LAKEWOOD - Public school summer programs were canceled Monday after the Lakewood school board held an emergency meeting to void the budget it approved last week.

Without a budget in place, the district says it must shut down. Board of Education lawyer Michael Inzelbuch blamed the shutdown on the state, which he said has not provided assurance in writing that the district will receive an additional $30 million in funding that was allocated in Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed budget, but removed by the Legislature.

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"We are not doing anything in this district unless you put it in writing," Inzelbuch said.

The decision to close schools came less than 24 hours after officials in Murphy's administration told reporters they had a constitutional obligation to give Lakewood funding. The officials said that would be needed "at some point this year" and could come from another appropriation.

“The governor acknowledges the difficult situation being faced by Lakewood’s schools," Murphy's press secretary, Alyana Alfaro, said in a statement Monday. "The Governor’s Office is committed to addressing the needs of the district and working with partners in the Legislature to find both short-term and long-term solutions that are in the best interests of Lakewood students.”

As the school board voted unanimously Monday to void its budget, it also voted to pay several staffers overtime for working on Sunday to prepare for the emergency meeting. But Inzelbuch said those checks — including his own $50,000 monthly pay — couldn't be cut until the district has a budget in place.

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The hour-long meeting run by Inzelbuch drew dozens of parents concerned their students' education would be harmed by the shutdown.

"My concerns are my kids are at home, out of therapy," said Martha Avila, who has three children in special education programs. "There's no help at home. They need their special education. We're not prepared for this, so I don't have someone coming for the kids, so they're just sitting at home."

About 700 students attend summer programs that were shuttered Monday and another 300 attend special education schools at the district's expense, according to the district superintendent. The district on Monday was not paying tuition for those special education students, Inzelbuch said.

The board did not address the parents, sitting in plastic chairs, about the shutdown to say how their children would be impacted.

Instead, Inzelbuch led a meandering meeting marked by jokes, admonishments to district staff who made too much noise, and references to the number of garbage cans at his home or his family members buried at a cemetery behind the high school.

"Maybe that's Trenton calling," Inzelbuch said when a loud chirping began, apparently coming from the speakerphone of the district's business administrator who called in to the meeting.

"Phil? Steve? No," Inzelbuch said, referencing the governor and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, whose budget axed Murphy's additional $30 million for Lakewood.

Inzelbuch also called Avraham Krawiec, who leads the busing authority that gets Lakewood's more than 32,000 children to mostly private Orthodox Jewish schools, on speakerphone. Language that ensured the authority would continue for another year was deleted from the budget Murphy signed Sunday.

Krawiec told Inzelbuch that the authority expired at midnight Sunday, leaving the future of busing in the township uncertain when students return to yeshivas in the fall.

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Krawiec did not respond to follow up questions from a reporter Monday.

Lakewood school leaders, including Superintendent Laura Winters and Inzelbuch, have blamed the state funding formula for the district's annual funding deficit. The district took out more than $46 million in loans in recent years to balance the books.

The state provides some funding based on the district's enrollment of about 6,000, but requires the district to fund things like transportation, nursing and security for the much larger 32,000-student private school enrollment in the township.

But the district also has suffered because of mismanagement. Last year, the district fired its transportation supervisor and found about $1 million in savings within that department. The New Jersey Department of Education also has noted years of misspending within the district, including on busing students it is not required to transport.

Stacey Barchenger: @sbarchenger; 732-427-0114; sbarchenger@gannettnj.com