Reply To: School Board Monitors in Lakewood & East Ramapo

This is the first year that the school monitor runs the board of education. He wanted a 7% increase he got it. He wanted savings from the yeshivas for courtesy busing he got that also. He even got a million dollars from Lakewood but he can’t balance the budget. Two months ago the deficit was $6.2 million and a referendum was planed to fund it. Last month the deficit was $9.5 million. This week it’s $12.4 million. When the board was in charge they would balance the budget by cutting public school expenses so at least the budget was balanced. The monitor thinks he can count on the taxpayer to bail him out. Neither the state nor local taxpayer want to increase the budget so unless he cuts the public school budget by 10% I don’t see how he will fund this deficit.

The public school parents are just realizing that courtesy busing will stop in less then 3 weeks and they will have to bring their children to school. At a meeting last week many complained that they have to get to work and can’t do it. Lakewood Township said they have no plans as to how these additional children are going to make it to school. This is an accident waiting to happen. There are many busy intersection without traffic lights and in many places there are no sidewalks. The school district is paid based on the number of students attending public school each day. If enough students miss school it can cause the district million in lost aid. What will the deficit be at the end of the school year?