Lang Lawsuit: Summation Brief to the Court

R' Arthur Lang a Lawyer and  a Public school math teacher in Lakewood filed a  Lawsuit Alcantara  v. Hespe against the state NJDOE for not providing a fair Thorough and Efficient Education with the funding formula to Lakewood schools. The case is to be ruled on by the end of the year here is a conclusion read the full summation brief to Court HERE

Lakewood Public School District is underfunded by $35 to $40 million because the SFRA(school funding reform act) does not acknowledge the mandated costs of serving a nonpublic population of 31,000.

Conclusion
The well known facts that Respondents have not answered, the data, the public statements of the state monitors of Lakewood having a revenue rather than spending problem, the sheer impossibility of balancing the Lakewood budget despite the presence of up the three state fiscal monitors, the
necessity of loans just to maintain a bare-bones program, all prove that the formula must be fixed.
Respondents brought testimony of accounting deficiencies prior to the appointment of the state monitors, but since their appointment in 2014, Respondents have loaned LPSD increasing in amounts, necessary for T&E, from $4.5 million to $5.6 million to $8.5 million to $28.2 million to most recently $36 million. They failed to present testimony that the SFRA was adequate as applied to LPSD, or of a plan or “end game” to the necessity of the ever-increasing loans.

Petitioners respectfully request the Court to determine:
1) That the SFRA as applied to the LPSD does not provide sufficient funding to enable the school district to deliver 34 the New Jersey Student Learning Standards and extracurricular
and cocurricular activities necessary for a thorough and efficient education.

2) That the consequential reliance upon discretionary advance state aid payments pursuant to 18A:7A-56 to provide funding for a thorough and efficient education does not provide T&E
funding in any given school year that is certain and predictable.
3) That the constitutional imperative regarding a thorough and efficient education requires sufficient funding that is not discretionary.
4) That the Commissioner recommends that this matter be remedied by the Legislature.

Respectfully submitted,
s/ Arthur H. Lang
Arthur H. Lang
Attorney for Petitioners
Dated: October 4, 2019