“New Jersey is launching a statewide effort to strengthen its school funding system and ensure every student has access to the opportunities, resources, and support they need to succeed. Through a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process, NJDOE will work with families, educators, school leaders, legislators, advocates, and community partners to identify opportunities for improvement.”
– NJ Department of Education Statewide School Funding Outreach page
Key Insights:
- NJ’s state school funding formula is concerned primarily with allocating money to local school districts
- How that money is used is a primarily a local matter
- Community awareness, involvement, and advocacy matters. I’ve created a visual below to help spark curiosity and questions at the local level and encourage community to learn.
Why this Post
I recently watched the NJ DOE’s first teaching video (link here) about its funding formula. It is 39 minutes long and I thought it was really well done. What the video does well:
- Explains the formula basics
- Gives historical context and why the formula was created
- Gives good visuals to accompany a thoughtful breakdown
I am writing this series with local learner visuals to:
(1) Encourage more NJ residents and taxpayers to watch this video and learn. It’s an essential baseline. As of today, fewer than 1,000 views have been registered which strikes me as low in a state of 10+ million residents. Let’s increase this number.
(2) Share local perspective from Jersey City to help fill in gaps the video does not address. Jersey City is a case study on many fronts of what happens when the rubber of policy meets the road of politics and money.
Civic Visual: School Tax $ Per Municipality, 1998 – 2025 by County
I thought this first visual might help show the flux that can exist within a single county. It shows dollar change in the school tax levy from 1998 to 2025. Hudson is the default view and you’ll see: Jersey City sticks out. The upward curve starting in 2018 is the local reaction to the “S2” law (which I’ve written about extensively on Civic Parent but you can also read about online at places like NJ Spotlight).
What I’ve learned is: civic awareness and education is key. While I appreciate the state’s video and outreach, the real learning – in my experience – is hyper local as community members gather, dialogue, and have shared interests to learn. This visual is intended to help break into the data, yield some initial insights, and encourage that learning.
Pick your county using the filter on the left. If you have observations, questions, comments, leave them in the comments on this post.
Other References:
- Gross, Hannah. “State Steps in to Raise Property Taxes for Two Towns.” NJ Spotlight News, August 12, 2024. https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/08/nj-intervenes-adopts-higher-property-taxes-toms-river-jackson-school-budgets-funding-formula/.
- NJ Department of Community Affairs. “NJ Department of Community Affairs.” Accessed October 20, 2026. https://www.nj.gov/dca/dlgs/resources/Property_Tax_info.shtml.
- “NJ State Aid 101.” Accessed October 20, 2026. https://nj.gov/education/schoolfinance/schoolfunding/learningseries/stateaid_part1.shtml.
- NJ.com, Nyah Marshall |. “These 11 N.J. School Districts Are Facing Layoffs, Tax Hikes and Closures to Stay Afloat.” Nj, April 8, 2026. https://www.nj.com/education/2026/04/these-11-nj-school-districts-are-facing-layoffs-tax-hikes-and-closures-to-stay-afloat.html.
- O’Dea, Colleen. “What Happened NJ Property Taxes after School Aid Changed?” NJ Spotlight News, August 8, 2024. https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/08/analyzing-nj-property-tax-changes-after-state-changed-school-aid-formula/.
