New Jersey Parents Face Major Financial Blow After State Rules Children Were Enrolled Outside Their District
A New Jersey family must pay more than $41,000 in school tuition after state education officials ruled that their children attended Milltown schools while living in another town. The dispute lasted nearly two years and involved detailed residency claims, housing moves, and a delayed construction project.
The family relocated out of Milltown in late 2023 and settled in North Brunswick while waiting for extensive renovations on the children’s grandmother’s Milltown home, the state ruled. The parents said they had to move due to uncertain housing and financial hardship. They claimed that their children were homeless under state law, allowing them to attend Milltown schools without tuition during construction.
But state officials rejected that argument. An administrative law court decided that the parents failed to prove they were compelled to move or had a housing hardship. The judge noted that the family deliberately relocated into a larger North Brunswick home in November 2023 and carried all needed goods, contradicting their claims that they were locked out of their former flat and had no secure residence. The judge found the shift to be personal rather than emergency or economic.
The disagreement began when the family’s Clay Street apartment landlord alerted school officials that the children had moved out. When Milltown school administrators requested updated residency documents, the parents provided an affidavit indicating they lived in the grandmother’s Highland Drive house. The mother gave the North Brunswick address when questioned for their true address. Further study was needed due to that disparity.
The judge examined the family’s financial documents, construction plans, and move timeline. The parents sold their previous home in 2022 to join the grandma in a larger shared household after an addition was erected. When construction plans altered, the parents signed a contract in mid-2023 to reconstruct the grandmother’s home in six months. For about a year, the family lived in North Brunswick instead of Milltown throughout the renovation.
The judge found no proof that the family lived at Highland Drive before March 2025, when it acquired a temporary certificate of occupancy. That gap in residency and the state’s decision that the parents had enough money from the sale of their prior property led officials to declare that the children were not eligible to free Milltown schooling while they lived in North Brunswick.
Following all findings, the New Jersey education commissioner upheld the judge’s verdict, ordering the family to refund the district almost $41,500 in tuition. The district and parents—identified only by their initials in public documents—have not reacted on the decision.
New Jersey takes school residency laws seriously, especially when districts must pay for out-of-district children. It also shows the tight criteria families must achieve to claim homelessness as a rationale for keeping children in their original schools throughout housing transfers. For Milltown and state officials, the verdict emphasizes fair enrollment. It ends a long legal fight and begins a large financial obligation for the parents.
Sources:
New Jersey Department of Education
Administrative Law Judge Decision
Milltown School District Records
