LAKEWOOD BOARD OF ED LOSES ATTEMPT TO DELAY R' ARON LANG'S LAWSUIT FOR FAIRER FUNDING



R' Aron (Arthur) Lang has tirelessly devoted countless hours for over a decade advocating for fairer school funding for Lakewood.


The Lakewood Board of Education has just lost a bid to join the lawsuit.


Mr. Lang's long time 2 arguments are; 1) Lakewood's students are not receiving a constitutionally sound education (known as a Thorough and Efficient education, or T&E), and; 2) the fault of this lies squarely in the fact that New Jersey's School Funding Formula (SFRA) is unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation (which has many nonpublic students who need transportation but whom are not counted towards funding).


Succeeding on both of these arguments is key to be able to force State officials to finally provide fairer funding to Lakewood.


After many years of fighting in the Office of Administrative Law, a judge agreed with Mr. Lang as to his first point, but not with his second point. Instead, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) directed the Education Commissioner to review Lakewood’s School District and recommend how they can cut spending.


Following this ruling, the then-Commissioner issued a Final Agency Decision completely reversing the ALJ's ruling, claiming that Lakewood did provide T&E and therefore it was not necessary to review Mr. Lang main argument as to the constitutionality of the funding formula.


As the news was broken here on FAA News, in a massive win for Lakewood's taxpayers and students, on March 6, 2023, the Appellate Division reversed this decision, finding that the Commissioner erroneously disregarded the record before the ALJ that Lakewood does not provide T&E.


Having reached this determination, the 3-judge panel remanded the matter back to the Commissioner to do a "thorough review of the most substantive argument - that the funding structure of the SFRA was unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation."


The result: On April 1, 2024, the new acting commissioner issued a Final Agency Decision completely denying Mr. Lang's arguments. Instead, our funding issues lie mainly with the fact that we are "undertaxed," and that the Board of Education is "mismanaged."


In response, as previously reported here on FAA News, just 17 days after the issuance of this final agency decision, Mr. Lang filed a new appeal to the Appellate Division seeking to overturn the Commissioner's Final Agency Decision.


Throughout most of the last decade, the Lakewood Board of Education - which, ironically, stands to gain the most from this litigation - has not only refused to join hands with Lang, they have even fought in court against his efforts!


All throughout their vehement opposition, the Board of Ed, along with Town officials, have confidently assured us that if we sit quietly, the State will magically pull through.


Now, over one year since Rabbi Avi Schnall's election to the New Jersey Assembly, the Board of Education is coming to terms with the fact that they are currently operating in a cash deficit, having received no loan for the current school year (2024-2025). Moreover, the state-appointed monitor is even requiring the District to make use of restricted funds to cover the shortfall in the general fund.


At this point, the Board of Education has finally come out of the closet and acknowledged that the only way to fight to fairer funding is to join Mr. Lang's efforts.


To that end, as previously reported here on FAA News, the Board recently filed a motion to join in the case as intervenors. 


Board of Education Attorney Michael Inzelbuch's motion petition states: 


The Board joins appellants as to the SFRA's underfunding as a significant cause of Lakewood's strained ability to provide T&E to its students. 


The Board represents that its brief if it is allowed to intervene would generally follow the legal arguments in the briefing filed by the Appellants in this matter.


Curiously, the petition then also insists:


Further, the Board's interest is superior to that of the Plaintiffs and the Board is in a better position to inform this court as to the conditions within the district from the inception of this action to the present date.


Mr. Lang has filed opposition to the motion, highlighting that this proposed intervention will significantly delay adjudication on his overall appeal - which is the exact opposite of what is best for Lakewood.


The State Education Department agreed and similarly opposed the motion.


First the state questions why the Board suddenly woke up now - 289 days after the Assistant Commissioner’s April 1, 2024 decision, which it received the same day, and five months after all briefing has concluded and as the parties await oral argument. 


"At this stage, intervention would require, at a minimum, re-opening the briefing period to allow the Board to file its merits brief - which was not appended to its motion - as well as time for the Department and Appellants to respond. With this appeal in its final stages, intervention would unduly delay the matter and prejudice the parties.


"Moreover, the Board's intervention now would not assist the court as Appellants have adequately represented its interests.


"The Board provides no explanation as to why its interests are not adequately represented by Appellants in this matter. Rather, the Board admits that its interests and arguments are fully aligned with Appellants. According to the Board, it “joins [A]ppellants” argument as to the SFRA, and posits that it and Appellants “share similar arguments.” Further, the Board states that it “does not seek to relitigate the entire case” because it “joins in the Appellants” arguments. And the Board states that its “claim aligns with the existing parties . . . .”


"It does not explain how its interests differ from Appellants or why it sat silently on the sidelines for a year, despite being fully aware of this matter. Because the Board cannot meet the standard for intervention, its motion must be denied," wrote Deputy Attorney General Ryan J. Silver.


The court agreed.

 

"The litigation in this matter has ensued for more than a decade. Lakewood Board of Education has never been a party in the administrative proceedings or in the first appeal before this court. The briefing has been completed for five months and the case is awaiting an oral argument date. The addition of a party at this late date will cause further delay in concluding these protracted proceedings. In addition, petitioner represents the interests of the children (and their parents) who attend the Lakewood schools," wrote Presiding Judge Heidi W. Currier in denying Mr. Inzelbuch's motion.


It's important to highlight that Mr. Lang is continuing his heroic efforts on behalf of Lakewood despite that he has left the District for a new job out of town.


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

BRAVO!! The BOE and their overpriced attorney should be pounding sand!!!

Shame on little Inzle man. The lawyer with big bills for Lakewood taxpayers with only hundreds of millions in debt left for the Lakewood taxpayers. Shame on you Inzelbuch, again putting the Lakewood taxpayers on the line for your pathetic performance. Inzi, just leave us alone already and resign with a drop of honor, after you've failed your client, us, the Lakewood Taxpayers.

Retire already!

Anonymous said...

The state pledged to give the district a loan by approving it in the budget. The one with the issue here is the state, not Mr. Inzelbuch or the BOE.

Anonymous said...

WRONG! It is the fault of the BOE for not giving me a raise or promoting me just as they promoted all the juniors that joined the organization after me. Don't be a dumb %$#@ to say it is not their fault. This matter should have been done two decades ago. Why did it take a school teacher at the bottom of the company ladder to save their $%^&es? Shame on all of you people for not knowing the corruption and incompetence managing a $300 million a year organization. This is why I want out of Lakewood. It is not a good place. People just vote for whom they are told. Sick place. A L