The New Jersey Assembly Education Committee has passed a revolutionary new bill supported by numerous groups, including Agudath Israel, Catholic groups, and numerous others, making Lakewood’s LSTA and similar groups a legal entity that will allow them to provide transportation for students rather than the district.
The reason why this bill is of such great importance is that it will allow children from various school districts to pool together under a consortium and have busing provided to all of them. As things stand now, transportation can only be provided directly through school district, so if say a Jackson student requires busing to Lakewood, the Lakewood school district cannot provide bussing. However, this bill would allow a third party (like LSTA) to combine Lakewood and Jackson and use funds from both districts to offer bussing to students.
The bill is not only beneficial to local residents in Jackson, Toms River, Jackson, etc., but will assist students throughout New Jersey, including numerous communities throughout New Jersey like in Linden, Rahway, Roselle, Long Branch, Deal, and numerous other communities where there are increasing numbers of students residing in one school district but attending school in another.
Although not part of this bill, many groups also testified at the Assembly hearing regarding aid in lieu of transportation, with multiple witnesses calling for the aid to be increased. Aid in lieu is currently $1,024 per year, which they say do not cover the transportation expenses parents are facing, particularly with prices of goods and services rising.
Great News! Hopefully this will also result in saving time and costs as well, since it will allow the partially empty busess to get filled, and allow for bus routes to be more efficient.
This will also hopefully easy the housing markets a bit, by people being more comfortable with moving a little further from their school of choice, and not feel constrained to any particular township boarder.
I am having a hard time figuring out why this bill is supported by Agudah. To me it seems like a disaster. Am I missing something?
1. This bill totally eliminates courtesy bussing.
2. Even mandated bussing can only be up to the aid in lieu amount. Once it exceeds that the consortium pays AIL to the parent and is done. As mentioned in the article, AIL is not nearly enough to cover transportation. This will leave our children with no bussing at all even if they are mandated!