ISSUE: Nonpublic school transportation continues to be problematic for many students with the result being that parents receive aid-in-lieu payments instead of transportation. For parents, aid-in-lieu does not help in getting their children to and from a nonpublic school because many parents have no alternative other than busing. Our parents are at the mercy of private bus contractors who provide over 85% of nonpublic transportation. We recognize that the shortage of bus drivers has contributed immensely to this problem, but an increase in gas prices has made it difficult for parents to transport their children to school.
OUR
POSITION: The New Jersey Catholic Conference, the New Jersey Network of Catholic School Families, and supporters fully support an increase in the statutory ceiling of $1,000 per pupil for transportation. The increase should at least be to $1,300 per pupil in order to have transportation routes run for our students. The ceiling for the 2022-2023 school year was increased by a mere $22.00 per pupil, but hardly enough to cover the bids on the routes by private companies.
ACTION: Call, write or email the Office of Governor Phil Murphy and ask for the requested increase to $1,300. See Talking Points on Nonpublic School Transportation enclosed with this Alert.
Mailing Address The Honorable Phil Murphy
Governor of the State of New Jersey
The State House
P.O. Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625
Phone: (609) 292-6000
Email: https://nj.gov/governor/contact/all/
You can also contact Governor Murphy through the NJCC Voter Voice System
https://www.votervoice.net/NJCC/Campaigns/99885/Respond