larger group of studies intended to critique the cost study conducted by Augenblick and Palaich and Associates (APA) and the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) and inform the ongoing public debate. In doing so, ELC recognized…

New Jersey's urban--or "Abbott"--schools have improved at the preschool and elementary school level, but lag when it comes to middle and high school performance. These are the key findings of an Abbott Indicators Project report entitled, "The Abbott Districts in 2005-06: Progress and Challenges." The report was prepared by Education Law Center and…

The long range facilities planning (LRFP) process presents a wonderful opportunity for New Jersey's school districts to re-examine and strengthen their long term planning for educational adequacy in 21st century school facilities. It provides an opportunity for districts to work closely with the special education community to ensure that New…

The New Jersey Supreme Court's 1998 ruling in Abbott v. Burke represents the first judicial directive in the nation that public education must include a high-quality, well-planned preschool program starting at age three. This decision applies to 30 urban school districts, known as the Abbott districts, that serve approximately 25 percent of the…