New Jersey Ranked 12th in Education
Adjusted Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
New Jersey has dropped its education achievement score ranking to a shocking number 12, making it impossible to justify our high property taxes as a guarantee of superior K-12 education. Even though our taxes are diverted in massive amounts from the suburbs into poor districts, these funds are still failing to increase the success rate of students according to the data. The connection between high taxes and top-tier schools is no longer a given.
School Rankings Released
A few days ago, the federal government released the 2024 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only nationwide measure of student achievement consistently reported for each state. However, comparing the direct NAEP scores across states can be misleading due to significant differences in student populations. For example, over 20% of children in Alabama and Mississippi live in poverty, compared to about 13% in New Jersey. Therefore, the Urban Institute created an adjusted score, accounting for the factors of gender, age, race/ethnicity, special education status, English language learner status, and free/reduced-price lunch eligibility.
To see the entire list from the image above, click HERE.
Wonky School Funding Formula
New Jersey's school funding formula, established under the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008, was meant to distribute state education aid based on student needs and district wealth. The formula considers factors like enrollment, special education needs, English language learners, and low-income students, aiming to provide "adequate" funding for every child. However, in practice, the formula has shifted funds away from many suburban districts to urban areas with historically underperforming schools.
Over time, adjustments and political decisions like the reallocation of aid, caps on funding increases, and changes in how property wealth is calculated have resulted in many high-tax suburban districts losing state aid despite growing student populations and rising costs. Meanwhile, struggling districts continue to receive large sums of aid, often without significant improvement in student outcomes. This frustrates suburban taxpayers, who see their education dollars redirected while their own schools face budget cuts, staff reductions, and higher local taxes to make up for lost state funding.
The funding formula is a "mysterious calculation" lacking transparency and fairness which tends to punish fiscally responsible towns while failing to ensure meaningful progress in underperforming districts.
Now we can see that the recent reallocation of funds has failed to keep New Jersey among the top three states for education. We continually dump money into these schools with no oversight.
When I was at Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey, I used to present on the school funding formula. When I shared the details of how it worked, people's jaws would drop. Scores of towns across the state literally get next to nothing back for the income tax dollars they send to Trenton which comprise the majority of that pile of cash. Meanwhile, the poor districts understand how to game the system. By signing up as many kids as possible for the free/reduced price lunches, for example, it will result in more dollars flowing into the district. Same if the kids indicate English is their second language. Highway robbery isn't strong enough to describe it.