Cracked walls. Leaky roofs. Broken down boilers and obsolete fire alarms.

Schools are crumbling in cities where New Jersey is required to fund improvements, and it’s time for the state to take action, an advocacy group claims in a court filing.

The Education Law Center on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to order Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration to comply with a 1998 ruling requiring New Jersey to pay for building improvements in about 30 urban school districts.

Although the state has made steady progress over the years, there are still too many buildings that need renovations, repairs or need to be replaced, said David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, the non-profit legal group that represents the schools.

“As in the past, we have no alternative but to seek the Supreme Court’s intervention to direct prompt action by state officials to prevent the school construction program from grinding to a complete standstill,” Sciarra said.

The legal filing comes as the agency responsible for repairing schools, the Schools Development Authority, has been plagued by scandal and is running out of money.

The SDA once managed about $12 billion, but had only $60 million remaining as of April, leaving too little to build new schools or renovate existing buildings beyond emergency repairs, former executive director Lizette Delgado-Polanco said then. She resigned weeks later under allegations of running a patronage pit.

The motion filed Tuesday asked the court to order Murphy’s administration to submit a revised school construction plan of priority projects within 30 days. It also asks for the administration to be ordered to promptly seek necessary funding from the state Legislature, which would need to approve borrowing.

Murphy’s office declined to respond specifically to the filing, but spokeswoman Christine Lee said the governor believes all New Jersey students deserve access to high-quality schools.

“The administration is committed to providing all students with learning environments that will enable them to thrive and succeed,” Lee said.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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