Herald News

Late Monday, in the mad flurry of passing a nearly $33 billion state budget, the Legislature also found time to approve borrowing nearly $4 billion to build new schools -- and bypassing state voters to do it. Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who has made the school building initiative a priority since early spring, hailed the vote as not only the right thing to do -- "the means to build decent schools for New Jersey's children" -- but also as a worthy investment in New Jersey's infrastructure.

The new building plan should help speed school construction projects in Paterson, Passaic and Garfield, as well as other low-income districts across the state. Because of past negligence and less than adequate funding in these districts, the state, as mandated through the Abbott v. Burke court decisions, must strive to provide quality programs and updated school buildings to these historically poor areas.

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