The Lakewood Board of Education received notice from the Township that they can no longer afford to fund the Budget shortfalls caused by the State’s inadequate funding of the school district.
This past year, the Township has graciously funded the restoration of the High Schools’ tennis area, provided more than $1.2 million to fund nonpublic special education services and restoration of all sports teams, etc.
In a letter addressed “To Whom It May Concern,” the Township Manager, Thomas Henshaw, made it clear that the Township efforts have caused the Township’s surplus to be reduced by $7 million dollars and its Bond rating to be lowered.
However, General Counsel Attorney Michael Inzelbuch points out, that in accord with the State law that created the LSTA, a piece of legislation that has saved millions of dollars to the taxpayer and exclusively provided nonpublic transportation, the Township has one additional year to provide courtesy/hazardous busing to the district’s public school students that for the upcoming school year will cost the local taxpayers approximately $1.4 million dollars.
Inzelbuch stated, “The needs of the entire community is to have a safe and stable public school system that the State is primarily responsible for. However, we must portray the message of unity and not allow infighting to mar the message. There will be answers provided, and ALL of our students will receive what they are entitled to. Let’s not forget without a good public school system, we all suffer.”
Click here to read the full letter.
What is the purpose of the letter? It seems that this is part of an organized effort to try to force the state to cough up additional funds for Lakewood.
The solution though is simple. Enroll every child in the public school system. This way the funding will change accordingly.
STOP with the argument and baseless threat , to wit, “we will enroll every kid in the public schools .”
EVERYONE knows that is not happening !
@michael why not? Why can’t it happen? I think it’s very doable.
These are Public Schools. They do not serve Kosher food. Leave your Torah at the door, Public Schools do not allow religious teaching in the schools. Boys and girls ride the same buses and sit in the same classrooms, segregation is not allowed in Public Schools.
Are you still signing up for Public Schools?
Letter to state or to the Board of Ed?
@michael it was tried and succeeded in other communities, we just need unity and it can happen and it CAN result in amazing successful results
Why the Township of Lakewood approve more development and more schools = more families moving to Lakewood
Yay higher taxes
I am willing to try anything within the law.
Please contact me immediately .
However- for more than 20 years I have heard the “enrollment option. ” go nowhere,
Also, the “magic date” for counting kids is in October ,and, even then is an issue..
Please call me .
The threat to enroll all children in public school has been done in Lakewood about 25 years, and it worked. It’s time to do it again.
@dovid The askanim/owners of the school will never let it happen. To much money on the line for them to lose.
Achdus
And
Kavod to all is needed now
Unless ,of course , we want all of our local taxes to go up
Please
Yo Michael Ins
It really makes no sense for the local taxes to bail.out the school taxes . If the school taxrs,are not enough then the state has to fix the problem .
If the school taxes are not enough then Lakewood is doing something WRONG! The state does not have to fix anything, Lakewood is at fault.
As a long time Lakewood resident and High School graduate
As someone who has sued and represented the district
Please help me help us !
The State funding formula doesn’t consider a town like Lakewood -about 6000 plus public kids abs 30000 plus non pub kids .
Even the State Monitors agree -it’s not a spending problem —its a revenue problem .
Strong public schools helps all !
I grew up in Lakewood and attended public school in ‘50s and 60s. We walked to the public schools and after school we walked to synagogue for religious classes. The only bus service was to areas in town with no sidewalks.
Lakewood needs to improve its sidewalks. Perhaps if there is a focus on improving the infrastructure ( every property commercial and residential owner should have and maintain a safe sidewalk network bordering public access to private property). A safe sidewalk system to permit pedestrians to walk is cheaper than an elaborate bus system.
There are basic resources offered by the community, if one seeks services inconsistent with the secular community’s normal economic practices, pay for the luxury.
We get over 800 for each child that is bussed for th year. For that amount th girls begin school at 930 and end Friday and 1130. We hav a 3 hour loss in education per week. Which equals to over 100 hours per school year that is lost for $800.00, is it all worth it?
Support Lang’s lawsuit! That is the only plan with a serious path to success.