A New Jersey appeals court ruled against Lakewood’s challenge to the state’s School Funding Reform Act (SFRA). The court upheld that the SFRA is constitutional as applied to Lakewood, despite acknowledging that Lakewood public school students continue to suffer from “ongoing constitutional deprivation” and are not receiving a proper “thorough and efficient” education.
R’ Aron (Arthur) Lang has argued for over a decade that:
1. Lakewood students are being denied a constitutionally sound education.
2. The SFRA is unconstitutional for Lakewood, since its formula doesn’t account for the town’s unique demographics with many nonpublic students needing services like transportation.
RAV Aaron is expected to appeal the rukibg to the NJ Supreme court
Faanews reports Lang previously won on the first argument in 2023, but this new ruling dismissed his second argument. The judges stressed that while the formula is constitutional, the state still must find an equitable solution for Lakewood’s struggling public school students.
"While we have concerns about the ongoing constitutional deprivation suffered by the public school students of Lakewood, we affirm the Commissioner's final administrative decision because we conclude the SFRA is constitutional as applied to Lakewood and that the Commissioner fully complied with our directive in Alcantara v. Allen-McMillan (Alcantara I), 475 N.J. Super. 58 (App. Div. 2023).
we are mindful that there are Lakewood school children who suffer from an ongoing constitutional deprivation. This stark truth, evident in the record, is undisputed by the parties. Indeed, it is petitioners' foundational claim, and respondents, charged with a constitutional obligation to ensure that all New Jersey school children receive a thorough and efficient education, do not disagree. While we conclude that Lakewood's failure to provide a thorough and efficient education for its public school students is not due, in significant part, to the SFRA, the search for an equitable, effective and efficient solution to the plight of these children must not end here," the ruling adds.
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Devastating
ReplyDeleteTime to Change the formula
ReplyDeleteThe NJ Supreme court might overturn their decision, unless it was a unanimous decision.
ReplyDeleteSo maybe this wasn't the best plan of action?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the court thinks the public school district have a right to dictate staggered start and end times for private schools to possibly make better use of transportation funds.
ReplyDeleteYes because whoever controls the funds gets to decide.
Deletethere already are staggered start and end times. for example, girls end school at like 11:15 on fridays. the court and commissioner clearly knew nothing about how private school busing operates in lakewood.
DeleteWait till the courts (and the legislators) find out Lakewood is the only town with segregated busses.
DeleteThat will never fly anywhere else.
There's no way for them to force separate schools to share bus routes.
DeleteIt's not segregation
Deleteseparate schools (smaller schools) do share bus routes.
DeletePolitically tainted decision. Supreme Court will surely throw it out.
ReplyDeletePolitically tainted decision. Supreme Court will surely throw it out.
ReplyDeletePeople need to properly understand the ruling. The court did agree that the education was lacking, the court did agree that they need more money, but court agreed the state that the lack of money is due to mismanagement of the money particularly for transportation and special education, and of course not collecting enough taxes. they need more money, but can't prove it's because of the faulty formula.
ReplyDeletethis ruling makes no sense. the state monitors claim the district has a deficit of over $100 million. transportation and private school special ed services in total do not equal this much. how could mismanaging those services possibly be the cause of the huge deficit?
DeleteThere goes more taxes through the roof because they will force homeowners to cough up the money
ReplyDeleteMy advice: Sell your house and move out unless you like living in a town in which people don't care if their public corporations are efficiently run and the innovative problem solvers, employees with vision, are kept at the bottom. So far, the people follow the marching orders to the polls given by the very people they are supposed to hold accountable. We just keep on giving the state excuses not to pay its share. No one is even fazed by the reports of incompetence and low morale.
ReplyDeleteThe state is going to keep lending money until it reaches a billion dollars, ten times our tax levy. And what do you think will happen then? Goodbye Lakewood. But who knows? Maybe there will be salvation from somewhere else. I doubt the Supreme Court will take the case and really don't care anymore. It's over. AL
The politicians and the courts created a fallacy called Abbott districts, where so called minorities get tremendous preferences in school aid. Regular white-majority districts all over NJ are suffering from this, and carefully watch if one district gets more than others, without touching the minority Abbott districts.
ReplyDeleteOf course, education hasn't improved for the minorities, but that's irrelevant. State legislators and courts only look at money (mis)spent. That's the teacher Union's job.
Just like municipalities all over NJ are fight the Mount Laurel preferences, and can't get nowhere.
State legislators (including our Demoncractic friend) can undo this with one vote, which Republicans regularly try to do, but Demoncrats and Gov Murphy want to keep these boondoggles.