TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie once compared New Jersey's state-funded pre-kindergarten program to government babysitting. Now, he's proposing a divisive school funding proposal that threatens to destroy it.
Christie in June introduced a major school funding overhaul that calls for redistributing the state's $9.1 billion in direct school aid equally per student.
If that plan, which takes money from urban districts and gives to many suburban districts, gets approved, Christie would not protect the $653 million currently spent on full-day preschool for three and four years olds, he said earlier this month.
That means that the $86 million in preschool funding to Newark, $44 million to Elizabeth, $29 million to Trenton and millions more to other urban and low-income districts would be among the billions sent to suburban towns for property tax relief.
Without direct funding, the preschool programs in urban districts are unlikely to be spared from the massive budgets cuts Christie's plan would necessitate, said John Donahue, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials.
"What are you going to do?" Donahue said. "It's not a matter of preschool. It's a matter of keeping the lights on in some districts."
New Jersey currently provides pre-K funding to 143 districts, ranging from as much as $86 million to as little as $6,600. The vast majority of that money goes to about 90 districts that will lose or, at best, break even under Christie's proposal, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis.
Passaic City School District, for example, wouldn't only lose its $24 million in preschool funding, but also $140 million in state aid, or about 43 percent of its annual operating budget, NJ Advance Media found.
The idea of wiping out preschool programs in urban districts is an example of why it's difficult to take Christie's plan seriously, Donahue said. If enacted, the plan would force sweeping budget cuts and probable school closures in districts serving large numbers of students from low-income and minority families.
Christie's office declined to comment on his reasoning for not protecting preschool aid, but the governor has been clear that New Jersey's urban districts are failing in his view, saying "more money doesn't equal better results."
The only category of education funding Christie plans to protect in the proposed redistribution is some special education aid, he said.
Christie wants his plan, which would require a state constitutional amendment, to be presented to voters as a ballot question next fall, an election that will decide the next governor. But Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature have said they oppose the plan and are unlikely to put it on the ballot.
Still, Christie continues to promote it as a viable option, pressing residents in affluent towns to demand their elected officials endorse it.
"There is plenty of stuff that you thought I wouldn't get done that I got done," Christie said earlier this month. "So we'll look to shock you again."
New Jersey's wealthier communities currently receive significantly less state school aid than urban districts and are expected to pay a higher percentage of their school funding through local tax dollars.
Christie's proposal calls for abandoning that system and giving every school $6,599 per student, regardless of the needs of the child or the wealth of the community.
By not protecting preschool funding, Christie would allow the money currently spent for three- and four-year olds in districts like Irvington and Camden to be sent to districts such as Montclair and Cherry Hill to lower property taxes.
While that may please homeowners in highly taxed communities and critics of public preschool, it would come at the expense of one of New Jersey's most effective school reforms, said Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers.
"The benefits of high quality pre-K are an order of magnitude larger than the cost," said Barnett, a professor and an economist. "Taking it away from the kids who need it most is not the solution to the problem."
The state's public preschool program, which began in 1999 after a ruling from the state Supreme Court, is a public-private partnership. Many students are enrolled in preschool programs run by private providers that contract with school districts.
The arrangement has served as a model for other states and countries, Barnett said.
A study by NIEER found that students in New Jersey's preschool program did better in reading and math in kindergarten and the benefits continued into elementary school. State-funded pre-K also helps students from low-income families catch up to other students, NIEER found.
The Education Law Center, which has waged several court battles against the state over funding for urban districts, will likely challenge any reduction in preschool funding, executive director David Sciarra said.
"There is simply no way (districts) would have the resources to continue the program, and the program would essentially collapse, " Sciarra said. "That would be a tragedy for children in these communities."
Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.