JACKSON – Members of the township Board of Education voted to enter into an agreement with the Lakewood Students Transportation Authority to reduce costs and traffic to bring private school students to classes.
The Jackson School District, as required by state law, currently pays private school families the state mandated minimum amount. That public to private agreement, according to township officials has caused problems on the roadways as private school families then contracted with independent transportation companies to bring their children to private schools.
State law dictates that all public elementary school students (grades K-8) who live more than two miles from their school and all public secondary school students (grades 9-12) who live more than two-and-a-half miles from their school are entitled to transportation.
Board member Allison Barocas, who heads the board’s transportation committee, reported “the Board will be contracting with the LTSA for nonpublic transportation for the 2024-25 school year.”
Through this consolidation, the LTSA, which currently manages routes for 50,000 students daily, will absorb the administrative overhead and work to streamline routes to lessen the number of buses on township roads.
Township Council President Jennifer Kuhn is the liaison to education for the council, attended the BOE meeting, and said contracting with the LTSA was better than the school district writing checks to families to cover transportation costs and will reduce the number of buses and school transportation vehicles on township roads.
“There’s a lot going on every morning and afternoon on our roads. This change will remove the school district from the administrative overhead required to cut checks to thousands of families for transportation,” Kuhn added.
Councilman Mordechai Burnstein was also present at the school board meeting and called the decision “a major step forward for children to get on to safe buses.” He said he would like to see Trenton start paying more for the school bus mandate as the Lakewood and Jackson situation is a unique issue that doesn’t affect other communities in New Jersey.
Burnstein said, “transportation costs are skyrocketing because we have to abide by the state regulations, but if they are making us do this, they need to chip in more on the financial costs like they do in other parts of the state to accommodate unique educational situations.”
Mayor Michael Reina issued a statement noting a benefit of the agreement. “Having one main point of contact for our Police, D.P.W. (Department of Public Works) and administration, when need be, is going to give Jackson township a better say in the safety of our township.”
Barocas also noted that the board discussed a lease purchase of buses, and an electric school bus grant that the district won several years ago has had more money added to it.
