Home Care In Lakewood, NJ

Jan. 14, 2026Updated Jan. 15, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET

LAKEWOOD – The state Department of Education has taken the first step toward a full takeover of the financially troubled Lakewood school district.

Officials announced Wednesday, Jan. 14, that the move is needed to counter “years of documented failures.”

The state announced today that it had filed an order to show cause against the school district as the initial step toward full state intervention in the district.

The move comes after the Asbury Park Press published dozens of stories documenting fiscal problems, a high-priced board attorney who was paid millions over a half dozen years, a lack of transparency on public matters and an attendance scheme designed to make it appear as if the high school had improved its chronic absenteeism problem dramatically, among other shortcomings by the district.

“This filing represents a significant and necessary action to address persistent deficiencies that have denied Lakewood students the thorough and efficient education guaranteed by the New Jersey Constitution,” the education department said in a statement.

Lakewood Superintendent Laura Winters and Board President Moshe Bender did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. No other board members were reachable, except Harriet Goldberg who declined comment.

“For more than a decade, the New Jersey Department of Education has been working with the Lakewood Township School District to address ongoing fiscal and operational concerns that impact students, staff, parents, and the entire Lakewood community,” Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer said in a statement. “For all of those impacted, most especially the students of Lakewood, we are obligated to intervene in this situation and provide the district with the necessary oversight to course correct.”

A joint statement by Assemblyman Avi Schnall, State Senator Robert Singer, Mayor Ray Coles and the Lakewood Township Committee issued Wednesday supported a state takeover.

“If the State of New Jersey believes that assuming a more direct role in Lakewood’s school district will finally lead to a sustainable, long-term solution to this structural problem, we welcome that effort,” the statement said. “We look forward to working collaboratively with the Department of Education and with incoming Governor Mikie Sherrill to resolve this issue once and for all.”

The state order to show cause “outlines the extensive and significant steps the NJDOE has taken to support the district,” the education department statement said. “These efforts have included financial assistance, logistical and administrative support, and educational resources.

“The NJDOE has also installed State monitors and provided tens of millions of dollars in state aid advances to help the district meet its immediate obligations; however, significant deficiencies persist, necessitating today’s filing.”

State loan request looms over budget

The state action comes at a time when Lakewood Schools are seeking to get out from under a $143 million state loan debt and years of financial issues, due in part to a lack of state aid, they contend.

Since the district received its first $4.5 million state loan in 2014, the school board has borrowed more than $280 million and still owes $143 million. The loans also sparked the need for the first of numerous state monitors, who have been appointed to oversee district control for more than 11 years.

Currently, four state monitors remain in power in the district today led by Louise Davis, the longest serving of the group.

In the past year, Davis has flexed her power by denying the reappointment of former school board attorney Michael Inzelbuch three times and overruling the board’s decision not to approve the current $303 million school budget.

The district had come under fire for years for paying Inzelbuch more than $7 million in fees since 2017, including more than $1 million annually for two straight years. He had also been allowed to charge $475 per hour and submit invoices that were deemed inadequate and insufficient by school board counsel experts.

Alcantara lawsuit cited in takeover move

The district has also been the subject of the 12-year-old Alcantara lawsuit filed by a group of parents against the Department of Education claiming state aid is not enough to properly run the district.

A state appeals court in September ruled against the plaintiffs and accused Lakewood school district officials and school board members of engaging in a “consistent pattern of neglect and misfeasance” and “deliberate indifference” in announcing their rejection of the claims that the district is entitled to more state aid.

State Superintendent Dehmer cited the Alcantara case and the court ruling in his announcement today of the potential state takeover, noting the court order “determined that Lakewood public school students ‘suffer from an ongoing constitutional deprivation’.”

The 19-page ruling by the three-judge panel of the state Superior Court Appellate Division upheld a 2024 decision by the Education Commissioner that the state aid formula was not to blame for the district’s financial issues.

In the decision, the appeals court upheld previous findings by the Education Commissioner’s Office in 2024 that Lakewood Schools did not need more state funding and, instead, should improve management and fiscal responsibility.

A 21-page Education Commissioner’s report responding to a court order in 2024 determined the district engaged in poor fiscal management of special education and transportation, as well as improper auditing practices, while also failing to tax residents enough to meet demands.

“The pervasive errors and questionable practices in Lakewood’s record-keeping result in the inefficient use of funds,” the April 2024 report, signed by Assistant Education Commissioner Cary Booker, said.

The Alcantara lawsuit was initially filed in 2014 by former Lakewood High School teacher and attorney Arthur Lang and Paul Tractenberg, founder of the Rutgers University Education Law Center.

In 2024, the education commissioner conducted another review and issued the decision that the funding formula was not the problem, claiming that the district needed to increase taxes and garner a larger portion of funding from taxpayers. It also accused the district of mismanagement.

Shortly before the commissioner’s 2024 decision, the state Department of Education conducted a review of the district that claimed Lakewood schools suffered from “a culture of low expectations” and “high levels of distrust,” and that important decisions are often made “behind closed doors.”

“Staff reported not feeling respected and fear retaliation from the administration if they speak out in a critical way,” the report from former State Education Commissioner Kimberly Markus said, in part. “Instances of unresponsiveness or unclear communication from the district contribute to a perception of inadequate support.”

The report, portions of which were obtained by the Asbury Park Press, was released March 1, 2024, to both parties in the Alcantara case.

Markus was appointed to conduct the district review by then-Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan after Allen-McMillan received the court order to formulate a plan to improve state aid to Lakewood.

Months later, an internal review by State Auditor David Kaschak determined that the Lakewood School District suffered from “severe fiscal distress” and would benefit from additional aid. He also suggested the state create a new funding category for the district.

A budget in deep trouble

While the appeals court ruling supported the education commissioner’s findings that the state aid formula was not to blame, it also noted that the district and the state need to work jointly to come up with solutions.

“While we conclude that Lakewood's failure to provide a thorough and efficient education for its public school students is not due, in significant part, to the (state aid formula), the search for an equitable, effective and efficient solution to the plight of these children must not end here,” the ruling stated, later adding, “For these reasons, we express measured optimism that (state and district officials) will navigate a timely path forward to guarantee and safeguard the right of all Lakewood schoolchildren to a thorough and efficient education.”

Four months into this school year, the Board of Education was still waiting for nearly half the district's operating budget of $303 million.

School leaders have yet to receive more than $137 million in revenue to fund its operations. The hefty gap includes about $37.5 million that the district hoped to receive from the sale of the Ella G. Clarke School.

The delayed funds represent nearly half of the school district’s operating budget, according to documents. Along with the expected $37.5 million Clarke School sale revenue, the district is also waiting for a requested $100 million state loan, which remains under review.

The board had actually voted against approving the $303 million spending plan in April 2025, which included the requested $100 million state loan and an estimated $37.5 million profit from the Clarke school sale.

Several board members criticized the reliance on yet another state loan, saying the district should demand better state funding and aid and not continue to seek loans that have surpassed $280 million since 2014.

Some members said that in recent years the board had not received the loan amounts it requested, noting that a $93 million loan request in 2023-2024 resulted in a loan of $50 million and a $104 million request last year resulted in a $65 million bailout.

“We have no indication from the state if they are going to give us a penny,” Fromer school board member Moshe Raitzik said at the time, adding that last year’s $65 million state loan was not received until March 2025, almost a full year after it was requested.

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 35 years’ experience who covers Lakewood, Jackson, and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of four books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at [email protected] and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter and TruthSocial at @joestrupp

In a stunning move, the state Department of Education has taken legal steps to seize control of the Lakewood public school system, citing years of documented operational and fiscal mismanagement.

The Murphy administration, with just days to go before Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill is inaugurated, filed on Wednesday an order to show cause, a legal document that outlines the state’s argument to take over the district.

The state argued that the district has denied students a “thorough and efficient education,” as mandated by the state’s constitution.

If the State Board of Education approves the move, it would suspend local control and the state could appoint a superintendent and school board that would have jurisdiction over spending, personnel and academics.

The takeover hearkens back to the state’s long – and mixed — history of seizing control in the state’s largest school districts, including Newark, Paterson and Jersey City. But the last such takeover was more than decade ago in Camden, with that state operation still ongoing.

Lakewood schools for the last decade have faced financial turmoil and rounds of legal battles with the state over the adequacy of its funding. A September court ruling found the Ocean County township’s struggles were due to poor fiscal management, failure to raise taxes, and transportation and special education spending issues.

“For more than a decade, the New Jersey Department of Education has been working with the Lakewood Township School District to address ongoing fiscal and operational concerns that impact students, staff, parents, and the entire Lakewood community,” said state Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer in announcing the move in a press release.

“For all of those impacted, most especially the students of Lakewood, we are obligated to intervene in this situation and provide the district with the necessary oversight to course correct.”

Lakewood schools will have a chance to respond to the state’s legal order before it goes to the state Board of Education. Lakewood would be the first non-urban school district in New Jersey to fall under state control if approved by the state board.

Camden’s school district is the only district currently under state control, with Newark, Paterson and Jersey City all returning to local control over the last 20 years. Each takeover lasted decades before returning to local control with elected school boards, and recent studies have found that state takeovers nationally have often become politicized and left little or no evidence of to show academic benefits.

Lakewood’s elected officials and school leaders have argued that its student population makes it unique and complicated — with more than 50,000 students who attend private schools in the township, virtually all of them Orthodox Jewish, while under 5,000 students are enrolled in its public school district.

Based on previous court documents, more than half of the district’s annual budget covers costs for transportation and special education tuition for those nonpublic students, as required under state and federal laws.

While state aid to the district is calculated based on the number of students that attend the public school district, the district is also required to pay for transportation and special education tuition for the private school students who live in town, putting an annual strain on the district’s budget.

“If the State of New Jersey believes that assuming a more direct role in Lakewood’s school district will finally lead to a sustainable, long-term solution to this structural problem, we welcome that effort,” wrote state Sen. Robert W. Singer (R-Ocean), Assemblyman Alexander Schnall, Mayor Raymond G. Coles and the Lakewood Township Committee in an emailed joint statement.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the Department of Education and with incoming Gov. Mikie Sherrill to resolve this issue once and for all,” the group of lawmakers said.

The Lakewood school district did not respond to requests for comment.

Paul Tractenberg, an attorney who has long-represented Lakewood public schools in legal filings, said it will “remain to be seen” whether the state’s move will lead to the satisfaction of the state’s constitutional mandate for students to receive a thorough and efficient education.

“Why would anyone expect that a generic statewide school funding formula would work for a unique district?” Tractenberg said in an email. “If the funding is inadequate under state control, there’s only one party to blame, and it won’t be the local school district.”

A veteran of the state’s school equity battles, Tractenberg also questioned how and why the crisis had come to this point.

“The question is why has the State gone nuclear now when it could have exercised its power and duty long ago in less extreme ways more consistent with local control,” he said.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration moved to take over Lakewood’s school district Wednesday, arguing that a slew of governance issues had deprived students there of the thorough education entitled to them by the state’s constitution.

In an order to show cause, the Department of Education said the township had failed to root out “pervasive, endemic educational and operational failures” first flagged more than 15 years ago and had continued to mismanage its resources at the cost of its students.

“For more than a decade, the New Jersey Department of Education has been working with the Lakewood Township School District to address ongoing fiscal and operational concerns that impact students, staff, parents, and the entire Lakewood community,” said Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer. “For all of those impacted, most especially the students of Lakewood, we are obligated to intervene.”

The bid for a state takeover was first reported by the New Jersey Globe.

Lakewood, home to about 142,000 residents, is perhaps the most unique school district in New Jersey. Only 4,112 students were enrolled in October 2024, according to state data, compared to more than 50,000 who attended private religious schools, called yeshivas.

As a result, the district has spent heavily on transportation, special education, and other aid to its non-public schools, and that spending has built massive deficits into the district’s budget over time.

The district’s budget for the 2025-2026 school year includes a loan of about $100 million from the state. That followed nearly $200 million in loans over the prior two school years.

Sen. Bob Singer (R-Ocean), a Lakewood resident who has represented the township in the Legislature for 40 years, acknowledged the district’s issues but said it is too early to determine whether a state takeover could resolve them.

“We realize there’s been problems with the schools. We realize there’s been a shortfall of money, and we have to wait and see what the state does when they take it over,” he told the New Jersey Monitor.

If the State Board of Education approves the takeover, the state would appoint a new superintendent and business administrator, along with other professionals to oversee governance, fiscal management, and operations, including services for non-public students.

The township’s elected school board would remain in place in an advisory capacity and would gain new members appointed by the education commissioner.

A state intervention plan released alongside Wednesday’s court filing calls for the district and department to draft an improvement plan for the commissioner’s approval within six months of the full state takeover, though the intervention is likely to last far longer.

The state’s intervention in Newark’s public school system lasted 25 years before full control was returned to local officials.

Some Lakewood residents have previously charged that the state’s school funding formula is responsible for the district’s funding woes, though an appeals court ruling denied those claims in September, finding mismanagement, a failure to raise local taxes, and heavy spending on transportation and special education were clearer causes.

The takeover’s timing — initiated just six days before Gov. Phil Murphy leaves office — raised some questions about continuity. Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, who takes office Tuesday, has not announced whether she will renominate Dehmer or replace him.

Singer said Dehmer told him this would be a yearlong process.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, and I’d like to have the continuity of knowing the person I’m dealing with is the person who can be there from the beginning to the end,” he said.

The state cited "years of documented failures" including transportation and special education costs it says were self-imposed by the BOE.

LAKEWOOD, NJ — The New Jersey Department of Education has moved to take over the Lakewood School District following "years of documented failures," the agency said.

The announcement comes after years of back-and-forth between the district and the state regarding financial issues and tens of millions in loans to Lakewood to support its school budgets.

The state filed an order to show cause on Wednesday, the first step toward full intervention in the district, which has had a state monitor since 2014.

"This filing represents a significant and necessary action to address persistent deficiencies that have denied Lakewood students the thorough and efficient education guaranteed by the New Jersey Constitution," state officials said.

An email seeking comment from Lakewood Superintendent Laura Winters, business administrator Kevin Campbell and school board president Moshe Bender was not answered as of 4 p.m.

The district, which had just over 4,200 students in the 2024-25 school year, and has accumulated $138 million in loans from the state to fund its budgets.

"For more than a decade, the New Jersey Department of Education has been working with the Lakewood Township School District to address ongoing fiscal and operational concerns that impact students, staff, parents, and the entire Lakewood community," said Kevin Dehmer, the state education commissioner. "For all of those impacted, most especially the students of Lakewood, we are obligated to intervene in this situation and provide the district with the necessary oversight to course correct."

The takeover filing follows an appellate court ruling in September that said Lakewood public school students “suffer from an ongoing constitutional deprivation,” the NJDOE said.

The court "identified the causes of that deprivation as a 'consistent pattern of neglect and misfeasance by various elected and appointed Lakewood school leaders with respect to critical governance, finance, curriculum, transportation and special education recommendations made by [the NJDOE] over the years.' "

The district now must argue before the courts why the state should not take over the district.

In the 638-page show cause filing, the state details a number of financial issues that it says the Lakewood Board of Education has failed to address, including transportation costs and special education costs, in spite of what it says were warnings as far back as 2009.

"Specifically, the Department recommended that Lakewood BOE reconsider its courtesy busing policy, which resulted in the District spending $4,000,000 in the 2008-2009 school year to bus private school students who did not live remote from the schools they attended," the state filing said.

"And because a significant portion of Lakewood’s budget was spent on out-of-district special education placements, which included transportation for those students, the Department recommended that Lakewood develop ways to educate more special education students in-district in order to curtail growing expenses," the state said.

Lakewood also "chose not to raiseits local tax levy to the statutorily permitted cap ... and, as a result, failed to tax up to its local fair share," which is the amount the state says is a district’s ability to contribute to its overall adequacy budget through through local property taxes, "and thus did not raise additional funds that could have been used to provide T&E."

The district had a budget surplus of $5 million in 2010, the state said, but between holding the tax levy flat and the spending on transportation and special education found itself with a deficit that has ballooned over time.

Many of the findings cited in the state filing come from a 2021 ruling by a state Administrative Law Judge on a lawsuit — referred to as the Alcantara lawsuit — filed in 2014 by parents of Lakewood students alleging the students were not receiving their constitutionally mandated thorough and efficient education because of the impacts of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008.

The judge ruled the issues were "the result of the Lakewood BOE’s severe fiscal mismanagement and Lakewood’s lack of effort to pass referenda for additional funding," the state filing said.

"The ALJ found that the District’s financial difficulties were attributable, in large part, to the extraordinary cost the District chooses to bear to pay for transportation for private school students and for tuition for special education students it places in out-of-district private schools," the filing said. In 2017-18, the Lakewood schools spent $78 million out of a total budget of $144 million on transportation and special education costs, it said.

The filing also cites a state review of the district that was undertaken following the 2021 administrative law judge's ruling in the Alcantara case that detailed what the state Department of Education said were critical failings and deficits across the board, from how the school board meetings were run to access to Spanish translations of basic information.

There was "a district-wide culture of low expectations for students," which the state says translated into student performance on state testing and graduation rates that were significantly below state averages. The teaching staff is overloaded and overwhelmed and are left feeling defeated and deflated, the filing said.

The district pushed back against the comprehensive review in a report posted on the district's website, but the district has been in conflict with the state for several months. The current state monitor, Louise Davis, rejected the school board's attempt to reappoint Michael Inzelbuch as its attorney for the 2025-26 school year.

Inzelbuch had a contract for $800,000 for the 2024-25 school year and had earned nearly $7 million since 2017, the Asbury Park Press reported. Inzelbuch also is well-known for representing the families of special education students throughout the state and winning significant settlements.

The full order to show cause can be read online.

The state also filed its plan for intervention, including wide-ranging changes to the administration and the conversion of the Lakewood school board to an advisory body, with no authority to make decisions.

It would appoint a new superintendent along with "highly skilled professionals (HSPs) in the areas of Governance and Legal Compliance, Special Education, Transportation and Operations,

Fiscal Management, and Nonpublic Student Services," to revamp the district's practices and policies.

The intervention plan is available online.

New data has confirmed what residents navigating Route 9 may have long suspected: Lakewood is officially home to the most populated ZIP code in the United States.

According to the latest rankings based on U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates, the 08701 ZIP code has secured the #1 spot nationwide, with more than 140,000 residents.

For comparison, the #2 spot on the list belongs to 92336 (Fontana, CA) with 103,393 residents—leaving Lakewood with a “lead” of tens of thousands more people over its closest “competitor.”

The Top 5 Most Populated ZIP Codes in the U.S.

While Lakewood’s 08701 ZIP code is the most populous in the nation, the town’s overall density tells a unique story when compared to New Jersey’s traditional urban giants.

Historically, Newark and Jersey City have traded blows for the title of the state’s most populous city, with both hovering around 300,000 to 317,000 residents. While Lakewood’s total township population is roughly half that of Newark, its density is rapidly catching up to major urban centers.

Currently, Lakewood has a density of approximately 9,500 to 9,800 people per square mile. While this is still lower than the “hyper-density” of Jersey City (over 17,000/sq mi) or Newark (over 12,000/sq mi), it far exceeds the New Jersey state average of 1,263 people per square mile.

Unlike Newark or Jersey City, which are designed as high-rise urban grids, Lakewood is a township transitioning from a suburban past. This shift has created a unique infrastructure strain. The data suggests that Lakewood is not just growing, but accelerating—while other high-population ZIP codes like 90650 (Norwalk, CA) saw their populations fall slightly, Lakewood’s growth remains persistent.

Experts note that these numbers are a double-edged sword. A population of 136,000 in a single ZIP code provides a massive consumer base for local retail and services. However, it also demands significant increases in public services, school funding, and traffic management.