Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week: Has the School Funding Reform Act Denied Lakewood Public School Students the Constitutionally-Required "Thorough and Efficient" Education?

On Tuesday, April 8, judges on Part D will hear oral argument in Alcantar v. Allen-McMillan, a case filed in 2014 in which the Appellate Division has ruled before, 475 N.J. Super. 56 (App. Div. 2023). This appeal follows on the Appellate Division’s prior ruling, unappealed by the State, that Lakewood students are being denied a thorough and efficient (“T&E”) education, as mandated by art. VIII, §4, ¶1 of the New Jersey Constitution.

The Appellate Division remanded the case to the Commissioner of the Department of Education to determine whether the School Funding Reform Act, N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-43 et seq. (“SFRA”), was the cause of the denial of T&E education in Lakewood. On remand, the Assistant Commissioner ruled that the failure to provide T&E did not “derive, in significant part, from the provisions of the SFRA.

In broad summary, appellants argue that inequities resulting from the SFRA brought about the denial of T&E to Lakewood students and that the SFRA should be declared unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood. Respondents counter that the “root cause” of the denial of T&E is Lakewood’s own policies and mismanagement.

The briefs on this appeal are available here. The livestream of the oral argument can be viewed here.

With the Appellate Division's Recess Over, The Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week is Another Waiver of Arbitration Case

On Tuesday, April 29, judges on Part F of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Newport Associates Development Co. v. Chubb Ins. Co. The appeal arises out of the denial by the Law Division of the motion of defendant AIG Specialty Insurance Company ("ASIC") to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claim for indemnity in connection with underlying litigation with Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. and Public Service Electric and Gas Company. The Law Division held that ASIC had waived its contractual right to demand arbitration....

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A Recess for the Appellate Division, and for This Blog

The Appellate Division is in a recess this week and next. No oral arguments will occur during that period....

On Tuesday, April 8, judges on Part D will hear oral argument in Alcantar v. Allen-McMillan, a case filed in 2014 in which the Appellate Division has ruled before, 475 N.J. Super. 56 (App. Div. 2023). This appeal follows on the Appellate Division's prior ruling, unappealed by the State...