Lakewood Schools: ‘We’re Broke And Short $4M,” Blame is On Influx of Private (Yeshiva) Students

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school-board-lakewoodLakewood – The public school district is broke and will be heading to the county and state for help because a huge influx of private school children -double what was anticipated for this school year – left the district about $4 million short in transportation and special education costs, said Board President Carl Fink.

“The bottom line is we are broke,” Fink said following the September Board meeting held Monday night.

Lakewood received 5,700 new private school children this year, about double what they anticipated from the trends of previous years. About 2,000 more private school children will be added to the rosters by June, according to trends.

Read more at APP.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}


14 COMMENTS

  1. the private school children are the ones saving the district millions of dollars. all these kids have parents paying taxes, but arent using the public scool system. can you imagine how much it will cost the BOE if they all went to public school?

  2. #1, the article indicates that it is transportation that is breaking the bank. The kids are not enrolling in public school.

  3. Just imagine what property taxes would be like in Lakewood if most of the students in town actually did attend Public School. Taxes are so high as it is. Something does not add up.

  4. Send all the kids to puplic school and the deficit will at least triple . It’s easy to point the finger at the private schools but it’s not true .Yesyou would save on transportation but spend much more on educating them then transporting them

  5. “5700 NEW KIDS ?WHERE WERE THESE KIDS LAST YEAR AT AN AVG OF 28 KIDS PER CLASS THATS 200 new classes ?”

    They were in Playgroup. You now have a better understanding of the ongoing problem in Lakewood. Last year, 490 children graduated 8th grade while close to 5700 started primary. That is a growth of almost 1100% in the past 8 years. 1100%!!!! At the current growth rate, Lakewood will have 68,400 primary applicants in 8 years from now and you wonder why its hard to get your kid in to school??

  6. They were in playgroup and many who have returned from Israel, kollels and new residents of the settlements of Lakewood. that’s where the no.. are from!!

  7. Who decided it was transportation and special education costs that are the root cause of the Lakewood School District’s fiscal woes? The Board of Ed members and their experts point to the grossly lopsided, inadequate NJ State school funding formula, which grossly under-funds the Lakewood Districts relative to other, wealthier communities, as the primary culprit. Stop blaming the victims! The problem is Trenton, not Lakewood. And the sooner you address that, the quicker the solution.

  8. “the grossly lopsided, inadequate NJ State school funding formula”

    How about reliance on property taxes? They are approaching confiscatory levels in much of the NY metro area (although not in NYC itself).

    And how about the humongous number of small inefficient school districts? NJ has something like 600 school districts; Maryland has only 24 school districts, better schools, and lower taxes.

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