In a closely watched case, a Superior Court judge yesterday ruled against 16 rural school districts seeking relief in the wake of the Gov. Chris Christie’s cuts to school funding that they maintained left them unable to fulfill the state’s constitutional mandate for a “thorough and efficient” education.

State Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson, in an oral ruling from the bench as assignment judge for the Mercer County court, yesterday dismissed the districts’ motion for a summary judgment in the long-running case known as Bacon v. NJ Department of Education, according to the districts’ lawyers.

The districts had sought enforcement of a 2008 decision that called for additional aid for their schools in mostly low-income South Jersey communities, maintaining Christie had underfunded the districts and specifically failed to meet requirements for quality preschool programs. Oral arguments on the case took place last Thursday.

A transcript of Jacobson’s decision was not available, nor was a written decision released. The districts’ lawyers said in confirming the ruling that it was more technical than one on the merits of the overall case.

Jacobson in oral arguments last week raised concerns about the districts’ reliance on 2009 assessments of their schools’ needs in making their case, ones that she said could be outdated by now.

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