TRENTON - In what could provide the first test of the new school funding formula, a state appellate court on Friday ordered the education commissioner to perform needs assessments on 16 largely poor, rural school districts to determine if the new formula really does meet their needs.

"It would appear that a needs assessment of the Bacon districts is necessary to determine whether those needs identified by the Department (of Education) will be met by the new funding formula," the decision said.

The ruling stems from a 1997 lawsuit, Bacon vs. the state Department of Education, in which several parents and 17 largely poor, rural school districts said they had the same needs as the 31 urban Abbott school districts and should also be given additional funds. After years of hearings and rulings, one district, Salem City, was granted Abbott status by the Legislature.

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