ZD: No, they cannot increase local property/school taxes in NYS (outside NYC) or in NJ unless it is approved by voter’s in a referendum.
Also, if courtesy busing is taken away from private school (i.e. Yeshiva) students, then courtesy busing will also be taken away from public school students. Non-mandatory busing for public school students living more than 2-3 miles (or whatever the mileage) from the public school is also a courtesy and also can be lost.
And, you should note, that a much larger percentage of public school students receive non-mandatory courtesy busing than the percentage of private/yeshiva students who receive courtesy busing. This is because public school students, as a result of school zoning, are much more likely to live close to their school than private school students, who can choose any private school and most of the time (by far) it is further away and thus mandatory.
Think about that last point. The public school parents will be in an uproar once they lose courtesy busing and almost half of the public school parents will have to newly arrange themselves to get their children to public school and back home.
And the Lakewood monitor, when threatening to end courtesy busing, includes ending courtesy busing for public schools in his proposal.