The Lakewood school board pushed back on the New Jersey Department of Education’s takeover effort, citing “cherry-picked” evidence and “woefully deficient” legal grounds.
The vast majority of students in Lakewood, the fourth-most populous municipality in the state, attend private religious schools, and the district pays for their busing plus the tuition of those enrolled in special education classes. The township’s pre-K-12 public schools, meanwhile, have about 5,000 students — just 10% of the overall school-age population.
On Jan. 14, then-Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer filed for a full state intervention of Lakewood, arguing that the public schools were failing to deliver a constitutionally guaranteed “thorough and efficient” education.
The filing came days before Gov. Mikie Sherrill took office and appointed a new education commissioner, Lily Laux, who will be the case’s decision-maker .
Lakewood filed its 108-page response to the state’s order to show cause on March 5. It refuted each of the state’s points for full state intervention and argued that the legal basis is lacking. By state law, a takeover is dependent upon a district’s failing to meet standards in four categories. Lakewood argues that its latest comprehensive review shows it’s meeting four of five standards.
Still, Lakewood has been under legal and public scrutiny for years.
It has extraordinary transportation and special education costs, which Lakewood contends stem from a flawed state school funding formula that doesn’t support the district’s unique structure. The board has sowed controversy of its own, such as paying its attorney a salary amounting to more than $5 million over five years.
The district argues that if its issues were caused only by financial mismanagement, state fiscal monitors over more than a decade should have intervened.
“The district has practically begged the monitors for assistance and recommendations, particularly as to Lakewood’s annual budget deficit, yet has received little actual assistance,” Lakewood’s response stated.
Though Lakewood’s annual school budget is around $300 million, it has annual multimillion-dollar shortfalls. In 2025, it had a $40 million deficit. Over the last 12 years, the district has borrowed upwards of $330 million from the state to bridge the gaps.
The transportation costs for non-public school students have reached $32 million and tuition costs for out-of-district special education students are $80 million, Lakewood stated in its response.
The state’s takeover argument relies on “cherry-picked, one-sided and outdated evidence that is presented without proper context,” Lakewood stated in its response, which was filed by Michael Freeman, a Newark-based attorney acting as outside counsel.
“Lakewood is eager to continue to work constructively with the state to address the complex structural problems plaguing its finances,” reads the response. “The state’s woefully deficient order to show cause should be dismissed.”
The case will go before an administrative law judge within the Education Department, then to Laux. She will make a recommendation to the state Board of Education, which will take a vote. The district could appeal if that vote favors intervention.
