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- R' Aron Lang on Twitter responds to state push back "bet state'll throw Lakewood, say, an extra $50M/year, expecting us to tax another $40M locally. My goal also is forgiveness of debt. But, voters want to keep ..... & the visionless, mediocre administration that caused the mess. Expect annual tax increases or a new cycle of debt".
Bde: Petira of R' Menachem Mendel Kresch z"l of Lakewood previously from Brooklyn Levaya later today at 7:30 pm at 123 Harvard Street. Lakewood another Levaya will take place tomorrow im Boro Park
- Adirei Hatorah organizers say the event will take place regardless of the 76ers basketball bteam on June 4th. They did not give details about using another venue etc..
- Primary elections for NJ including Lakewood township committee is June 6th there are 2 seats up for grabs. On the ballot for the republican party is Bruce Stern and Deborah Fuentes on the democratic ticket is Ray Coles who is up for reelection and Jimmie Esposito. Mike Delia is off the ballot and not running. No one is opposing any of the candidates in the primary
- Chasdei Hashem: Celebration in Emunas Yisroel as the Mashgiach, Harav Wolfson, shlit"a, came out to the public for the first time since Pesach, participating in the singing of Bar Yochai on Lag baomer. (BP24)
- Tonight at he LFD regular meeting at 733 Cedarbridge 7:30 pm there will be a Resolution on the agenda Admonishing Commissioner Loigman. FAA news has posted an article claiming that Lakewood fire commissioners want to retaliate against a member who exposed that the township's high rise buildings proposal would increase annual taxes by $6 Million. FAA reports the Lakewood Township Committee and Industrial Commission have been quietly pushing forward a proposal to permit construction of 150 feet high rise buildings in a portion in the Township As part of their "keep it quiet campaign," Township officials have attempted to deny the full impact of this proposal, including the actual height of the proposed buildings FAA article says This "ceremonial admonition" is actually a very big deal. It's likely all part of one massive collusion with the Township.read full story HERE
- Adirei hatorah registration today for the bnei Hayeshiva. Tickets for everyone else are available through the website or shul gabbai at $100 for an adult and $150 for children.
The Philly Basketball team the 76ers are a win away from advancing to the next round of the playoffs which means there's still a possibility for them to play on the night of the Adirei hatiorah event. There is currently a 51% chance the NBA 76ers make it to the finals according to news reports.
Levaya for 15 year old Batsheva Cohen A"h bas R' & Mrs Cohen shlita is 2:30 pm at the Lakewood chapel.
- Ocean County is applying for a total of $7.2 million in federal affordable housing grants on behalf of Lakewood, Toms River, Jackson, and Brick Townships.
Go embiid!
ReplyDeleteHow does a yeshiva man know about Embid
Deletewho said that he's a yeshiva man?
DeleteI dunno, but I still like MBD.
Deletehttps://musingsonthetorah.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteWill Harold file to run as an Independent? We only have institution candidates runnings... and you know which institution I mean. Hint... It rhymes with GNV.
ReplyDeleteCare to elaborate the 51% calculation
ReplyDeleteCan we get someone to step up and run who is qualified ?? Lets go
ReplyDelete$150.00 tickets to the game? I assume it is a good deal!
ReplyDeleteWhat s the 76rs??
ReplyDelete.....
ReplyDeleteI am concerned that rather than fixing the formula for Lakewood, the remedy will be a "Christmas Tree," "a carve-out," or whatever you call throwing money at the problem. That, of course, means that Toms River and Jackson get nothing. N
ReplyDeleteAbbott shows that the state is extremely reluctant to tinker with the formula. It took 18 years after the Abbott II decision before the legislature passed the SFRA, the first school law to be constitutional on its face. The Court allowed CEIFA to continue until then as long as the Abbott districts got billions of dollars outside the formula. That might be the remedy in store for us.
Moreover, the state is also notorious for not running the formula every year and freezing every district at earlier levels. At that point, we would have to go back to court, as the ELC did with Abbott III through IX. Since there was a finding of unconstitutionality in Abbott, the state had to keep up the billions for those districts. However, I am not sure history will repeat itself after our victory. The state is likely going to give us tens of millions a year, but there will still be a gap.
Say we get $75 and the loans are forgiven. That would cover this year's deficit of $93 million since $20 million of it is to pay back the loans.
More likely they will give us less and tell us to raise the rest on our own.
That does not mean will have to do so.
The district had been extremely irresponsible, not because of sloppy bookkeeping or accounting, but because of the mediocrity of its leadership and its lack of vision.
The administration just maintain the status quo.They just want to make their paycheck. But Lakewood is different, unlike any other district. To the extent of its uniqueness is how much we have to think out –of-the-box. There has to be a change in leadership.
In a way, district mismanagement has been to our advantage because it raised the threshold of how much funding it will take to fix Lakewood. However, once the state washes its hands with Lakewood, we will be on our own.
The failed leadership of the last twenty years has to go. It brought us into this mess, borrowing $93 million this year alone.
If not, expenses will continue to rise and the people of Lakewood will pick up the difference should the state freeze our aid.
We need aggressive and innovative corporate leadership. We need to innovate, to find cost-cutting measures without cutting services, economies of scale, and a building program that will ensure long-term efficiencies, and we need to hire the brightest and most promising thinkers of diverse opinions.
District leadership has created a culture of fear. Everyone wants to stay “below the radar.” No one is allowed to disagree. And when you come up with the solution to enhance to bottom line, you are blacklisted.
We are no longer a small town. The district is a $300 million organization. Lakewood needs forward-looking leadership.
Aaron Lang
You need to bring other districts that are about to face similar issues to join the lawsuits. Jackson, for example.
ReplyDeleteI can't. My nominal "clients" are students of Lakewood. It would be contrary to lawyer ethics to pass up a settlement in Lakewood's favor in order to help students in other towns.
DeleteTheres a big issue with out of the township enrollment, clean up that up, they'll be able to sell a few properties, and pay off the debt.
ReplyDeleteThey don't check physical addresses be matched with a utility bill.The high enrollment numbers give them job security. It makes no sense how the numbers are high
DeleteIt's illegal to investigate without cause.
DeleteAlthough I find it hard to imagine that a failing district like Lakewood is attracting enrolment from out of town, no investigation is needed.
DeleteWhen they enrol their child, they show ID, right? Have the ID rules change to reflect that a license and utility bill must be displayed. Problem solved.
If you claim you're homeless they have to take you and no proof is needed.
DeleteA big expense In Lakewood is the astronomical cost of the special education. Lakewood is the hub of the USA for any Frum person that needs services! Up until recently, it wasn’t as bad as Lakewood was the destination for all Frum families. Today, Lakewood primarily attracts the special needs families. With the rest moving to Toms River, Jackson etc. Until the neighboring towns stop weeding out the services families- Lakewood is going to continue to get slammed. I don’t think any “cost saving” measures will make any dent is the millions of dollars we fall short.
ReplyDeleteWhat the state needs to do is count ALL students in Lakewood as part of the formula. Private school students matter too.
DeleteTrue, but there is no reason a kid with a mild to moderate disability should cost $130,000. In 2014, when I filed, our tax rate was above the state average. We were a district factor group B until 2000, but since then the state took us out of the DFGs because we had too many nonpublic students. The regualtions say if your tax rate is above average and were a DFG A or B in 2000 (the lowest wealth), and you have two failing referenda to raise money to build, the state will pay 100%. Otherwise, the state pays 30%. I want to get a facility as part of a settlement (of course, you never know what a settlement will look like). It would save tens of millions.
DeleteThe district is so stupid. You might recall all my initiatives to increase stakeholders by making our facilities, classrooms and teacher availible to the oilam for courses in the trades and office skill. District leaders never thought out-of-the-box. They ran Lakewood as they would run any other district. They even had students do car washes and vacuuming, not before, but after Pesach. The whole idea of sending kids out of district for $130,000 each was because of the religion with kosher food and cultural difference. Any forward thinking administrator would have hired Jewish people to advise on how to make the program good in district.
There is so much that can be done to serve the oilam without increasing expenses.
I was brought up surrounded by kids whose father were vice presidents of oil companies. My father was an executive at Shell Oil. My brother runs the biggest investment fund in the nation, the Texas Teachers Pension fund. It really baffles me, the inability of district leadership to run an efficient organization. There is no reason why we can't build an infrastructure of opportunity and why the district cannot become an engine of growth for the next 100 years. True, it is a public entity whose purpose is not profits, but there is a lot we can learn from corporate America.
B'kitzur, the district has been out of touch with the vast majority Lakewood until recently. The leaders did not understand the dynamics of this town. For two decades I explained to them how we need to make Lakewood citizens into stakeholders, cater to the oilam, that Lakewood is different. They did not understand, but our students did, that few employers in town care when they graduate or drop out. I proposed a work-study program to integrate school with their jobs. That is so easy to integrate with math.I proposed a construction trades academy in 2005 when most of our students worked in building houses. Instead, the principals established academies that might be good for other towns or prepare them for college (which relatively few of our kids attend) that had nothing to do with Lakewood. I even figured out, in 2011, how we could send English teachers for free to the mosdos to take a large bite out of the tuition crises although I am now aware that the mosdos don't want that. And worse off, the chain of command in the district was topped off by someone who was not even part of the organization. So he was only able to fix problems as they appeared (like getting textbooks for a new yeshiva, getting a kid $100,000 services out-of-district etc.), but was not involved, as he was not an administrator, in planning, creating the budget, or recommending how to enhance education, while at the same time, the only job of the superintendent was to keep him happy. When we had the deficit in 2007, I recommended on deaf ears, to do an analysis of population increases in nonpublic schools so that we can prepare budgets without necessitating ad hoc expenditures during the year. There was so much that could have been done. I don't want to say too much because I would only be fueling the state's argument that we don't have money because of mismanagement, and failure to plan and rein in costs.
DeleteIt's got to come from the courts to demand a solution.
DeleteEloquent, predictable,sad.
DeleteNature of pioneers are to receive arrows in their back