Parsippany Spends $18.7K Per Student: How Does That Compare In NJ?

PARSIPPANY, NJ — School districts in New Jersey budgeted an average of $18,208 per student last school year. The Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District budgeted slightly more, according to data from the New Jersey Department of Education.

The figures come from the state's 2022 Taxpayers' Guide to Education, which shows the amounts that districts and schools have spent and budgeted per student. The guide also features information on what districts have spent or budgeted in specific categories, such as 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

Per-student spending in U.S. public schools depends on a range of factors, including property values, tax revenues, financial constraints and political conditions. So a higher dollar figure doesn't necessarily indicate that a school district spends too much or values its students more, and a low amount doesn't automatically imply stinginess or efficiency.

The figures primarily serve as a way to help the public understand educational spending in their community and the state.

"This guide can be a helpful first step in discussions that residents have with their local school officials about school-spending needs," said Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, the state's acting education commissioner.

The taxpayer's guide separates school districts into 11 different operating categories based on enrollment size, grades served and other classifications. Parsippany is in a group of 92 districts that serve grades K-12 and has more than 3,500 students.

Parsippany's budgeting of $18,712 per student last school year ranked 30th 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.

The stage average for K-12 schools was $17,959 per pupil, with a median of $17,883 per child. For all schools under the state education department's jurisdiction, the average budgetary cost per student totaled $18,208 — an increase of $1,385 (8.2 percent) increase from the 2020-21 school year. The state median for per-student budgeting in the 2021-22 school year was $18,326, which was $1,559 (9.3 percent) more than the prior school year.

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