Morristown Spends $18.9K Per Student: How Does That Compare In NJ?

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Last school year, school districts in New Jersey budgeted an average of $18,208 per student. According to New Jersey Department of Education data, the Morris School District budgeted a little more than that.

According to the data, Morristown spends $18,961 per pupil.

That figures come from the state's 2022 Taxpayers' Guide to Education, which shows the amounts spent and budgeted per student by districts and schools.

The guide also includes information on how much money districts have spent or budgeted for specific categories like supplies, salaries and benefits, lunch programs, and support services.

Patch organized the data by type of district/school and ranked them by how much they budgeted per pupil in the 2021-22 school year.

Read more: NJ Schools Spend $18K Per Student On Average: How Much Your Kid Gets

The taxpayer's guide separates school districts into 11 different operating categories based on enrollment size, grades served and other classifications. Morristown is in a group of 92 districts that serve grades K-8 and has more than 3,500 students.

Morristown's budgeting of $18,961 per student last school year ranked 23rd in the group. Teaneck Public Schools topped the category at $26,096 per pupil, while Edison Township Public Schools budgeted the least — $13,401 per student.

Property values, tax revenues, financial constraints, and political conditions all influence per-student spending in US public schools. So a higher dollar figure does not always imply that a school district spends too much or values its students more, and a lower figure does not always imply stinginess or efficiency.

The figures are primarily intended to assist the public in understanding educational spending in their community and state.

See the full 2022 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending, plus information on school spending from past years.

With reporting from Josh Bakan, Patch Staff