NJ Schools Among Least 'Equitable;' These Districts Rank Worst: Report

NEW JERSEY — The Garden State has one of the nation's best school systems but also one of the least equitable, according to new analysis from WalletHub. Some New Jersey districts perform better than others in that regard.

New Jersey ranked third on WalletHub's recent list of top school systems, but the state also has the seventh-least equitable educational system in the United States, according to the site.

WalletHub first scored 12,876 school districts across the nation based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.

These New Jersey school districts are the most equitable, according to WalletHub (the list shows the school district's name, expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil, and then income by school district):

1. Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District, $19,800, $108,183
2. Bloomingdale School District, $21,938, $97,386
3. Mount Arlington Public School District, $22,417, $95,086
4. Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional High School District, $24,147, $87,528
5. Byram Township School District, $19,387, $109,457
6. South Plainfield School District, $19,522, $108,244
7. Hazlet Township Public School District, $20,559, $105,479
8. Gateway Regional High School District, $25,208, $80,632
9. Bloomsbury Borough School District, $26,945, $75,333
10. Great Meadows Regional School District, $23,017, $94,176

Out of 538 New Jersey school districts on the list, these 10 ranked as the least equitable:

1. Avalon School District, $56,919, $120,000
2. Mountain Lakes Public School District, $30,521, $225,208
3. Millburn Township School District, $20,993, $250,000
4. Essex Fells School District, $23,817, $215,104
5. Northern Valley Regional High School District, $38,839, $142,226
6. Saddle River School District, $33,091, $169,018
7. Alpine School District, $34,529, $161,346
8. Franklin Lakes School District, $30,772, $178,794
9. Mendham Township School District, $26,342, $197,950
10. Ho-Ho-Kus School District, $18,904, $230,682

WalletHub ranked Iowa first in terms of school equitability, while New York placed last. Red states held a better average ranking (17.44) than blue states (32.88), with designations based on how each state voted in the 2020 presidential election. Seven red states top the list, while red states occupied seven of the last eight spots.

The most important way to close gaps is through an equitable state-aid formula, according to Dr. Daniel Katz, Seton Hall University's former chair of Educational Studies.

"States like New Jersey and New York, for example," Katz said, "have funding mechanisms designed to increase aid to communities with higher need, and while there are many questions about how well those formulas work and whether or not the state fully finds their commitments, that principle has to be in the baseline."

But New Jersey's state-aid formula has been controversial. The funding formula comes from S2 — a law passed in 2018 that modified how the state determines to allocate its funding for each district. FY2023 would be the fifth of seven state budgets that S2 will impact.

Gov. Phil Murphy has defended S2, saying the funding formula had to change to address inequities within the state. But critics have pointed to the losses in state aid among many school districts, which has sometimes resulted in cuts.

However, fully addressing educational disparities may require significant changes, Katz says.

"We could, of course, decouple the majority of school funding from local property tax revenue and shift it to state and federal sources," Katz said, "but the political willpower for that has not been present."

View WalletHub's state rankings and the site's New Jersey school district rankings.