Lakewood, NJ - School District Gets Out Of Trouble

Lakewood, NJ - The Lakewood Board of Education came under fire six weeks ago when a consultant hired to review how well the district spends federal money meant for private school students reported that Lakewood administrators appeared to have violated federal law when allocating more than $1 million to public school coffers.

But now, the state is saying that's not true. In a letter to Superintendent Edward W. Luick, officials for the state Department of Education said "there are no substantive audit findings that would result in a recovery of Title I funds.''

Luick, said the findings are proof the oft-maligned district acted appropriately with its Title I program. Title I refers to money that is funded based on the number of low-income students in a given area. "It says what we have done is we've acted appropriately,'' Luick said. "It did note that maybe we can work to refine the process, which is what we have been doing.''

Luick thanked state officials, who he said worked with the district to determine whether Lakewood misspent any money.