and the quality of education, which varies widely from town to town, would be a lot fairer and more equal for all, if schools got most of their funding via the state.

But New Jersey residents, though they may complain about their taxes, still prefer to live in the "nicest" towns they can afford because this local property tax system keeps those "others" (meaning poor, black, Latino, Asian, immigrant, etc.) out of their kids' schools. This system is called home rule, and I think it's dead wrong.

I grew up in New Jersey and was educated in one of its "nice" suburban schools. I graduated from Rutgers University and was a reporter for one of its largest newspapers for many years.

I would love to move back to New Jersey when we retire, but we could not afford the property taxes.

Maryland, where we've lived for nearly 22 years, has county school districts mainly funded by county taxes, with the exception of Baltimore city (which I've never been able to figure out). Our property taxes are less than half of what we would pay on a comparable house, in a comparable school district in New Jersey.

Our system is not perfect, and there remain inequalities. But on the whole I'd say kids in Maryland cities, with the exception of Baltimore city, have a better shot at attending relatively decent schools than do kids in Paterson, Newark, Elizabeth, New Brunswick, Camden, Trenton, Atlantic City, Plainfield, Asbury Park, or other New Jersey cities where poverty is concentrated and perpetuated by poorly funded, lousy schools.

Your information is out of date. One of the biggest political issues in NJ is the state funding of "Abbott districts"- named after the landmark state supreme court decision (Abbott vs. Burke, 1985). The Abbott districts are poor, mostly urban districts that get the lion's share of state aid for education. Catch up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district

There is a lot of disagreement (much along predictable partisan lines) about the impact of the Abbott spending. I think it is safe to say that the Abbott schools are much better than they would be without the state investment and also- they still are not remotely comparable to the better suburban districts.

New Jersey is a high cost-of-living state and the cost of schools (and police, and town, county, and state services) all reflect that fact. NJ school districts could probably save some money by consolidating some of the smaller districts and the same holds true for municipal services, but in the end, NJ will always have a place among the most expensive states in the union.

My first-hand experience with county school systems came when my family moved from NJ to WV in time for my senior year of high school. Their local taxes, on comparably valued properties, was less than a third of what they had paid in NJ. Unfortunately, the local school was absolutely inferior to the NJ school.

I later returned to NJ and spent most of my adult life there. I just retired and moved to Florida. Getting away from NJ's high property taxes definitely factored into my decision.

We left NJ in 1990, probably before the Abbott II ruling.

The problem I see with Abbott districts is that they still concentrate the poorest kids in small areas. That's why they aren't doing well. You can throw all kinds of money at these districts, but the socioeconomic realities facing these kids generally keep them from matching the test scores of the suburban districts. It perpetuates educational segregation. The families of poor kids often lack the resources to provide children with the "extras" that middle class families can afford, like trips to museums, travel, tutoring, afterschool activities and more. Many poorer families have one or more adults working multiple jobs just to pay the rent and put food on the table, leaving no time or energy for a parent to sit down and read a story with their children.

When we moved to Maryland, my kids attended Montgomery County public schools, which in 1990 were considered among the finest in the nation. The school system has struggled a bit in recent years because much funding has been needed to bring tens of thousands of non-English-speaking kids up to speed through ESOL classes. But it is still a very good school system.

Certainly we have areas of the county where families are more affluent or less affluent, and there are schools where most of the kids come from poor or non-English-speaking families, But one good thing is that we have many magnet school programs for elementary, middle and high school students. For example, a high school in a poorer area might feature an International Baccalaureate program or an accelerated computer science curriculum or an environmental studies emphasis that attracts higher-achieving students. This helps bring about a better mix of income levels among students' families.

For example the city of Rockville, if it were located in New Jersey under the old home rule system, would likely be an enclave of poverty. But bringing the International Baccalaureate program to Richard Montgomery High School, one of several high schools that serves Rockville students, has made Rockville a very attractive place for families of all income levels and likely benefited students of different income levels.

I can't say this system is perfect, or that there aren't struggling poor kids in our schools. But I think it provides better integration and doesn't create what amount to educational ghettos.

I lived here all my life, my friends are here, some of my family is left here. I like where I live and I don't think I could stand the weather or the politics of many other states.

As high as the taxes may be, there is something to having seasons, but not too much, and for having parks and trees in walking distance. Having mas transportation. I live in a town where everything I need is with in a mile of me, yet I have a nice house and property. There are so many places where I have friends who can't get around as they age, where things are so much more inconvenient. They need airconditioning or expensive heat, the food is not as fresh or it is much more expensive.

I may have to sell my house though, it is getting harder and harder to find workmen who will be fair with a retired woman. Those that will tend to be very expensive. How can you move to someplace like Florida with all the political problems there - Or like Arizona where a stranger listening in on a conversation with a friend told me that I should never move there, someone would shoot me if they heard what I was saying. I was talking about someone having their mother sitting on a rocker in the back of a truck - there are so few rules it is scary. How do you find a place that is not New Jersey - although I have been tempted by Vermont and New Hampshire, but they won't have the Jersey beaches.

There is much broken in NJ's Supreme court. The Governor (Democratic or Republican, or any political affiliation) is correct is cleaning up that cesspool of patronage.