In a new filing, the Lakewood Board of Education is pushing back against the New Jersey Department of Education’s effort to place the district under full state intervention, arguing that the system’s financial struggles stem from structural funding problems and unfunded mandates rather than the board’s mismanagement.

In a sworn certification filed this week with the state Education Commissioner, Lakewood Superintendent Dr. Laura Winters said the district has worked cooperatively with state officials and monitors while continuing to provide students with the constitutionally mandated “thorough and efficient education.”

TLS first reported earlier this year that Lakewood will contest the takeover attempt.

Addressing the state’s claims alleging that Lakewood has failed to adequately serve students and manage its finances, Winters noted that the state has long been aware of the district’s financial challenges and has not offered sustainable solutions.

Winters said Lakewood’s budget pressures are largely driven by legally mandated transportation and special education costs tied to the township’s unusually large nonpublic school population. More than 50,000 students attend private schools in Lakewood, the majority of those to Orthodox Jewish Mosdos, requiring the district to provide transportation and other certain services, as required under state law.

There are fewer than 4,400 students in the Lakewood Public School system this year.

According to the filing, nearly half of the district’s annual budget is spent on transportation and special education, far higher than in most New Jersey districts. The state has provided more than $330 million in loans to Lakewood over the past 12 years, which Winters argued demonstrates shortcomings in the state’s funding formula.

The superintendent also criticized the role of state-appointed monitors, saying they have had veto authority over district spending but have offered few concrete recommendations to address fiscal challenges. Since 2014, the state has assigned fiscal oversight to the district, and in 2025 added additional monitors overseeing transportation, governance and special education. The district has paid those monitors more than $2 million as of January 2026, according to the filing.

Winters said several of the monitors rarely met with district officials or proposed solutions to the district’s projected $40 million budget shortfall, instead telling the district it would have to balance its own budget.

The certification also highlighted Lakewood’s demographics, describing them as unique in New Jersey. The district’s public school population is more than 83% economically disadvantaged and about 41% multilingual, far above statewide averages.

Winters wrote that the district has taken steps in recent years to address operational concerns, including closing schools, reducing staff, strengthening financial controls and expanding in-district special education programs.

She also pointed to performance indicators under the state’s New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC) system, noting improvements over the past decade in several categories including fiscal management, governance and operations.

While acknowledging the district faces “extraordinary challenges,” Winters said the state’s characterization that Lakewood is failing students is inaccurate.

“The State’s allegation that Lakewood ‘is failing its students’ could not be further from the truth,” she wrote in the certification.

If Education Commissioner Lily Laux decides that a state intervention is needed, the matter will go to the state Board of Education for more consideration.

Should the state ultimately takeover the district,  the state Department of Education would assume all of the district’s responsibilities, including appointing a superintendent and board; seizing control of finances, including contracts; and determining all staffing and curriculum.

State takeovers of local school districts are fairly rare, but when they do happen, they can remain in place for decades.

It’s unclear yet how this will affect local special education, busing and property taxes.