The Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey ruled in July 1994 that the funding plan for public education in New Jersey was unconstitutional. Simultaneously, the State Supreme Court ordered that parity in public educational funding be established within the state. The reasoning underlying the Court's ruling was that schools located in poor areas of New Jersey were being "shortchanged."
This ruling came at a time when Republican Governor Christine Whitman was attempting to carry out her election promise to reduce taxes in New Jersey. New Jersey's legislature at the time of the ruling had been attempting to provide property tax (the primary source of school funds in the state) relief to New Jersey property owners for three years. The legislature had begun this battle with Governor Jim Florio in 1991. Both Governor Whitman and the New Jersey legislature were force to reconsider the situation in the Summer of 1994.
Almost a year prior to the ruling by the State Supreme Court in the Summer of 1994, the Governor and the state legislature had appointed two commissions to study the funding equity situation of New Jersey public schools. When the Supreme Court decision was delivered, one reasonably could have anticipated that these commissions would have had a recommended solution to the problem in the hands of the governor and the legislature when the decision was handed down. One would have been disappointed, however, if one had held such an expectation, for the two commissions were unable to agree with one another on the approach that should be taken to establish equity in school funding in New Jersey.
The State of New Jersey, thus, must now start from scratch to find a solution to the funding equity problem involving public schools in the state. About nine months prior to the ruling by the State Supreme Court, a broad based education coalition in New Jersey proposed a new educational funding policy that will either substa...