New Jersey Appeals Court Denies Lakewood Schools Funding Challenge Citing Mismanagement

A New Jersey appellate court upheld the state Education Commissioner's finding that the Lakewood School District is not unconstitutionally underfunded, attributing public school funding adequacy to the number of enrolled students and rejecting the state funding formula as a cause of financial issues. The court criticized Lakewood officials for mismanagement, failure to raise taxes, and excessive spending on transportation and special education for a large number of private school students, primarily in yeshivos, which strains district resources. Despite Lakewood’s public schools enrolling fewer than 5,000 students compared to over 50,000 private school students, the state is responsible for transportation and special education costs for all. The district’s financial woes include more than $143 million in state loan debt, and the court highlighted a pattern of neglect and misfeasance by school officials. This decision continues a long legal battle over the adequacy of education funding in a community with a unique private school majority. Separately, a judge ruled in favor of the city of Lakewood in a dispute with a developer over development fees related to a controversial apartment project, emphasizing fair market value over the developer’s lower valuation demands.