Christie signs bill to fund busing for Lakewood's private schools

TRENTON – The financially struggling Lakewood Public School District will receive $7.2 million in state cash over the next three school years to pay for transportation for thousands of students who attend private Orthodox Jewish schools in the township.

Legislation signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday will send the district $2.4 million each year to fund the pilot program, which is expected to begin during the 2016-17 school year.

The legislation provides the school board of an "eligible district" to head-up the program. An "eligible district" is defined in the law one that provides transportation "to and from any remote school other than a public school" for more than 5,000 pupils residing in the public school district.

The Lakewood School District – which has repeatedly threated to cancel its courtesy busing in recent years due to its unique fiscal crisis – is the only school district that meets this criteria. As of October 2015, there were nearly 16,000 nonpublic school students in Lakewood who received mandated transportation services.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2016/08/christie_signs_bill_to_publicly_fund_busing_for_la.html