JACKSON, NJ – As the number of private school students explodes in Jackson Township, school officials are dealing with declining enrollment and increased costs to transport private school students each day to schools in neighboring Lakewood Township.
The situation is being made worse by Governor Murphy’s S2 funding formula which is actually penalizing school districts like Jackson as the number of private school students increases.
A new bill introduced in Trenton could fix the problem, but it’s unlikely to move forward in Trenton as it highlights inconsistencies in the Democrat-supported S2 funding formula. Democrats hold the majority in New Jersey’s state senate and legislature.
New Jersey Assemblyman Alex Sauickie, who lives in Jackson proposed a new bill that could provide additional pupil transportation aid for school districts experiencing rapid demographic changes. Under the proposed legislation, any school district where the number of students who qualify for non-public school transportation has increased by over 100% in the five years prior to the 2023-2024 school year and the costs of transportation have increased by over 20% in a single school year may receive additional transportation aid. Additionally, if at least 20% of a district’s transportation budget is allocated for non-public school transportation costs in the 2023-2024 school year, that district could receive 100% of pupil transportation costs for regular education non-public school pupils.
The bill’s sponsor argues that the current state school funding law, revised under P.L.2018, c.67, commonly referred to as “S2,” is flawed and will ultimately reduce educational opportunities and cause irreversible damage to many school districts across the state. The sponsor believes that the formula for providing transportation aid fails to account for unforeseen developments and creates additional stress on certain school district budgets, which is inconsistent with the state’s constitutional responsibility to provide a thorough and efficient education for all students.
The sponsor of the bill hopes that it will provide additional state aid to school districts experiencing exceptional demographic changes. The recent New Jersey Appellate Division case of Alcantara v. Allen-McMillan, Docket No. A-3693-20, served as an inspiration for the bill. The court reviewed a decision by the Commissioner of Education in regard to the contention of parents of Lakewood School District students that the district was not providing a thorough and efficient education due to inadequate funding. The court’s decision was based on the demographic trends in the district. The provisions of this bill aim to recognize the fact that other districts, in addition to Lakewood, are experiencing unique demographic shifts that make it impossible to provide a constitutionally adequate thorough and efficient education without additional state aid.