The sudden explosion in Lakewood’s non-mandated school busing costs has understandably triggered anger across the community. Families who believed they would be paying $385 per child are now being told the cost will be $945 — an additional $560 per student, potentially amounting to thousands of dollars for a single family.

People have every right to be furious.

But they should be furious at the right people.

In recent days, some have attempted to pin the crisis on Assemblyman Avi Schnall, Lakewood Township Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein and other Lakewood elected officials. That makes for convenient WhatsApp outrage. It does not, however, match the facts.

The central fact is simple: elections have consequences.

Lakewood overwhelmingly backed Republican Jack Ciattarelli in last November’s gubernatorial election. The numbers were extraordinary: Ciattarelli received approximately 34,930 votes in Lakewood, compared with just 3,777 for Democrat Mikie Sherrill — more than nine votes for Ciattarelli for every one cast for Sherrill. Sherrill nevertheless won statewide and became governor.

And the Sherrill administration’s first budget brought major spending changes as it sought to cut nearly $2 billion from projected state spending. Lakewood was among the municipalities hit by reductions in state aid, and the resulting loss of municipal funding eliminated money that had helped make the non-mandated transportation system affordable.

That is the immediate reason Lakewood families are now staring at a $945 bill.

The LSTA says that for years, its transportation structure, together with municipal support, allowed thousands of students who are not legally entitled to state-funded transportation to receive busing at a heavily reduced cost. For the 2026-27 school year, the state significantly reduced municipal aid to Lakewood, leaving the Township without the subsidy that had helped support the program.

Without that subsidy, the economics changed overnight.

Under New Jersey law, these are non-mandated students. Elementary students living two miles or less from school and high-school students living 2.5 miles or less away are generally not legally entitled to state-funded nonpublic-school transportation. The state’s maximum transportation expenditure for eligible nonpublic students for 2026-27 is $1,177.

That distinction matters enormously.

There is no pot of money sitting in Lakewood Town Hall that Schnall, Lichtenstein or another local official can simply order transferred to the LSTA. The funding problem flows from state aid decisions and the resulting municipal budget constraints.

And attacking Avi Schnall in particular borders on the absurd.

Just weeks ago, Schnall sponsored legislation specifically aimed at finding more money for nonpublic-school transportation. His bill, approved by the Assembly by an overwhelming 78-1 vote, would redirect certain unused nonpublic-school nursing and security funds toward increasing future nonpublic transportation funding.

One can disagree with Schnall politically. One can criticize his votes, his strategy or his effectiveness. That is fair game for any elected official.

But blaming him for money eliminated through the state budget process while he is simultaneously sponsoring legislation designed to increase nonpublic transportation resources is not serious analysis.

Some of the loudest attacks appear to be coming from people who have had a longstanding personal axe to grind with Schnall. Personal grievances dressed up as journalism do not become facts merely because they are blasted onto WhatsApp.

The community deserves facts, not vendettas.

None of this makes the $945 charge acceptable or less painful. A family with four children requiring non-mandated transportation could suddenly face an additional $2,240 expense. Mosdos are now being urged to advise parents against opting into the program at the new price, raising the possibility of enormous transportation disruption when school begins.

There should be an all-hands effort to find emergency funding. Schnall, Lakewood’s Township Committee, state legislators, askanim and every available government contact should be pushing for a solution.

But demanding that officials fight for a solution is very different from falsely claiming that those officials created the problem.

Lakewood voters understood last November that the gubernatorial election mattered. They turned out in enormous numbers and overwhelmingly supported Ciattarelli. He lost statewide.

Mikie Sherrill won.

Her administration now controls the executive branch, and her first state budget changed the funding landscape upon which Lakewood had relied.

That is how elections work.

If Lakewood residents want to know why money that previously helped keep this transportation program affordable is no longer available, they should follow the funding trail instead of following angry WhatsApp posts.

Avi Schnall did not cut the state aid.

Meir Lichtenstein did not write Governor Sherrill’s budget.

Lakewood’s local elected officials did not suddenly decide that parents should pay $945 per child.

The community should demand that every elected official work relentlessly to fix this crisis. But accountability begins with identifying what actually happened.

Put the blame where the funding decision belongs: in Trenton, under Governor Mikie Sherrill’s administration.

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