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The basics:

• Teach NJ director cites study estimating nonpublic schools saved NJ districts $2.92B
• About 160K students attend nonpublic schools statewide
• Column urges greater support for security, STEM programs

Gov. Mikie Sherrill has made affordability and accountability the central theme of her first budget, and rightly so. New Jersey carries the nation’s highest property taxes, and school costs are a major driver. Against that backdrop, one of the state’s most effective tools for managing those costs continues to receive surprisingly little attention: nonpublic schools.

A newly released study from Teach Coalition’s Research Institute found that New Jersey’s nonpublic schools generated an estimated $2.92 billion in savings to public school districts during the 2022–2023 school year alone. The study used a conservative methodology that excluded major fixed costs, such as facilities and administration.

About 160,000 children attend nonpublic schools across the state. In doing so, they help ease enrollment pressures on public school systems and reduce education costs borne by local districts and taxpayers. That $2.92 billion contribution is equivalent to roughly 7.2% of what public districts currently spend statewide, and the figure doesn’t account for facilities, administration, or the long-term infrastructure costs borne by the public system.

Strengthening nonpublic schools

The warning signs are already visible. A decade ago, New Jersey had 238 Catholic schools serving roughly 71,000 students. Today, that number has fallen to 183 schools serving about 49,000 students, a decline of nearly one-third.

Those students do not disappear. They transition into public school systems that must absorb additional enrollment, staffing needs, classroom space and support services. The result is an estimated additional $1 billion in annual public education costs, even before accounting for facilities and long-term infrastructure.

Strong public schools are essential to New Jersey’s future and educate the overwhelming majority of children across the state, and nonpublic schools complement that system and ease the load on districts.

New Jersey has made important progress in recognizing that partnership. Investments in school security, support and ancillary services, as well as the state’s STEM reimbursement program, have helped ensure that nonpublic school students receive critical services. Compared to the billions in annual savings nonpublic schools provide, those investments remain relatively modest.

Yet support for nonpublic schools is still too often treated as politically contentious rather than fiscally practical. That framing ignores a basic fiscal reality: when nonpublic schools remain strong, New Jersey’s public systems face less financial and operational strain.

The cost of security

Start with school security. Under the current funding formula, public schools receive more than $307 per pupil in state security funding while nonpublic schools receive $205 per pupil, a gap that has widened even as threats against faith communities have intensified. Antisemitic incidents in New Jersey have surged, and average security costs at Jewish schools have more than doubled from $175,000 to over $400,000 annually. The [recent] deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, home to a school and mosque, underscored the urgency of these threats. A security guard and two men were killed, and five nearby schools were sent into lockdown, a stark reminder of how quickly violence targeting faith communities can engulf entire school environments.

Another high-value investment is New Jersey’s STEM reimbursement program, a first-in-the-nation public-private partnership that expands access to certified STEM teachers across nonpublic schools. It helps ease teacher shortages, strengthens instruction, offers public school teachers additional compensation opportunities and educates thousands of students at a fraction of what the state would otherwise spend. Fully funding it for the coming school year is exactly the kind of low-cost, high-return decision responsible budget management looks like.

In a state searching for ways to control rising costs without compromising educational quality, and to deliver the kind of fiscal discipline the Governor herself has called for, preserving a strong nonpublic school sector is not charity or politics. It is prudent fiscal policy.

Katie Katz is executive director of Teach NJ. The organization is a a division of the Teach Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for equitable funding for nonpublic schools.