School-Funding Issues Remain at Forefront 40 Years after Landmark Decision
Two key figures agree budget address today may set stage for yet another court ruling on aid for needier Abbott districts.
On the eve of Gov. Chris Christie’s budget address Monday, a far smaller crowd than the one expected in the Statehouse Tuesday came to Newark to hear two key figures involved in the landmark Abbott v. Burke rulings on equitable school funding. Speaking to about 20 people gathered at Rutgers Law School were Paul Tractenberg, founding director of the Newark-based Education Law Center, which has led the school-funding litigation for more than 40 years, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, who served 10 years on the state’s top court and wrote two of the Abbott case’s 21 opinions to date. Both gave detailed history lessons on the case, which started in the 1970s, stemming from a previous school-funding case -- Robinson …
