If your goal is to destroy public education, to undermine the public education system by starving it of funds and cutting school budgets, then by all means fund private school busing. NJ traditional public schools rank in the top tier of schools nationally but Christie and Cerf are determined to privatize the schools and to hand them over to private entities who are unaccountable to local school boards and local residents. The largest charter school chain is the creation of a Turkish imam. The Gulen schools rely heavily on Turkish teachers. Just insane. Nothing against Turkish teachers but what about all the tens of thousands of US teachers who were just fired because of budget cuts. These charter schools do NOT take their fair share of special needs students who need special services and extra help. They do not take their fair share of free and reduced lunch kids and of kids for whom English is not their first language. If a kid becomes too disruptive, the charter school "counsels out" problematic kids.

Parents atively choose to send their kids to private schools. Along with that choice comes the knowledge that they personally will be responsible for all school related costs including busing. Don't like it? Send your kids to public schools.

Parents who send their kids to private schools pay taxes to support the public schools and the buses. Second, they save taxpayers a ton of money by not having their kids educated in the public schools - they pay tuition to the prvate schools on top of the taxes they pay. Third, why would competition make public schools anything but better?

How about this...instead of taking a service away from tax-payers who, in addition to paying their taxes, save the district money by not sending their kids to the school; why don't we stop providing a free education to the children of illegal immigrants who don't pay taxes and cost the district the additional expenses of ESL teachers and teachers aides needed to translate in the class?

As far as I am concerned, charter schools are public schools in name only. I did state traditional public schools as opposed to a charter school. Charter schools are unaccountable to the local school boards and in NJ, charter schools are forced on the local school districts by the state school czar, C. Cerf. Local residents get no voice, no vote whether a charter school is established in their district. Charter schools are almost like separate school districts unto themselves. Who the hell elects the charter school boards or trustees? SB schools are NOT failing so if you choose to send your kids to a private school, then you should pay for all expenses including busing, it's your choice, you are not forced to send your children to a private or religious school. Private and religious schools are independent of the local school boards, residents have no vote in their operation so they are not entitled to local tax payers money via busing.

So taxpayers should fund someone's busing because they want their child to have a specific religious education? Excuse me, why should folks not of the same religion support another child's religious education. That should be done on your own dime, it's your choice. The traditional public schools are not saving such a bundle since they lose the state aid associated with that child who goes to a private or religious school. Public education is a public service for which all residents pay, even if they don't have kids. I have to pay for public roads that I will never use. There are fixed expenses associated with the buses that will rise because of extra duties imposed on them and the drivers. Even if a few kids go to a private school, they will still need the same amount of buses and may even have to add new buses and new drivers. It's possible.

I find it ironic that Marty an anti charter school zealot believes that SB parents and tax payers have the right to use their tax dollars for transportation but not to fund a better and higher quality education for their children.

Since private school parents are still paying for public school children to attend public schools in addition to paying for their private schools, what's so terrible with getting assistance for busing? after all we paid for it

If my tax dollars are going towards the local school budget and I have school age kids, I'm paying taxes for transportation costs for my kids to attend SB public schools. If I send my kids to another school for whatever reason I see fit as a parent, I am still paying for local busing through taxation, so cap my expense and re-emburse me at the average cost to bus a student in SB or use a bus and I pay the difference. It's as simple as that.

What about special needs kids from SB that go to schools out of the district that better suite their needs? Are they not entitled to busing?

What about MC vo-tech students? Aren't those county schools considered a form of public school with concentrations in certain arts or careers? Shouldn't those students be entitled to busing?

I don't see the difference between busing a student to a county vo-tech school or a school for special needs and busing a student to a school such as Rutgers Prep. If I paid for the busing in my taxes, I should get busing in some form. I don't think a clear line can be drawn as to who is entitled or not entitled to busing without being prejudicial.

Why limit the reimbursement to busing? How about text books? Why not limit the cost of schools to seniors, they don't use the schools? How about we all pay taxes to pay for SB schools. If you want something else for your children that's your privledge. How about home-schooled kids, do they get money back because they don't use the bus? So the $850 reimbursement is the difference between your kids going to the $20,000 per year Rutgers Prep and going to SB schools. Please help me understand why this one cost (busing) is reimbursed and no other costs. Why not just go to voutures?

I am RIGHT raises some very good points. Where does this aid to parents sending their kids to private school end? What's next, subsidizing their school meals, a clothing allowance, school supplies allowance, etc. In essence, we would be giving aid to affluent or wealthy parents so they can send their kids to elite private schools. Middle class and working class people cannot afford $20K and up for private schools. Gee, isn't that nice.

Text books and supplies fall under the budget of individual private schools. These expenses are collected through tuitions, etc. and are provided to the students by the school. Busing is not included in the tuition but is being paid for through local taxation.
Seniors might not use the schools, but they live in the town and are responsible to pay property taxes which have always included local school taxes. We'll all be seniors some day with a little luck and we all will carry the same burden no matter where we live.
Home schooled kids should be re-embursed for busing.
The $850 is the amount already paid for local school busing through taxation. If a tax payer has school aged children, that money should go toward their transportation. They've already paid for it. The money should be diverted up to the capped cost.

Why should they be able to receive aid in leau of transportation though? If your kid goes to a private school (or the law is same for a publicly finance charter school) that is 15 miles away from your home, you can turn down busing and collect money for your travel expenses instead. How do lawmakers justify this? Public school students can't turn down buses and collect money form the local district instead.

If, in a town like Lakewood, if $20 million of transportation costs are for religious school busing, how much is actually just being paid outright to the parents (via aid in leau of transportation) and how much do the parents just funnel back to the religious organizations as tithe, anyway?

Since my kids are in before and after care and they don't use the bus then I can get the $850 back? Of course not! This reimbursement is a scam. It's no different than a parent wanting $12K per year because they don't use the schools. Yes, we all pay for the schools, single people, couples without children and couples whose children have graduated. They don't get money back. This has never made any sense. If your child doesn't play baseball, do you want money back because you didn't use the fields? Why is this one item (busing) reimbursed?

Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township

Busing is mandated by the state of NJ. In theory, SB students do have the option to take the bus and get to and from school. There are even late buses for the upper grades. It's parental choice to leave them at before and aftercare and abandon their mandated busing. Your not state mandated to play baseball, although SB students also do have the choice to either use the athletic fields or not while at the schools. You also have the option of whether or not you want to pay to play for extra curricular activities such as baseball.

In my opinion, the scam would be paying for the buses through taxation and not getting the services mandated by the state that are paid for. Most of you think the scam is that private school student households that pay for the bus are stealing money from the local district. I don't see it, especially when it's state mandated and paid for it through taxation. I wouldn't mind paying 100% of the bill for busing, but I'm already being taxed for busing.

It is simple - If the state mandates busing, you have to offer it to every tax paying household in the district that qualifies for busing.

Jack...don't attempt to explain simple concepts to nit wits!

(The above views are my own and do not represent those of the South Brunswick Board of Education.)

Jack - I know it's mandated.
Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township - 1947
In my opinion this was a mistake. I don't agree with the decision. Tax dollars should be spent for SB Schools, SB Sports, SB text books, SB clubs, SB plays, SB band, AND SB Busing. Not private school busing. You don't get money back for not using the school, you shouldn't get money back for not using the bus.
I get it, it's a state law. It was a 5-4 decision by the state supreme court in 1947. That's right, 5-4...........

I don't have any kids in school. Where is my cash back to use for whatever private expense I want?

jack youre too stupid to own a dog. its even scarier that you have offspring. i guess we now know who we,ll be paying for next with our tax dollars . looking forward to seeing your kids on mtv's " 16 and pregnant .

The Patch is getting to the point it's nothing more than a Jerry Springer show. All the important topics get taken over with nonsense and just petty BS between a few people.

my wife and i moved to ocean county ten yrs ago. we have no children and up till now understand that our taxes go towards the schools but to listen to trailer trash like jack wagon on this site it sickens us. clearly from his posts he has no job since he can pick his kids up during school hours. the rest of the day he spends on the patch making vile comments . for the sake of us taxpayers who pay for your kids and for you to sit home and watch judy on our dime please get fixed .