For almost 40 years, the New Jersey Supreme Court has tried to fulfill its duty to enforce the education clause in the state Constitution by compelling the governor and Legislature to provide equal educational opportunity for public school students. In 2009, the court decided the state had finally devised a way to do that, through a formula that would give each student, especially in poor districts, a chance at “an unhindered start in life.”

This week the matter was back before the court because New Jersey is spending 13.6 percent less on education than the state said was required. The governor is presenting this as an “unavoidable” consequence of “dire fiscal circumstances,” but it is in fact a matter of choice. Eliminating a billion-dollar tax break for the state’s wealthiest