Abbott District

Abbott Districts are school districts covered by a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that found that the education provided to urban school children was inadequate and unconstitutional. The Court in Abbott II and in subsequent rulings, ordered the State to assure that these children receive an adequate - and constitutional - education through implementation of a comprehensive set of programs and reforms, including standards-based education supported by parity funding; supplemental programs; preschool education; and school facilities improvements.

The Court in Abbott II explicitly limited the Abbott programs and reforms to a class of school districts identified as "poorer urban districts" or "special needs districts." In 1997, these districts became known as "Abbott districts." The Court identified the specific factors used to designate districts as "Abbott districts." These districts:

* must be those with the lowest socio-economic status, thus assigned to the lowest categories on the New Jersey Department of Education's District Factor Groups (DFG) scale;
* "evidence of substantive failure of thorough and efficient education;" including "failure to achieve what the DOE considers passing levels of performance on the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA);"
* have a large percentage of disadvantaged students who need "an education beyond the norm;"
* existence of an "excessive tax [for] municipal services" in the locality where the district is located; and

Using these factors, the Court in Abbott II identified 28 districts as Abbott districts. The Court also gave the New Jersey Legislature or the Commissioner of Education the authority to classify additional districts as Abbott districts based on these factors, which would then entitle the children to the Abbott programs and reforms. In 1998, the Legislature classified 3 additional districts, bringing the present total of Abbott districts to 31.

The following school districts are currently identified as Abbott Districts:

*Asbury Park Public Schools (Asbury Park)
*Bridgeton Public Schools (Bridgeton)
*The City Of Burlington Public School District (Burlington City)
*Camden City Public Schools (Camden)
*East Orange School District (East Orange)
*Elizabeth Public Schools (Elizabeth)
*Garfield Public Schools (Garfield)
*Gloucester City Public Schools (Gloucester City)
*Harrison Public Schools (Harrison)
*Hoboken Public Schools (Hoboken)
*Irvington Public Schools (Irvington)
*Jersey City Public Schools (Jersey City)
*Keansburg School District (Keansburg)
*Long Branch Public Schools (Long Branch)
*Millville Public Schools (Millville)
*Neptune Township Schools (Neptune Township)
*New Brunswick Public Schools (New Brunswick)
*Newark Public Schools (Newark)
*Orange Board of Education (Orange)
*Passaic City School District (Passaic)
*Paterson Public Schools (Paterson)
*Pemberton Township School District (Pemberton Township)
*Perth Amboy Public Schools (Perth Amboy)
*Phillipsburg School District (K-12 from Phillipsburg, 9-12 from Alpha, Bloomsbury (in Hunterdon County), Greenwich Township, Lopatcong Township and Pohatcong Township)
*Plainfield Public School District (Plainfield)
*Pleasantville Public Schools (K-12 from Pleasantville, 9-12 from Absecon)
*Salem City School District (Salem, New Jersey)
*Trenton Public Schools (Trenton)
*Union City Board of Education (Union City)
*Vineland Public Schools (Vineland)
*West New York School District (West New York)

External links

* [http://www.edlawcenter.org/ELCPublic/AbbottvBurke/AbbottDistricts.htm Education Law Center]
* [http://www.nj.gov/njded/abbotts/ New Jersey Department of Education Abbott Home Page]
* [http://www.nj.gov/cgi-bin/education/abbotts/abbotturls.pl?string=code&maxhits=100 New Jersey Department of Education Abbott District List]