Why lakewood schools are failing

That first year 25 new staff members were hired, compared to just four this year. Woodford is quick to point out this would not be possible without them. Woodford, who now oversees 30 schools as area superintendent, regularly takes other principals to tour Lakewood and discuss ideas, even those from other school districts. They talk through the data, go over schedules, walk through classrooms. Woodford believes that seeing how the process works is more enlightening than just hearing about it.

This is a great story — great people doing great-to-impossible things — so, so needed in SSP. Thanks to all. And, thanks for a 2nd story [let me encourage you toward a third] or a regular 6 mo report on the continued success of Lakewood and what they might need to keep going or sustain their gains.

And add another school as one or more make the similar journey. Well you are in luck. For the last six years, the district has borrowed an ever-increasing amount of money from the state, digging a financial hole that strains the services it can offer students. The main reason for the financial burden: the cost of busing more than 37, students who attend private schools, mostly religious schools serving Lakewood's predominately Orthodox Jewish population, compared to just 6, students attending public schools.

District officials have long complained that the state funding formula doesn't account for the unusual imbalance; in most communities, the private school enrollment dwarfs the number of students enrolled in the public school district. Nonetheless, state audits regularly take the district to task for poor fiscal management. For years the district has operated under the eye of a state-appointed fiscal monitor who can override spending decisions.

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, welcomed the judge's conclusions, but said her decision missed the mark in not finding that Lakewood students are being deprived of a thorough and efficient education due to the underfunding of transportation and special education costs.

He said that the ruling also erred in not blaming the education commissioner for Lakewood's woes. Sciarra said the commissioner's measures should include long-term changes to the cost and responsibility for non-public transportation and "a radical overhaul of the district's clearly deficient handling of special education.

Advocates for Lakewood school funding reform support the bill. But Wolfe will leave that to others. Lakewood's funding problems dates back years, and an annual deficit that officials say is caused by the state's failure to account for the district's large number of private school students has grown rapidly as the township's populatoin has.

Public school students protested in outside the Trenton Thunder Stadium in the state capital. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky njadvancemedia. Follow him on Twitter SteveStrunsky. Find NJ. Have a tip? Tell us. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Log in. Account Manage my subscription Activate my subscription Log out.

How to turn around a failing school? The school still has many challenges, but despite the challenges of the COVID crisis, it is headed in a better direction.

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