Lakewood, NJ families are facing a staggering increase in school transportation costs just days before the start of the new school year, with the Lakewood Student Transportation Authority announcing that the cost of non-mandated busing will jump from $385 to a staggering $945 per child for the 2026-27 school year, Matzav.com has learned.

The dramatic $560-per-child increase was announced today in an urgent notice sent to families of Lakewood students who do not qualify for state-mandated transportation. The change represents an increase of approximately 145% over the $385 families had previously been asked to pay.

The LSTA says the sudden increase stems from significant cuts in state municipal aid to Lakewood Township, which led the Township to eliminate the subsidy that for the past decade helped cover transportation for thousands of children living within the state-mandated distance from their schools.

Under New Jersey rules, transportation funding continues to be provided for Lakewood students who qualify for mandated busing. An elementary school student is considered non-mandated if he or she lives two miles or less from school, while a high school student is considered non-mandated if the student lives 2.5 miles or less from school.

The new policy applies specifically to Lakewood residents and does not affect students living in Howell, Jackson or Toms River.

For approximately 10 years, Lakewood Township and the LSTA have been able to offer transportation to thousands of these non-mandated students at a heavily subsidized rate. Township funding, combined with the scale of Lakewood’s transportation network, kept the amount charged directly to families far below the actual cost of providing a bus seat.

That arrangement has now effectively collapsed.

According to the LSTA notice, New Jersey’s municipal aid allocation for Lakewood was significantly reduced for the upcoming 2026-27 school year. As a result, Lakewood Township eliminated the subsidy it had provided for the non-mandated transportation program.

Without that assistance, the LSTA says the full cost of providing a seat can reach as high as $1,177 per student.

The LSTA claims that it has nevertheless managed to bring the price families will actually pay down to $945 per child, a $232 reduction from the potential full cost. The agency emphasized that the reduction is not being funded by a continued Township subsidy, but instead results from efficiencies created by the enormous size and density of Lakewood’s transportation system and the purchasing power generated by its large number of routes.

For families with multiple children relying on non-mandated transportation, however, the financial impact could be enormous. A family with three affected children, for example, would now face a $2,835 annual transportation bill.

Adding to the frustration is the extraordinarily short notice being given to parents.

Families wishing to keep their children on buses must log into the LSTA family portal and opt in by Monday, August 24, at 11 p.m. Because bus routes are awarded based on both morning and afternoon seats, families cannot select transportation in only one direction. Opting in means accepting round-trip transportation.

Parents who already paid the original $385 charge will have that money credited toward the new $945 fee. They will therefore owe another $560 per student, which the LSTA says can be paid in three additional installments.

Families unwilling or unable to absorb the sharply higher cost can opt out of transportation and receive a refund of the $385 they previously paid.

But parents who do nothing by the Monday night deadline will automatically lose their children’s bus transportation.

“If no action is taken by 11:00 pm Monday, your child will be opted out, and the routes will be adjusted and consolidated accordingly,” the LSTA notice states.

The agency says the compressed deadline is necessary because it must rapidly redesign routes, comply with state requirements governing the awarding of transportation routes and give bus companies sufficient time to prepare for service beginning September 1.

Recognizing that some families may have difficulty navigating the last-minute process, the LSTA is making assistance available at opt-in kiosks at its office. The office will remain open Thursday, August 20, until 6 p.m.; Friday, August 21, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.; and Monday, August 24, from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.

The LSTA acknowledged that the timing leaves families with little opportunity to prepare for a major new expense, saying it was itself only recently notified that the Township subsidy would end because of the Township’s budgeting schedule.

“Due to the Township’s budgeting schedule, the LSTA was only recently informed of the subsidy cessation. As this notice is coming very close to the start of the school year and will create an unexpected financial hardship for many families, we regret the timing and understand the difficulty this will present,” the authority said.

The agency also pointed to the decade during which the subsidized program allowed thousands of Lakewood children to receive transportation at a substantially reduced cost.

“We are grateful that together with the Township, the LSTA was able to provide this deeply subsidized benefit to thousands of Lakewood families for an entire decade. We appreciate your understanding as we work to keep transportation as accessible as possible under the current funding structure.”

The $945 figure applies to the 2026-27 school year only. The LSTA warned that there is no guarantee the amount will remain the same in subsequent years, with future rates to be determined by whatever funding and resources are available at the time.

For Lakewood parents, however, the immediate issue is far more pressing: after expecting to pay $385 for a child’s transportation, families now have only days to decide whether to come up with an additional $560 per child — or give up their children’s bus seats altogether.

{Matzav.com}