Grab your wallet

Grab your wallets, folks. Abbott heads back to the Supreme Court today.

The long-running battle over how much the state should pay for public school funding in Newark and other needy communities will land in the state Supreme Court again next week.

The court, which attempted to settle the school funding issue eight years ago, will hear arguments Tuesday in a dispute between the schools and the Corzine administration over hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid.

Gov. Jon Corzine's state budget essentially holds aid to the 32 "special needs" districts covered by the court's Abbott vs. Burke decision flat at $4.2 billion. This is a key element of Corzine's attempt to rein in state spending and balance the budget.

But lawyers for the poor schools claim in court papers that the proposal will force "severe and drastic cuts." They say the budget-balancing will translate into fired teachers, new school buildings idled because of a lack of staff, and lost opportunities for thousands of disadvantaged students.