Should Public School Districts Pay for Private School Busing?
The state requires public school districts to pay the transportation costs for students attending private and parochial schools.
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New Jersey public school districts have been paying to bus parochial and private school students for years.
A report in The Asbury Park Press puts the annual cost at $77 million a year for about 90,000 students of religious and other private schools, money that comes out of local budgets funded by property taxes.
According to the paper, districts are required "to spend up to $884 on transportation for each student attending a private school, be it on a school bus or a parent driving the child to class." The state is one of only a handful that pay for private-school busing, with 34 banning all public funding for private schooling.
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