NJ schools spending ranks 4th in nation
Report: State spends about $26K per student
By: David M. Zimmer
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... New Jersey ranked fourth in the nation for per-student public school spending, trailing only new York, the district of Columbia and Vermont, in a new U.S. census Bureau report.
.....
Released on May 1, [2025] the report based on data from the 2023 focal year shows student on education, more than 410,000 above the national average of $16,014. Only New York ($30,012), Washington D.C. ($31,629) and Vermont ($26,245) reported higher per-pupil spending.
.....
Instructional costs, the largest category (covering salaries, benefits and classroom expenses), the totaled $15,587 per student in New Jersey. That figure tailed only New York and Washington D.C., and far exceeded the national average of $9,762.
..... The 2023 Annual Survey of School Systems Finances detailed public schools revenue, spending, debt and assets across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The census report includes per-pupil spending figures and breaks down expenditures on instruction, transportation, salaries and benefits.
..... In what may come as no surprise to those who pay New Jersey property taxes, local revenue sources contributed the largest share of school funding, according to the census report. Local sources paid $14,401 per pupil, while federal funding chipped in another $42,205 for 2023, records show. the ratio of local and federal dollars was more than 6-5 and ranked the third highest in the nation. Instructional salaries in the Garden state totaled $7,976 per student, ranking sixth nationally behind Connecticut and Massachusetts, just ahead of Rhode Island and far ahead of Florida, Utah, Idaho and Oklahoma. The latter four all kept salary costs under $4,000 per pupil. employee benefit costs in New Jersey hit $5,530 per student, the second-highest total in the county behind only New York and more than double the national average of $2,633 per student.
.....
When it comes to administration costs, New Jersey landed closer to the middle of the pack, according to the report. The state's costs were $453 per student for general administration, placing it 12th nationwide. For school-level administration, however the state ranked seventh, at $1.178 oer student - still higher than the national average of $889, but far behind leaders Washington, D.C. ($2,166) and Vermont ($1,857).
..... Critics of New Jersey public school structure say that with more than 600 operating school districts - many serving a single municipality - the state faces higher-than-average costs to support local administrative staff and services. Still, the state managed to keep general administrative costs lower than many others with similar overall spending according to the report. bu contrast, the District of Columbia, which ranked first in total per-student spending, allocated more than 41,700 per-student administration and over $2,100 to school-level administration - more than double New Jersey's rates. New York, which has the second-highest total spending, also outpaced New Jersey in both categories, and supported a trend of high instructional investment seen in Northeastern states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut. Those states also reported high spending on salaries and benefits in classroom-focused roles.
..... At the lower end of the spending spectrum, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma and Arizona all reported total per-student spending of less than 411,300. Instructional costs in three of those states fell below $6,000, and administrative spending there was less than half of what New Jersey spent. Nationwide, the average per-student allocation for instructional salaries was $9,950. Only nine states and the District of Columbia reported spending over $7,000 in that category. New Jersey was one of them.
..... The report also looked at New Jersey's reported $7.9 billion in outstanding public school debt at the end of fiscal year 2023, which ranked 17th nationally. The state issued $1.27 billion in new debt and retired $613.8 million in old debt, reflecting a more aggressive borrowing approach, than nearby states such as Maryland, Virginia and Massachusetts.
..... Regionally, New Jersey's total debt was significantly lower than New York's $31.8 billion and Pennsylvania's $25.2 billion but far higher that Connecticut's $2.6 billion and Delaware's $1.4 billion.
.....
The state's $1.665 billion in school capital outlay spending also was mid-pack. It ranks 19th nationally and lagged behind its larger neighbors New York and Pennsylvania as will as smaller but faster growing states such as Arizona, Colorado and Washington.