Lakewood schools are still waiting for $1.1 million in Title I funds, which Board of Education members say is needed now.

“The money is there, and it needs to go for instruction purposes in the classroom ASAP. There’s no reason to be a delay,” board member Meir Grunhut said. “Delaying it means our children aren’t going to be able to benefit.”

The board likely will discuss the issue Wednesday when it gathers for its first meeting of the year, Grunhut said. The district’s public schools, along with more than 30 private schools in the township, are eligible for Title I money. Lakewood is unusual in that private school students – mainly drawn from the Orthodox Jewish community – outnumber public school students by about 3 to 1.

Federal Title I funds help students in low-income areas with supplemental educational programming, such as hiring additional teaching assistants and purchasing extra text books.

But at the beginning of the school year, the district is required to hold 20 percent, or roughly $1.1 million, of its Title I funds in reserve for school choice and extra tutoring available to students in failing public schools.

Once those needs are addressed, money that is unused goes back to the district, which then distributes the funds to eligible schools. The process takes too long, board members say.

If the funds were released now, roughly 1,200 students – from both public and private schools – would benefit from the supplemental aid, district officials said.

A spokesman for the state Department of Education could not immediately respond Monday to questions about the release of the funds.

Normally, the set-aside Title I funds arrive in district coffers by spring, according to Schools Superintendent Edward Luick. If the funds aren’t fully utilized during the current year, they simply roll over to the next, he said.

But board members say those funds are earmarked for current students and should be distributed well before the end of the school year.

“This money rightfully belongs to the public and nonpublic students to use now for instructional purposes. Delay serves no one,” said Michael Inzelbuch, the school board attorney who also serves as the district’s special-education consultant. “Students should not have to wait for computer programs and technocrats to get what they deserve.”

APP