BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

ALLENTOWN - Assemblyman Joseph R. Malone III (R-District 30) has alleged if the state does not do something about the way schools are funded, only "the filthy rich and the obscenely poor" will be able to live in New Jersey.

Malone spoke about the school-funding situation prior to an Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education presentation of its proposed school budget on April 3.

The meeting, held in the Upper Freehold Regional Elementary/Middle School auditorium, was sparsely attended. The audience consisted mostly of school administrators and members of, or candidates for, the Board of Education.

Malone has been in the education field for 32 years. He is currently an educator at the Somerset County Technical Institute. He has been a member of the state Legislature since 1993.

"It doesn't give me a great deal of pleasure to see what's happening in education, specifically to suburban and rural school districts," Malone said.

He said he is so incensed by the educational-funding situation that he sometimes finds it difficult to talk about.

He told the audience, "You're being cheated, robbed, and your children's education is being stolen."

Malone blames the reduction of state aid to most school districts on the New Jersey Supreme Court's Abbott v. Burke decision, which ruled that the education provided to urban school children was inadequate and unconstitutional.

According to the N.J. Department of Education's Web site, the court explicitly limited Abbott programs and reforms to a class of school districts identified as "poorer urban districts" or "special needs districts." These districts have become known as Abbott districts. The court also identified the specific factors used to designate Abbott districts.

Currently, there are 30 school districts in the state identified as Abbott districts.

He said the Abbott ruling is "not fair, not efficient, and it does not serve the children of this state."

Malone said that 2001-02 was the last school year that non-urban schools received the state funding they should have gotten. Since then, he said, non-urban schools have had to "do more with less, with more students."

Interim Superintendent of Schools Robert Smith reported that enrollment in the district has grown by 33 percent since the 2001-02 school year.

In 2001-02, there were 1,801 students in the Upper Freehold Regional School District. Today, there are 2,246 students. The population is expected to increase to 2,396 in 2006-07, for an overall increase of 595 students since 2001-02, according to Smith.

During that same time frame, Smith said, the state has reduced aid to the school district.

In the 2001-02 school year, state aid amounted to just about $3.6 million or $1,998 for each of the 1,801 students. Next year, state aid will amount to just over $4.2 million, or $1,769 for each of the 2,396 students.

Malone said, "I don't believe the incompetence of the Supreme Court should compromise your school and children."

Malone said he taught in the New Brunswick school district, and his wife taught in Philadelphia, so he is familiar with urban school systems.

He has nothing against urban schools, and he said that they need help. However, he said, other school districts should not be deprived.

He said $10 billion in state aid is going to the Abbott districts. He alleged that much of the funding is wasted or used as patronage.

Malone said he has argued with representatives from Burlington City, which is an Abbott district, because they installed National Basketball Association seats in a gymnasium with

Abbott money.

"I couldn't control myself," he said. "I am passionate about the way suburban and rural districts are being mistreated."

In addition, Malone said requirements such as the federal No Child Left Behind Act and certain special education mandates put extra burdens on some school districts.

He said that one special education child who moves into a school district in the middle of the year could wreck the budget of some districts. Malone said the state should do more to help its special needs students.

Malone alleged the New Jersey Legislature is "in a state of denial" that something must be done about school funding. He said residents must start raising "bloody hell" about what is happening in Trenton.

"If this thing doesn't get stamped out soon, you might as well move to another state," he said. "Funding must be more equitable."

He alleged the state Department of Education is "almost not functioning."

He also had harsh words for the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and the New Jersey School Boards Association. He said that many lobbying organizations are there for themselves and are most interested in keeping their jobs.

Resident Reno Zinzarella, a retired superintendent of schools in a Bergen County district, said the fairest way to fund schools is by income tax, not property tax.

Zinzarella said he feels Corzine's budget "is a step in the right direction." He said he is nonpartisan.

Zinzarella alleged that if a 2-3 percent income tax is levied on those making more than $250,000 a year, property taxes could be reduced by 90 percent.

Malone replied, "If everyone were as honest as you want them to be, I would agree with you." However, he said a "millionaire's tax" enacted several years ago "might as well have been thrown down the rat hole."

Malone said school construction legislation money was also squandered.

"We tried it your way," he said to Zinzarella, "only to be extremely disappointed."

Malone is also not a fan of the proposed constitutional convention on property-tax reform.

He said it "had so many loopholes you could drive a bus through it" and voted against the measure.

He said the state can no longer have 600 or so school districts, plus a myriad of authorities for those districts.

"People have to think differently," he said. "I wasn't elected to just do things I liked. I have to do the right things."