I had the story last week about the winners and losers from the latest round of state school funding and it was revealed that the Lakewood School District was going to get an increase of $14 million.

Well, now, the Asbury Park Press is reporting that that number is actually double that: an increase of $30 million. At the Board of Education meeting, the district business administrator, Robert Finger, revealed that the school district will get an additional $15 million over the original number in “discretionary aid.” It is assumed that money will be used to cover rising busing and special education needs.

Private school students outnumber public school students by 6 to 1 in Lakewood and, until now, the private school students had not been included in the state funding formula even though the school district must cover the busing costs and special education needs of all students. The Asbury Park Press article goes on to report the Lakewood school district has borrowed over $46 million to balance its budget recently and the new funding will eliminate the need to borrow more. The BOE was considering asking the Department of Education for a loan of $17 million which will not be needed now.

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