Toms River private school students soar, works with Lakewood on busing
Toms River Regional has again joined Lakewood’s Student Transportation Authority to bus children to dozens of private schools in the 2026-2027 school year.
It is the third year Toms River has partnered with Lakewood to help transport a growing number of private school students. The nonprofit transportation authority serves Lakewood’s more than 50,000 private school students and will also bus frum students living in Toms River who attend schools in Lakewood or nearby. Much of Toms River’s private school growth has come from young frum families moving into neighborhoods close to Lakewood.
Over the past 10 years, the number of non-public schools attended by Toms River Regional students has risen from 30 to 185. Students transported to non-public schools increased from 702 to 3,516, a jump of 2,814 students or 401%, according to William J. Doering, the district’s business administrator and board secretary. The majority of those children attend schools in Lakewood, but the number also includes children who go to other nonpublic schools.
Doering said the district expects about 500 additional nonpublic school students in 2026-2027, though growth has begun to slow. State law requires districts to provide transportation to students living two or more miles from their private schools.
The agreement also helps parents who previously received a $1,177 per-pupil “aid in lieu” payment when no bus route was available and struggled to find contractors willing to provide service for that amount. Toms River Regional will pay that aid directly to LSTA.
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