Mounting state budget troubles may force New Jersey to delay plans for a $350 million expansion of public preschool programs, but such a move would be a last resort, Gov. Jon Corzine told a convention of school board members yesterday.
"We're going to fight to hold our education funding," Corzine told about 500 delegates at the New Jersey School Boards Association's annual workshop in Atlantic City. "That doesn't mean there won't be any cuts. That doesn't mean there won't be any freezes. But it means it will be the last thing on the table."
Corzine is grappling with a revenue shortfall of at least $400 million in the current state budget and a hole of up to $4 billion in the spending plan he will present to lawmakers in March. He acknowledged that has led to concern that the state will defer providing $50 million next year to begin expanding preschool to communities with high concentrations of needy students.
"I know there's some consternation the timing of this initiative will be delayed, but certainly not the commitment," he said. Asked by reporters if he was suggesting the preschool initiative would be postponed, Corzine said: "We'll look at it. It's not a big budget item next year."
Part of the new school funding formula enacted last year, Corzine's plan would be the state's biggest expansion of preschool for low-income students since the state Supreme Court's Abbott vs. Burke rulings, which ordered universal pre-kindergarten in 31 of the poorest districts.
The plan would take the court rulings a step further and order similar preschool for all low-income students, wherever they live. Depending on the numbers, districts would be required to establish the preschool themselves or contract with outside centers to provide the service for eligible students. The state would pay the tab and estimated 17,000 more students would be served as the program is phased in over six years at an eventual cost of $350 million.
Jerry Tarnoff, superintendent of West Orange schools, said he was encouraged that Corzine suggested the preschool funding would only be cut as a last resort. "I am pleased he would like to commit to full funding," said Tarnoff. "Anything less, if the program were to go forward, would make it extremely difficult for the local taxpayers."
Sharon Dey, a member of the Jackson Township school board, was less enthused after hearing state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy discuss the preschool program at a seminar that followed Corzine's speech.
"I have no confidence," she said. "I think the state is going to do a shell game." If preschool is funded next year, Dey said, she fears the state will cut other aid to balance the books.
Earlier yesterday, Corzine was in Washington urging Congress to include investment in construction projects like the planned new Hudson River train tunnel as part of a new economic stimulus package.
Corzine testified at a hearing by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which is considering tens of billions of dollars for highway, water and sewer projects and modernization of schools and public housing.
"Unfunded projects and plans are in place, ready to do," Corzine said in his prepared testimony. "Let's put people to work, build roads, bridges, tunnels, schools, wastewater treatment systems -- even a 21st-century commitment to build alternative energy capacity and implement carbon abatement policies."
He said building a second mass-transit tunnel under the Hudson is the kind of project that would put people to work and have long-range benefits.
Staff writer John Mooney contributed to this report.
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