Lakewood school referendum

sourstix

Thu, Dec 31 2015, 10:52 pm

did you vote on tls? if yes what did you vote? why isnt anyone voting in the right pp in office? why do we keep voting for the same mayor and whoever else if they are not doing anything meaningful for us? and we keep voting for them again and again.

I want concrete reasons. not just excuses. we need real change. lets follow what new yorkers do and actually get pp that do something for them. ok, they dont allways but mostly do. at least they get askanim to do stuff for them like agudah.

we need to vote for pp that will do what we want. not the people we already have. they are not ok with us.
anyone with me?

sourstix

Thu, Dec 31 2015, 10:55 pm

I keep hearing how corrupt elected officials are in new jersey. one of the highest. we cant allow this. they are the ones stealing our taxes money and dont give us anything for it.

that is why I didnt vote this past time. I didnt see the need to get the same pp that arent doing anything. but claimed they will. so why are the rabbonim and askanim falling for their lies?

amother

Vermilion

Fri, Jan 01 2016, 12:37 am

sourstix wrote:

Whats "pp"?

amother

Bisque

Fri, Jan 01 2016, 1:12 pm

The township official have nothing to do with the Board of Ed so not reelecting them won't change a thing.

Currently there is a state monitor (who has made things much worse) who overrides the members of the board of ed so even if you vote them out it won't change a thing. There has been a turnover of the members of the board of ed so they don't keep getting elected.

The problem with Lakewood educational funding is very simple.

The funding formula is based on how many kids attend public school. The state takes the property taxes from all the districts or towns and divides it according to this formula. This law was made so children in poorer districts receive the same amount of funding as wealthy districts.

In Lakewood the vast majority of the students attend private school, so Lakewood gets less money per student. However there are mandated services that private school students must receive per Federal and State law. Since the state give less dollars to the Lakewood school district there is not enough money and there won't be until the law changes.

In one point you are right our we should not reelect our representatives in Trenton who keep getting reelected ( because Lakewood representatives should be advocating for Lakewood's unique educational funding problem) and as far as I can see they have done nothing.

amother

Bisque

Fri, Jan 01 2016, 1:13 pm

amother wrote:

amother

Bisque

Fri, Jan 01 2016, 1:20 pm

I have to add that it is important to vote, if you don't vote no one will care about your opinion.
I will be voting no and I urge you to do as well. The increase in taxes will not help as the problem is the funding from the state is to little. We will have to vote steep increases every year. I would rather just pay for private busing or do carpools for my kids. In the long run it will be cheaper.
In addition the State Monitor does not keep his word so I don't trust him (He has veto power so he is a dictator). His actions by delaying busing in this school year caused the cost of it to go up since the Township could not get good bids since there was not enough time due to the monitors actions.

Bottom line in regards to education in Lakewood we have taxation without representation. Lakewood citizens should revolt just like our founding fathers did.

The Public School Students in Lakewood are suffering just as much as the private school Students as they are not getting proper funding too.

groisamomma

Fri, Jan 01 2016, 4:17 pm

amother wrote:

The Public School Students in Lakewood are suffering just as much as the private school Students as they are not getting proper funding too.

This may only be a drop in the bucket but it is indicative of a much greater problem. Take a close look at our district's budget. I will use 2012-2013 for reference since this hasn't changed anyway.

While almost all minority students with disabilities are educated within district schools or at moderately-priced private schools, the district pays for its Orthodox Jewish children with significant disabilities to attend expensive out-of-district private special education schools. One in particular, the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), costs $92,837 per student annually, exclusive of mandated summer programs, transportation, and other services. A school board agenda this past June lists 149 students who will attend SCHI for the school year at an annual tuition cost of $13,832,713.

This is in addition to the millions of dollars of private donations SCHI receives annually.

Compare the annual tuition per pupil with severe handicaps in Brick Township. The difference is staggering. Unfortunately SCHI can keep that tuition because they know with our BOE members they will get it. Public outcry from the sheep in this community will never allow SCHI students to be bussed out of district, and when the BOE even so much as talks about cutting costs in this area we are inundated with cries of, "How can we allow our special children to suffer?" when the rest of our children are losing out way more.

groisamomma

Sat, Jan 02 2016, 8:49 pm

amother wrote:

im embarrassed to ask, but I will what is township official?
and what is a state monitor? I cant understand what you wrote if I dont know what these terms mean.

Township official is not education-related, it is simply a person that serves in the local body of government (I.e. the mayor, deputy mayor). The Lakewood Board of Education (BOE) members are elected by the people in the Township and they run the school district. In other words, they vote to decide where and how our education funds should be allocated, and towards which services to put those funds. Since Lakewood's BOE members have done a lousy job (we are millions of $$ in debt), and despite the funds that are poured into our education system our public schools are failing, the state sent in a monitor to oversee our BOE. Basically, the state monitor is here to clean up the mess our BOE made.

I personally am happy something is finally being done. What people here fail to realize is that Orthodox Jews are only one part of the Lakewood community. Our public schools are made up of the rest of the Lakewood community and despite what the Yidden here think they are just as deserving of a decent education as our children. Yes, we pay most of the property taxes here. Yes, we should get bussing at least if nothing else. Well you have the choice to use the taxes by sending to public school. You choose not to then shut up and stop complaining. Courtesy bussing is just that, a courtesy. It is extended to private schools after the needs of the public schools are met. If our frum BOE members will finally stop squandering the money there will be money left for courtesy bussing.

To those that say Lakewood public school families should be kissing our feet for sending to private schools, thereby saving them the annual cost of educating our children in public school, the answer is that if we would all send to public school the state formula for funding would automatically be adjusted so the whole problem of insufficient funds would be a moot point.

amother

Bisque

Sat, Jan 02 2016, 9:19 pm

groisamomma wrote:

I do agree that should be looked into, but the guilt card will be played. As a parent of B"H healthy children it is hard to say to my neighbors that your sick child should not get the best care. I don't walk in their shoes.

Interesting the state monitor doesn't look into that fiscal situation.

groisamomma

Sat, Jan 02 2016, 9:26 pm

amother wrote:

This is where you're wrong (and everyone else that's afraid to say something). SCHI is more than able to provide the best possible care without much of the cost they claim to spend. Do you know that the above number reflects tuition at SCHI before special transportation and mandated extended-school-year summer programs for these children? I hope you're sitting...by the time SCHI is done milking the system tuition is typically in the 125K range PER STUDENT!!! They most definitely are able to cut costs by stopping to "pad" their bids simply because they know the askonim and frum BOE members will push for SCHI to get the contract.

But like I said, this is only a teeny tiny drop in the bucket.

And to answer you, the community is buying the garbage they are fed by the BOE and other special-interest askonim and are putting up every roadblock to deter the state monitor from doing his job. People are scared of what he will ultimately uncover.