Jackson township says state should pay to bus children to private schools

JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – The Jackson Township Council is demanding the State of New Jersey pay to bus roughly 2,700 private school children who live in Jackson, but attend private schools in other towns, mostly Lakewood.

The Jackson Township Council passed a resolution unanimously calling for Governor Phil Murphy and the state of New Jersey to pay the $1,000 mandated fee in lieu of providing public busing to those students. Under state law, the requirement for local school districts to pay for transportation expenses for private school students is often referred to as an ‘unfunded mandate’.

That means the state is forcing a local entity to pay for a service mandated by the state. The Jackson School District pays nearly $300,000 annually to fulfill the state’s public busing mandate.

Once the private school families receive their checks of $1,000 per student, it is up to the family to secure transportation to and from school for their children.

As the number of families requiring private school services for their children grows in Jackson, so will the district’s financial challenges to satisfy the state mandate.

The Murphy administration did not respond to a request for comment on the matter as it sits on record budget windfalls at the state level in 2022, while at the same time once again cutting funding to shore districts like Jackson.

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