ASBURY PARK PRESS EDITORIAL • May 18, 2009

Two budget cuts announced last week by Gov. Jon Corzine show just how out of touch he is with what is "essential" and what is "extra."




He now wants to close 18 schools for pupils with disabilities and behavioral problems, sending 560 children back to their home districts, a move projected to save $4 million. He also wants to slash funding for 12 rehabilitation support centers for people with devastating injuries by 20 percent, saving $125,000.

In the meantime, Corzine insists on budgeting $77 million on top of the $544 million now being poured into full-day preschool in the Abbott districts — a program whose long-term merits are debatable. Of the additional $77 million, $52 million will be directed to the Abbotts, the state's poorest districts. The remaining $25 million will go to other low-income districts, which will be forced to expand school buildings and hire teachers, aides and bus drivers to accommodate the preschoolers.

At Wednesday's Senate budget hearing on the proposed cuts, the mother of a 14-year-old child with a heart condition and a chromosomal abnormality who is 3 feet tall and weighs 41 pounds was among those opposed to the cuts. Corzine should tell her personally it's more important to teach 3- and 4-year-olds their colors and shapes than to provide a specialized school for her daughter. And he should tell the mother of her daughter's classmate who has daily seizures that local and county districts will be equipped to deal with them, even though local personnel say there is no plan for these children.

The $125,000 cut to the support centers is an insult. Corzine should tell the former firefighter who crushed his spinal cord in a diving accident, or the woman in the wheelchair who held up a sign at a Statehouse rally that said "Budget cuts mean I stay at home," that pouring millions of dollars into a program that will put 3-year-olds onto buses early in the morning and send them home in late afternoon is more important.

In announcing the handicapped school closings last week, Department of Children and Families Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts said enrollment has plunged in the past decade. Then consolidate. But closing all the schools for handicapped and troubled young people while pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into expanding preschool for children makes no sense. Ricketts added insult to injury when she stated that running the schools is not part of her agency's core mission of child protection. Nice.

Corzine often bemoans the need to make tough budget decisions. Yes, they are tough. But the two he announced last week are foolish and callous. They will hurt two of the state's most vulnerable populations. Hopefully, state lawmakers will exercise better judgment and restore the cuts.