Representatives from dozens of Lakewood Mosdos today gathered to address the busing crisis which is expected to affect thousands of student for the coming school year.
The meeting was attended by Roshei Mosdos, school administrators, Askonim and Townhip officials.
After discussing the crisis at length, several Roshei Mosdos and Askonim were appointed to take the reins and further pursue all available options to resolve the pressing issue before the coming school year.
As earlier reported, courtesy busing was cut from the approved 2014-2015 budget due a severe budget deficit. The busing for K-3rd grade students was reinstated – mainly through the efforts of the Board President Isaac Zlatkin.
Any solution to the crisis would need to be implemented before the budget goes into effect in July. [TLS]
What are the available options? Perhaps the Lkwd residents should be given a choice to vote on it?
New houses are popping up like their going out of style a minimum of 10-13k per year in taxes per house and they have the temerity to say budget shortfall!
who is responsible for this fiasco?
let’s all do what the chasidim did and register all 10k kids into the public school system, then they will be happy to only pay for bussing!!! we have to do this without waiting for the askonim as this isn’t something they would either like done…
If they don’t have bus service by the new year at least they will have the new bus service which is taking affect in a month and maybe by the new year will have more routes in place even near schools like brooklyn
to #5 if all the school children would go to school by public buses they would be extremely overcrowded
To anon , everyone is saying the same thing, organize it!!!!
Are they also having an asifa about the children who are still not accepted to school (and are made to feel like garbage in the interim)
Agree with #4 the chasidim know how to do it right
Time for schools to only accept enrollment to kids within 2.5 miles. This will make schools have more availability and place for other kids and lose the competition.
This is the work of Hashem to solve the lack of space in existing schools.
The bus routes should be consolidated and made more efficient.
We don’t need schools which are located next door to each other with separate busses.
There are too many busses coming down each block.
My suggestion is to divide Lakewood into areas, so the bus would stop in one or two neighborhoods, then drop the kids off at 5-10 schools which are near each other.
We can have bussing for everyone using less resources.
IF WE WOULD ENROLL OUR 30,000 CHILDREN BASED ON THE CURRENT 20k PER KID IT COSTS TO EDUCATE IN THE LAKEWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IT WOULD BANKRUPT THE STATE OF NJ WITH AN NEW 600 MILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT. THAT OVER A HALF A BILLION DOLLARS . AND THAT IS ONLY JEWISH CHILDREN IN LAKEWOOD. IF PASSAIC , TENACK FAIRLAWN, ELIZABETH AND OTHER PRIVATE SCHOOLS INLCUDING CHRISTIANS CATHOLICS …FOLLOW THROUGH THE ENTIRE STATE WOULD BE IN DEEP TROUBLE.
SUDDENLY WE WILL HAVE THE NAY SAYERS TO VOUCHERS AND CHOICE SCHOOLS BEG US TO GO BACK TO THE PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND HAVE FREE TUITION PAID BY OUR TAX DOLLARS.
Your reals state taxes would go through the roof if all Jews wane to public schools but it would be good for the first day, bec. Then they’ll continue the bussing.
Can’t even make a carpool because all kids on my block go to different schools due to the fact that noone can get in easily to school of their choice
Actually your real estate taxes would be very low if 30,000 new children enrolled in the public schools . Under the State formula , the State would have to give many milions. The reason why we have this problem is that the State formula for State funding is based on 2 things ,the amount of property values and the amount of public school children in the district . according to this we are considered a rich district and with every new house built and no increase in the number of public school children we actually get less and less from the state. If there were 35,000 public school kids in the system instead of 5,000 ,then we would be considered a poor district and the State formula would give us so much State money that our taxes would actually go way down.
It does not matter what you do with the school bussing situation you will never make everyone that is losing courtesy bussing in lakewood Happy..it will never work and now that the state monitor is in place like everyone wanted and he made the decision it should be honored but knowing the people of lakewood..it will not be and they will force him out of town and the bussing will get worse and worse and the public school system will take a hit and those students (who some are courtesy bussed as well) will also lose
I work in an all non jewish office and all I hear is how the Jews in lakewood pay no taxes because they have synagogues in their houses. All the people I know in lakewood pay anywhere between 6,700 to 12,000 in property taxes. A lot of lakewood public school children are Mexican illegal children and yes their parents do not pay taxes. The least they could do is pay for out children to have busing. If it wasn’t for the Jews paying taxes lakewood would be worse off.
all girls schools on oak st should share bus routes. all boys schools on cross st should share bus routes, etc…
register all of your children in the public schools!!!! it would be the best possible situation for Lakewood ! as a property owner in this town I know it will save me money! rthe schools will get bigger and better at would be a huge help for our poor town !
I agree with the above poster. The askonim and rosh moisdos should put more time in ensuring that they accept all the children in town (in accordance with what Rav Ahron Leib said to them when he was in Lakewood). Surely being machriv nefoshos is more important than whether we have courtesy busing or not.
Signed by a parent who has gotten into the schools he wanted to get into but still feels for the children that did not.
Lets raise funds out of town just like our brothers in Israel when the government cut funding
If a child doesn’t go to public school for whatever the reason (religious,educational). the state shouldn’t be responsible. If you choose not to send your child to public school you should be responsible for the transportation of that child or children.
I am so sick of people saying that hispanics don’t pay taxes and that all the mexican kids on the public schools blah blah blah… First everyone who pays rent is paying taxes, second hispanics and illegals do pay taxes, Third most of this kids were born in the US and they are entitled to have an education they are as americans as you are. That you pay property taxes well some of you do but not all just like hispanics and illegals we are not so different after all and last every town in the US has a public school system,you have a problem with that then you are living in the wrong Country. My suggestion go to Trenton with your problems and see what they are going to say.
Thank you Lakewood Frum Homeowner. I appreciate youre compassion. Just curious what Rav Ahron Leib said?
To #17
I think it is your RESPONSIBILITY to speak up in your office. It is outrageous how these people think. How come I know of TWO synagogues in my entire neighborhood but they claim there is one in every home? Idiots! I and my entire neighborhood pays an average of $6-7000 in property taxes and that is for a 35 year old house-quite a small one at that- about 1700 sf! The “non Jews” make very broad assumptions about us based on a very small bit of knowledge they acquire. Speak up!
ADOPT-A-BUS is the only solution!
Why not institute a property tax surcharge specifically for busing.
to Mr. Cohen we choose to send to private school yet we still pay sky high property taxes.
If Spanish is an offred legal bilingual class, why can’t we have Hebrew and Yiddish bilingual classes?
There are no sidewalks in this town. How are my children going to get to school?
To bilingual classes
bilingual classes in public schools are not classes in which students are learning to speak Spanish or any other language, but classes with students whose primary language is not English. They are being taught English and all their other subjects. The goal is that ultimately they would not need to be in a bilingual class over time.
If classes are being taught in Spanish then Hebrew and Yiddish should be available as its primary language for many in Lakewood
Personally only English should be taught.
I’m in with public school registration. they are counting on that never happening.call the bluff. it doesn’t mean you need to send your kids to public school if you just register.and I wonder what happens if you enroll and then pull your kid out…
Attention everyone I want school busing it important for my children get on bus that way I can go to work without driving them I school everyday
CALM DOWN ~ CALM DOWN ~ CALM DOWN ~ CALM DOWN
(reposted from previous post)
People – get real!
Without getting involved in who’s right and who’s wrong, let’s face it: The Orthodox are NOT enrolling their kids in the public school system, and courtesy busing is on its last legs.
No, children will not be forced to walk home in the dark. Bus drivers will not lose their jobs. Nothing at all will change….. except, that instead of the BOE paying for busing, the schools will hire the buses privately and pass those costs on to the parents. In a nutshell: Tuition will go up about $800 per year per child, or $80 per month (based on a 10-month school year).
So everyone calm down. The sun will still shine every day, life will move on, and Lakewood will continue to be a wonderful town with the most insane drivers outside NYC.
Carolina – why are you reading a Jewish news website if not to make trouble?
Carolina, thank you for your lecture about the values of this country,you are wrong on 2 counts.
This country was founded on the basis of no taxation without representation. The taxpayers should have the final say in how their money is spent. The overwhelming majority of taxpayers and tax dollars in Lakewood are collected from those who send their kids to private school. To take away the one benefit these families receive is un-American.
Every after school and extra-carricular activity should be cut from public school, the private schools do not have these and the parents of the private school children are the ones funding the public schools. Only after that, if there is still insuficeint funds, should busing be cut.
Illegal immigration is just the way it sounds, illegal.Throughout history there has been limits on immigration due to the fact that there is a limit on how many immigrants the country can afford to absorb. Yes illegals pay taxes, the 1 bedroom apartment that has a family with 3 kids in school, pays $1,100 a year in taxes. Yet their childrens schooling costs the city $51,000 a year.
The real solution lies with the state, but if you want to get down to pinching pennies in Lakewood, there are other areas to cut. The public achools spend more money on each student then the private schools do.
So enroll your children in the public schools. They are available to everyone if you do that the system will have to take them. Now if your kid is to good to go to a public school then you should be responsible for all the costs. Illegal immigration is part of this country it has always been. Amazing how you don’t know this maybe you should do your kids a favor and enroll them in the public schools so they can learn this important lessons that you obviously didn’t learn in the private schools. If the problem is the after school programs then you should go to Trenton or Washington D.C with your problems because I don’t know if you are aware but every district in the Country has that available why not in Lakewood? Why is this different, well is not is the same.
This courtesy bussing issue is a blessing in disguise. If the state monitor would have cut anything else, there would have been a fight between the orthodox and the gentiles. Now the problem is equal. Over 50% of the public school students are receiving courtesy bussing, now to be cut. We must work together for a solution for this joint problem.
To brainstorming:
good luck raising funds out of town. I grew up out of town and most cities don’t receive free busing. The parents pay for it themselves or they carpool. I don’t think you’ll find too much sympathy there.