Just days before the school year starts, LSTA dropped a bombshell: non-mandated busing costs are jumping and families have almost no time to prepare or decide.

Here are the facts:

The subsidy that funded this program for the past 10 years has been cut by the Township.

Cost per child is rising from $385 to $945

You must opt in by Monday, August 24 at 11:00 PM or your child is automatically dropped from the route. Opting out gets you a refund of the $385 but then you're on your own for transportation.

For many families, this adds up to $3,000+ in new expenses this year alone.

Meanwhile, the early morning shachris buses run nearly empty, with parents already organizing carpools to cope but many schools don't even allow carpooling, forcing families into thousands of dollars of new expense they can't absorb.

And the Lakewood Township committee fully funds non-mandated busing for public school students while yeshiva and private school families in Lakewood get none of that support. 

Where are our elected officials? Silent. Hiding behind monthly Zoom meetings while millions in tax abatements and years of budget surpluses go unexplained.

Lakewood families deserve transparency and they deserved more than a few days to prepare for a $3,000 hit to their budget.

Per New Jersey law Lakewood or any parents who qualify for the school lunch program do not have to pay if they can't afford it and can not be denied transportation according to NJ law. The schools and LSTA have so far not notified parents of this law and parents are given a form to either sign up or opt out.

 - NJ Law Students who are unable to pay because of financial hardship shall not be excluded from receiving services described under this section. The criteria used to determine financial hardship shall be the same as the Statewide income eligibility standards established for free and reduced-price meals under the State school lunch program.

Full Notice from LSTA:

August 20th, 2026

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO LAKEWOOD NON-MANDATED FAMILIES

Dear Parent of Lakewood Non-Mandated Student,

You are receiving this notice because one or more of your children are considered non-mandated for transportation purposes. A non-mandated child is one of the following: an elementary student who resides 2 miles or less from school or a high school student residing 2.5 miles or less. The information below pertains solely to Lakewood students and does not affect students residing in Howell, Jackson or Toms River.

Overview and Background:

The state of New Jersey has and will continue to provide transportation funding for all Lakewood mandated students. However, the LSTA does not receive any state funding for non-mandated students.

In spite of this, for the past 10 years, LSTA together with Lakewood township has been able to provide busing to thousands of Lakewood non-mandated students at a deeply subsidized rate. This was accomplished through Township financial support and LSTA's transportation system.

For the coming 2026-27 school year, the State has significantly reduced its municipal aid funding for Lakewood Township. As a result, the subsidy that helped fund this program for the past decade has been eliminated. There will no longer be any subsidies for these students to allay the full cost of up to $1177 per seat on the bus.

Understandably, this will impact many Lakewood families. LSTA has been able to reduce the full price of the seat to $945 per child for the 2026-27 school year. The $232 reduction is not a continuation of the township's subsidy. Rather, this was made possible due to the size and density of the Lakewood transportation routing network, together with the efficiencies and marketable purchasing power created by the volume of Lakewood routes.

The $945 rate reflects the adjusted costs available for 2026–27. Future pricing will be determined based on the funding and resources available for each respective school year.

What This Means For You:

If you would like your child to remain on a bus, please log into your family portal at www.lakewoodsta.org and opt in by Monday, August 24 at 11:00 PM.

Because routes are awarded based on both AM and PM seat, consistent with LSTA's standard practice, opt-in transportation is available for round-trip service only.

Families who have already paid $385 will have that amount applied toward the $945 cost, leaving a $560 balance per student, payable in another three installments. (This will be automatically applied upon submission of your opt-in form.)

Families who opt out of transportation will receive a refund for the $385 previously paid.

For families who need assistance accessing the portal or completing the opt-in, kiosks at the LSTA office will be open today, Thursday August 20th until 6 pm, Friday August 21st 9 am until 1 pm and Monday August 24th from 10 am until 10 pm.

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 Monday deadline is necessary so LSTA can promptly adjust routes, follow State requirements for awarding transportation routes, and provide vendors with the time needed to prepare for service beginning September 1st.

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.

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.