Abbott v. Burke

Since the early 1970s, pupils attending some of New Jersey’s poorest school districts have come to the courts of this state to obtain fulfillment of their right to a thorough and efficient education guaranteed by the New Jersey Constitution. N.J. Const. art. VIII, § 4. This Court has enforced that constitutional guarantee for students in so-called “special needs” school districts since 1973, first in the Robinson v. Cahill litigation, 1 and, later, in this action, commenced in 1981 to challenge the constitutionality of the Public School Education Act of 1975, L. 1975, c. 212 (Chapter 212).

In…