The Jackson Township Council tonight expressed support for former Councilman and current Assemblyman Alex Sauickie's efforts to replace the current Lakewood-based LSTA with a new "regional-based" Authority.
Under current law, school districts are required to provide transportation services to public school students who live remote from school. Remote is defined as more than two miles between home and school for students enrolled in grades kindergarten through eight, and more than 2.5 miles for high school students. If a school district provides transportation services to public school students, then it is also required to provide transportation services to nonpublic school students residing in the district who live remote from school, but no more than 20 miles from the nonpublic school that the student attends.
The state does not currently adequately reimburse local student districts for providing transportation services to nonpublic school students.
Noting that Jackson, Lakewood, Howell, Toms River, Brick, and Manchester school districts have experienced, or are expected to experience, significant increases in the number of nonpublic students that are required to be transported under current law, Assemblyman Sauickie has introduced a bill (A4461) which allows these districts to form a three-year, nonpublic school student transportation pilot program (consortium) to tackle these escalating busing costs.
The kicker is that instead of this Authority being Lakewood-based as LSTA currently is, the bill would permit the new Authority to be "regional-based."
The law includes a limit on the amount that a school district may pay to provide transportation services to nonpublic school students; currently, that limit is $1,000 per pupil. If the school district is unable to provide transportation services to a nonpublic school student within this limit, then it is required to make an aid in-lieu-of transportation payment. The State is responsible for reimbursing school districts for any nonpublic student transportation costs in excess of $710 per pupil. A school district may, at its own expense, provide courtesy busing to students who do not live remote from school.
Under the pilot program established by this bill, the board of education of an eligible district would disburse to the consortium of nonpublic schools an amount equal to the aid in-lieu-of transportation amount for each nonpublic school student who is attending a nonpublic school in the consortium and who is required by law to be transported or be provided the aid in-lieu-of transportation amount. The State would bear the full cost of providing the aid in-lieu-of transportation amount. The consortium would assume the responsibilities of transporting the nonpublic school transportation responsibilities of the eligible districts. If the consortium is unable to provide transportation services to a nonpublic school student within the current limit on the amount that a school district may pay to provide transportation services to nonpublic school students, then the bill requires the consortium to make an aid in-lieu-of transportation payment in that amount to the parents. Under the bill, in the event that the per pupil cost of the lowest bid received exceeds the aid in-lieu-of transportation amount, the consortium may accept the bid, provided that the parents or guardians of the students, who would have otherwise received the aid in-lieu-of transportation, agree to contribute to the consortium an amount equal to the difference between the per pupil cost of the lowest bid received and the aid in-lieu-of transportation amount.
The bill provides that, if after providing the required pupil transportation any of the disbursed funds remain unspent, the consortium, as it deems appropriate, may provide courtesy busing to pupils who are residents of the eligible school district and are attending the nonpublic schools of the consortium. The consortium would refund annually to the Department of Education after the completion of the school year any unexpended funds received pursuant to the pilot program.
Under the pilot program established by this bill, the consortium would annually enter into a contract with an independent entity to audit the implementation of the pilot program. The bill also establishes an oversight committee.
The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Sauickie on May 19, 2022. It was referred to the Assembly Education Committee for their consideration and it has languished there all this time with no scheduled advancement date. Since that point, Lakewood's assembly members Sean T. Kean and Edward H. Thomson, as well as Evesham Assembly member Brandon E. Umba have signed on as co-sponsors as well.
Jackson Township Council will forward their Resolution of support for advancement of the bill to the mayor and council of all towns affected by the bill, the New Jersey League of Municipalities, all Ocean County Commissioners, all 12th District Legislators, the governor and lieutenant governor.
This bill is part of package of bills introduced by Sauickie which aim to provide a meaningful boost in state funding for school districts, especially for non-public school students in Lakewood and surrounding towns.
The bills are a carrying on of the work of his predecessor, Rob Dancer's efforts to address the devastating effects of school funding losses under the funding formula law known as S2.
Another bill, A3686, would establish a School Funding Commission to study school funding formula and prepare a report that will serve as basis of new formula.
The bill provides that it will be the duty of the commission to study New Jersey’s current school funding formula, with a focus on the aid used to provide transportation to students attending charter schools and nonpublic schools; security aid; and special education aid with a focus on the effects of census based funding under the current formula and the feasibility of utilizing a tiered funding system.
The commission is required to issue a final report containing its findings and recommendations to the Governor and to the Legislature no later than one year after the organizational meeting of the commission. The report will be posted prominently on the Department of Education’s Internet website.
The centerpiece of Assemblyman Sauickie's omnibus bill package is a bill (A3893) he’s cosponsoring that allows school districts to receive state aid equal to what they received last school year.
"I won’t mince words. We need to do better for all New Jersey students, teachers and property tax payers,” Sauickie previously stated. “If this funding formula is called fair, then those people don’t know what fair means. Perhaps they should consult a dictionary.”
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