NJ Dept of Ed: Springfield Must Pay Transportation Costs or Risk Losing State Aid

In a March 25 letter acting New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf told Springfield Schools Superintendent Michael Davino that Springfield needs to reimburse township parents with children in private schools for transportation costs. If those payments are not made, Cerf said in the letter, Springfield would lose its state aid.

Under state law, school districts are required provide transportation or monetary aid to students attending non public schools. In a letter read at the top of their Feb. 28 meeting, the School Board said that because the district received no state aid to cover transportation,

after receiving . Board of Education president Irwin Sablosky said the money is earmarked for special education programs and could not be applied to costs like transportation.

The letter gives a deadline of April 8 for the school to make aid in lieu of transportation payments.

“The letter informs the district that they have to follow the law,” Mary McElroy said. McElroy, a Springfield resident, is the Director of the NJ Network of Catholic School Families, Newark Diocese.

Sablosky said he could not comment on the letter, as the School Board’s attorney has filed a complaint with the state’s Council on Unfunded Mandates.

McElroy obtained the letter and addressed the board about its contents during a March 28 board meeting. The board declined to address the letter’s contents, saying that it was a confidential letter to Supt. Davino that they had not yet received. McElroy said the letter was not confidential.

Sablosky said that with the newly imposed two percent tax cap, the Board needs to investigate places where they can make cuts, like Vo-tech school tuition payments and transportation in lieu of aid.

McElroy said she believes that students attending private schools are being unfairly targeted.

“What’s disheartening is hearing comments about ‘regular students,’” McElroy said. “Non public school students are regular students too.”