Lakewood Public Schools just released its draft budget for 2024-2025 and it’s bad: In order to cover costs for 5,000 in-district students and over 42,000 students who require transportation to private Jewish schools, the district will have to take yet another loan from the State, this time for $104 million. This brings Lakewood’s state debt to almost $280 million.

The proposed budget for next year is $309.1 million, $34 million more than this year. The cost drivers are increases in non-public school transportation (up $5 million for a total of $33 million ); out-of-district tuition for yeshiva students (up $12 million for a total of $73 million); charter school tuition (up to $13 million as public school parents seek alternatives to the district). Also, Lakewood is supposed to be paying back those state loans; next year’s repayment is projected at $26 million.

According to the Asbury Park Press, the district borrowed $5.6 million in 2016-17; $8.5 million in 2017-18; $28.1 million in 2018-19; $36 million in 2019-20; $54.5 million in 2020-2021; $24 million in 2022-23, and $50 million last fall.  Also, “Since 2014, Lakewood has received $205 million in state loans. It has only managed to pay back $42 million.”

Business Administrator Robert Finger told the school board that, while this year the district was supposed to have a state loan of $93 million, it has only received $50 million.

“The DOE (Department of Education) is working as best they can, it is the Department of the Treasury that is holding this up,” Finger said. “There has to be a legislative solution to this situation. The reality is this is unsustainable, the DOE even realizes this.”

Indeed, a current court case charges that the state school funding formula is inapplicable to a district where the vast majority of students don’t attend district school but are still eligible for transportation and special education services, if necessary. A report last summer from New Jersey’s State Auditor found the district suffers from “severe fiscal distress” because of the burgeoning number of non-public yeshiva students and the state should create a separate funding stream to accommodate their special education and transportation needs.

Lakewood was in the news earlier this month when former state education commissioner Kimberly Marcus wrote a report citing the district’s “culture of low expectations,” “unresponsiveness” to the public, “ill-informed” school board members, a lack of any discussion on important policy matters, a lack of any strategic plan, and “no urgency or accountability for the district’s financial situation by leadership.” Marcus also chided the district for ceding control over all operations to board lawyer Michael Inzelbuch, who gets paid almost one million dollars per year.

The public will have a full viewing of Lakewood’s proposed budget at the board hearing next month.