The Lakewood Township school board is urging state officials not to approve a planned state takeover of the Ocean County district, rejecting New Jersey’s argument that poor academic performance and mismanagement warrant outside control of the town’s sparsely attended public schools
In a 189-page response to the takeover bid initiated in January, the district said its performance on a state metric remains above levels that would permit a state takeover and argued state officials as recently as 2023 had found the quality of public schools there did not deprive students of their constitutional right to a thorough and efficient education.
“Unable to reconcile its position with the controlling regulations or Lakewood’s strong [test scores], the State instead cherry-picks a handful of student achievement metrics and presents them out of context to create the illusion of failure,” attorneys for the district said in the filing submitted Thursday.
NJ school budget deficits prompt plea for legislative action
The request for a takeover, which is before the state Department of Education’s controversies and disputes division, argues poor test scores and longstanding financial issues in Lakewood’s public schools demand New Jersey step in. Challenges to the division’s decision can later be heard by the Superior Court’s appellate division.
Lakewood schools are unique in New Jersey. Overwhelmingly, school-aged students in the fast-growing township of about 142,000 attend private religious schools called yeshivas.
Only 4,112 students were enrolled in the district’s public schools in October 2024, according to state data, compared to more than 50,000 who attended private schools there.
The district’s spending on transportation, special education, and other aid to non-public schools have swollen and, over time, have built massive deficits into the school’s budget. The district said it has taken more than $330 million in state loans over the past dozen years, including a roughly $100 million loan in the current school year.
The state Department of Education has alleged the district has failed to root out “pervasive, endemic educational and operational failures” over more than a decade-and-a-half and continued to mismanage resources, threatening students’ constitutional right to a thorough and efficient education.
In its response, Lakewood said monitors assigned to its schools since at least 2014 had failed to help it resolve its budget woes.
“For over a decade, the State has been aware of the district’s exceptional financial burdens, caused largely by federal and state mandates, and instead of confronting the issue head on, has done nothing to address the problem,” the district said in the filing.
Lakewood blamed its money problems on the state’s school funding formula, arguing it fails to account for the district’s unique circumstances.
The district said legally mandated busing expenses for non-public school students had reached $32 million. Tuition for special education students cost them $80 million, the district said.
“No other district in the State is faced with either such a substantial nonpublic busing obligation or such sizable special education expenses. Lakewood has both,” they said. “These expenses consume nearly half of Lakewood’s budget, whereas those expenses typically constitute 10% or so for most school districts.”
An appellate court decision in September found the funding formula was not to blame for the district’s poor financial position, and instead cited mismanagement, a failure to raise local taxes, and heavy spending on transportation and special education.
The district had a school property tax rate of 1.026% in 2025, compared to the statewide average of 1.361%, according to property tax data maintained by the Department of Community Affairs.
The district denied its students are low-achieving, arguing the state should have compared their performance to that of students in other disadvantaged districts statewide to support its claims that Lakewood students are denied a thorough and efficient education.
Students who attend Lakewood public schools are more likely to come from low-income households and those with limited English proficiency and have achievement similar to students in other high-need districts, like Camden and Paterson, the district said.
“When Lakewood’s performance is compared to other high-need districts — like Camden, Trenton, Newark, Paterson — Lakewood’s outcomes are comparable to, and usually exceed, the other districts’ outcomes,” it said.
Each of those districts has seen a state takeover previously. Control of Newark schools returned to locals in 2020, and Paterson regained control of its schools in 2021. Camden’s state takeover is ongoing.
“No school district is perfect, and Lakewood recognizes that it must continue to endeavor to address its budgetary issues and improve the quality of education it provides,” the district said. “But, the truth is that Lakewood’s students are receiving a thorough and efficient education in the face of extraordinary challenges.”
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