Today the court in NJ released its decision in the Lakewood school funding case. Reb Aaron Lang, an attorney, musmach of BMG and math teacher in the Lakewood school district has single handedly filed a lawsuit going back to 2014 to get more funding for Lakewood students from the state. Due to the current funding formula Lakewood is not considered poor or an abbott district and only gets aid based on the 6000 public school students ratio to the total tax ratebles of the township and does not factor in the costs and expenses of the non public students such as special education and transportation.
Aaron Lang on Twitter: We have an unusual situation in which the judge ruled that the education in Lakewood does not meet the constitutional standard which is a big victory, yet the funding formula is nonetheless constitutional.
The ruling denied that the funding formula is unconstitutional but agreed that Lakewood cannot provide a Thorough and Efficient education to the public school students. In the findings the ruling noted that the population growth in Lakewood has made it unsustainable for the school district and that the district has been given recommendations by both the DOE and the State auditor for reigning in transportation and special education costs and by voting to remove the cap on property taxes. It mentioned appointed a State monitor to oversee the school district’s financial operations and to operate with a balanced budget. The continuation of State aid advances as an unreliable source of funding, and the obligation to reimburse the State over time, have contributed to the situation, as the school district’s financial problems persist, and unrestrained growth continues in the Township.
Order signed by Judge SUSAN M. SCAROLA, ALJ (Ret., on recall)
"The petitioners’ application to declare that Lakewood cannot provide a thorough and efficient education (T&E) to its public school students is GRANTED; the petitioner’s application to declare the SFRA unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood is DENIED. However, based on the record presented, it is hereby RECOMMENDED to the Commissioner that a current Needs Assessment regarding the ability of Lakewood to deliver a thorough and efficient education to its public school students be undertaken with appropriate recommendations to the district".
http://lakewoodlaw84048.ipage.com/documents/EDU%2011069-14%20%20IMO%20Alcantara%20%20(Initial%20Decision).pdf
http://www.lakewoodlaw.org/Alcantara.html
In sum, based on the foregoing testimony, exhibits, and publicly available
information and data, I FIND that Lakewood Township has experienced a population
boom that has had a profound impact on the municipality’s private and public schools.
The overall population growth in Lakewood Township over the past twenty years has
been accompanied by an almost proportional rise in attendance at the municipality’s
private schools. Many of the private school students, who now number more than 30,000, are, by law, entitled to transportation to and from school at public expense. In addition to the significant transportation costs associated with private school students, the Lakewood
Public School District also spends tens of millions of dollars in tuition each year to send a few hundred special education students to private schools. SFRA aid covers only a portion of these costs.
The school district’s transportation and special education costs have strained its
annual budgets and have led the school district down an unsustainable path of borrowing millions upon millions of dollars in the form of advance SFRA aid. The school district’s financial difficulties have negatively affected its public school students, teachers, and programs. This is evident from a narrowed breadth of course offerings, relatively low per pupil classroom instruction spending and classroom teachers’ salaries, and marked teacher turnover.
The 6,000+ public school students, nearly all of whom are Latinx and come from
low-income homes where English is not the primary language, have fared poorly in terms of performance on English and Math assessments, graduation and dropout rates, and college enrollment.
In the past decade or so, the school district has been given recommendations by
both the DOE and the State auditor for reigning in transportation and special education costs, and the Commissioner of Education has appointed a State monitor to oversee the school district’s financial operations and to operate with a balanced budget. The continuation of State aid advances as an unreliable source of funding, and the obligation to reimburse the State over time, have contributed to the situation, as the school district’s financial problems persist, and unrestrained growth continues in the Township.
So he basically lost the case, and we are in the same position as before? Or not?
ReplyDeleteNo. He did not lose. Lakewood is not providing T & E. The last time such a finding was Millville in 2003. That is big.
DeleteThe purpose of the administrative judge is to produce a record. A regular court will ultimately rule on the SFRA as applied to Lakewood
We know the problems, and we know the State doesn't have money to pay us. We're stuck! Can this be appealed to a higher court?
ReplyDeletecan someone summarize this article in one paragraph please, Thanx
ReplyDeleteBasicaly that lakewood can figure out how to save money and busing and special ed for private school students and raise taxes too. But the public school are failing because of a lack of funding
ReplyDeleteThe policy recommendations of the judge are that Lakewood should reduce busing and special ed spending, but he has no way to enforce that, so either way Lakewood is stuck. The state cant force Lakewood to stop busing private schools or paying special ed, but also is not required to fix the funding formula.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if the BOE got rid of the hundreds, if not thousands, of students WHO DON'T LIVE IN LAKEWOOD, there would be better education for the remaining students. However it is not in the BOE attorney or superintendent to look for and enforce this. Also, if the township enforced the zoning laws and only allowed one family per house instead of the 3 or more, there would be less students. Instead, they will just raise taxes on the rest of us.
ReplyDelete