By Assemblyman Alex Sauickie

Based on a lot of what I’ve written here, especially about school issues, it may be surprising to hear that there is some good news for Jackson coming from Trenton lately. But there is.

Last week, I mentioned the huge numbers of legislative bills flying around the State House these days. I explained that there’s normally a rush to get a lot of bills to the governor before the Legislature takes a summer break after passing the new state budget. I wrote that I would look through the many bills and report back if I found any that would provide meaningful, structural property tax relief in the near term.

I didn’t exactly find such a bill among the 159 scheduled for an Assembly vote as I write this (I expect there will be even more), but I did come across one I like so much that I testified in favor of it in early June. It would put in place a framework that I believe will help school districts like Jackson’s, and could lead to actual progress on property tax relief.

We all know that Jackson is having a population boom of kids attending nonpublic schools. The state requires that Jackson provide transportation to these students, or payments to their parents for transportation costs. The problem for Jackson property tax payers is that the state only pays for part of the costs, so all Jackson residents have to make up the difference. That difference becomes very stressful financially as the number of students needing transportation grows so quickly. To be clear here, the issue isn’t the nonpublic school students, it’s the unfunded state mandate. If the state mandates it, the state should pay for it, not property tax payers.

The bill I’m referring to would create a program in which nonpublic schools could organize among themselves to provide transportation to their students. These or- ganizations, called consortia (the plural of consortium), would be funded by the public school districts whose residents would be transported by the consortia.

The payments for each student would be of the same amount that a public school has to pay parents for transportation if it’s not provided by the school. That amount, for what’s called “aid in-lieu-of transportation,” is currently set at $1,022.

At the end of the school year, each consortium would refund to participating public school districts a part of the per-student payment they had made for any student who didn’t receive transportation for the entire school year. If any contributed money is left over, the consortium would have to refund it to participating school districts in proportion to their contributions.

Having this structure in place would create opportunities. Jackson could leave the planning and operation of nonpublic student transportation to the schools those students attend. Also, the busing of these students could become more efficient because Jackson won’t have to transport students to several different schools. Perhaps this will lead to those potential refunds.

If this sounds familiar, you may be a regular reader of my columns. It’s strikingly similar to the bill I introduced that would create a pilot program structured much the same way. My bill would allow Jackson, along with Lakewood, Toms River Regional, Brick, Manchester and Howell, to benefit from such a consortium of area nonpublic schools. The similarities extend to requirements for a state oversight committee and independent audits.

While I support the other bill and look forward to voting for it, I must note that it’s a step forward, but unfortunately not a full solution. A big difference between that bill and mine is that mine requires the state to finally step up and pay the full costs of its own transportation requirements. This would be a sure-fire benefit to Jackson property tax payers.

With so many bills scheduled for a vote, most legislators choose not to speak before the vote on any but the most important bills such as the state budget and others that are highly controversial. I plan to speak on this one, because it’s of great importance to Jackson that it move forward.

I also want to make a public statement to my colleagues about the need for the state to pay for its transportation mandate, and my commitment to work with anyone to advance that goal. I plan to introduce legislation to add state funding to the statewide consortium bill, and will work to get support for it.

Despite its shortcomings, it’s great news that the statewide bill will get a bipartisan vote, putting us on the road to real school transportation reform.

Alex Sauickie is a life-long Jackson resident who represents his home town and 13 other towns in the State Assembly. Follow him on Facebook (/AssemblymanAlex) and on Instagram (@AssemblymanAlex), or visit his website at AssemblymanAlex.com.

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Note: This opinion piece originally appeared in The Jackson Times by Jersey Shore Online in its publication dated July 8, 2023.