As of 2015, the Lakewood School District was providing state-madated transportation services to nearly 16,000 private school students, most of whom are from the Orthodox Jewish community.
TRENTON - The financially struggling Lakewood Public School District will receive $7.2 million in state cash over the next three school years to pay for transportation for thousands of students who attend private Orthodox Jewish schools in the township.
Legislation signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday will send the district $2.4 million each year to fund the pilot program, which is expected to begin during the 2016-17 school year.
The legislation provides the school board of an "eligible district" to head-up the program. An "eligible district" is defined in the law one that provides transportation "to and from any remote school other than a public school" for more than 5,000 pupils residing in the public school district.
The Lakewood School District - which has repeatedly threated to cancel its courtesy busing in recent years due to its unique fiscal crisis - is the only school district that meets this criteria. As of October 2015, there were nearly 16,000 nonpublic school students in Lakewood who received mandated transportation services.
Dieter Lerch, the school district's auditor, said in February that the district has incurred a cumulative deficit of approximately $7.5 million since 2014 and that since 2013, the school district's transportation costs alone have increased from $20.3 million to $23.9 million. Meanwhile, the number of students in the school district jumped from approximately 24,000 in the 2012-13 school year to 31,000 in 2015-16.
The consortium is permitted, under the legislation, to use any unspent aid in-lieu-of transportation it received to also offer courtesy busing to nonpublic students. If there are any unexpended funds remaining after that, the consortium is required to refund it to the school district.
During a heated public meeting in February, Lakewood School District officials attributed the "root causes" the school district's fiscal crisis to the state not acknowledging the township's approximately 30,000 nonpublic school students - most of whom are from the Orthodox Jewish community - that the tax base must support and provide mandated services for.
"The state has turned it's back on Lakewood by failing to recognize Lakewood's unique circumstances. There is no other community in the state that has approximate 6,000 public school students and approximately 30,000 non-public school students," school board's attorney Marc Zitomer said at the time.
In a statement released Tuesday, Christie acknowledged Lakewood's unique dilemma.
"I appreciate the unique transportation challenges that confront Lakewood, where the vast majority of students attend nonpublic schools, and but for a robust courtesy busing program, many of these students would have to cross dangerous and crowded intersections to get to and from school," the statement said.
"Due to the rapid growth in population, high traffic volume, overcrowded sidewalks, and crosswalks in need of improvements, students do not have safe pathways to walk to and from school. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the student population in the district will continue to increase, causing greater demands on the already congested roads."
Christie said the bill ensures all nonpublic school students can get to school safely, while easing the financial burden on the district.
"No matter what school they attend, public or nonpublic, all children in New Jersey should be able to travel safely between their home and school," he said.
However, the governor admitted that the legislation is only a "temporary solution" that does not address the underlying transportation and infrastructure challenges in Lakewood.
"The safety concerns for students walking to and from schools (and other residents of Lakewood as well) will persist and even intensify until permanent infrastructure improvements are made," said Christie, before urging the municipal government to take steps to ensure the safe transportation of its schoolchildren.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.