By Kelly Heyboer | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

For years, Lakewood's school budget has been in crisis because of the rising cost of providing taxpayer-funded busing to the children of the growing Orthodox Jewish population attending religious schools in town.

Now, as more Orthodox Jewish families flock to Ocean and Monmouth counties, the busing issue is spreading to other municipalities.

Toms River Regional, Brick, Jackson and Howell are among the school districts that have seen their busing costs climb as more Orthodox Jewish families move into the area and request district-funded busing to send their children to the more than 100 private religious schools in neighboring Lakewood.

New Jersey law requires that taxpayers cover the cost of transporting students to schools -- including private, religious schools – if the education institutions are more than two miles from the child’s home.

Last year, Toms River Regional, Brick, Jackson and Howell combined spent more than $1 million on busing students to private schools, according to their budgets. That number is expected to rise dramatically as the new school year begins.

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(Star-Ledger file photo)

Why are taxpayers paying to send kids to private schools?

Under New Jersey's law, school districts that provide busing to their own students must also pay to bus kids to private schools—under certain conditions.

In order to get free busing, the students’ private school must be at least two miles (or 2 ½ miles for a high school) -- but less than 20 miles -- from their house, according to the law. The school can be a Catholic school, a yeshiva or any other kind of private school as long as the institution is a nonprofit.

Districts have the choice of either arranging for the busing to the private school themselves or providing up to a $1,000 stipend to each students’ family to arrange their own transportation or drive their kids themselves. Those checks are known as “Aid in Lieu of Transportation.”

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Why is this controversial?

The law that requires busing to private schools goes largely unnoticed in many New Jersey school districts because it is used by a relatively small population of students going to Catholic schools and small private high schools.

In many cases, school districts say they are not concerned with the cost of busing private school students because it would cost local taxpayers far more per pupil if the students were educated in local public schools.

But the busing policy has been put in a spotlight by the dramatic changes in Lakewood, which has seen an influx in Orthodox Jewish families over the last few decades.

Last year, Lakewood sent about 30,000 of its kids to private Jewish schools and only about 6,000 mostly Hispanic and black students to its public schools. The cost of providing transportation topped $27 million districtwide.

The cost, which includes separate routes for male and female students going to 118 Jewish schools in town, has helped cripple the school district’s finances and forced the state to provide extra cash to Lakewood to keep its schools out of the red.

Earlier this year, Lakewood's school district hired a private consulting firm to review its public school busing system to help try to cut costs.

“Everything is far from okay," Lakewood school board attorney Michael Inzelbuch said at an emotional town meeting earlier this summer.

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What's happening in Toms River?

The rapid growth in Lakewood, which has grown into one of the largest municipalities in New Jersey, has spilled into northern Toms River as more Orthodox Jewish families move to the area in search of affordable housing and the thriving religious community.

Toms River Regional expects to pay $850,000 in transportation stipends to the families of 850 children attending private schools this year, district officials said.

That is still a fraction of the 30,000 students Lakewood buses to private schools. But, it is about six times as much as Toms River Regional spent on private school busing just four years ago when only about 150 children required busing to private schools.

Most of the $850,000 Toms River Regional will pay will be $1,000 stipends paid to Orthodox Jewish families to arrange buses or other transportation for their children to private religious schools, district officials said.

"The vast majority of the $850,000 is for students attending non-public schools in Lakewood. There are a handful of students attending other schools in other towns," said William Doering, Toms River Regional’s business administrator.

However, the $1,000 stipends for busing is far less than it would cost the district if all 850 students chose to enroll in the local public schools. Last year, Toms River Regional spent $16,659 per student to educate children in its public schools, according to state statistics.

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Why doesn't Toms River start new bus routes?

At the moment, Toms River has not provided buses for the Orthodox Jewish students in Lakewood. But it may in the future to help cut some of the costs of providing the $1,000 transportation stipends to families, Doering said.

Nearby Jackson recently announced it will provide its own buses to transport children to Lakewood religious schools to save money.

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What's happening in Jackson, Brick and Howell?

All of the municipalities bordering Lakewood say their busing costs have climbed steadily in recent years as they transport more students to private religious schools.

Jackson reported spending about $610,000 on private busing last year. Howell spent about $197,000 and Brick spent nearly $115,000, the Asbury Park Press reported.

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Isn't it against the law to use taxpayer money for religious education?

In a landmark 1947 court case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Ewing Township could reimburse parents for transportation costs to local Catholic schools. The ruling said taxpayer money for transportation to private schools was constitutional because the money went to parents, regardless of their religion, and not directly to religious institutions.

However, New Jersey is one of the few states in the nation that has a law saying school districts must provide busing for private school students. Some of the other states, including Ohio and Wisconsin, have narrower rules that say the private school must be in the town where the student lives or within a few miles from the town’s border if the district is going to pay for busing.

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Read more about Lakewood:

A look at Lakewood, N.J.'s most controversial town

A guide to the crisis in Lakewood

Why is Lakewood spending $32M to send kids to private schools?

Lakewood busing issues expose private school rides on public dollars

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.