Cape May County has 13 operational municipal public school districts, one regional district and two county districts. The county’s top per-student spending district, North Wildwood, reports per-student budgeted expense for the 2023-2024 school year that is 193% higher than that of the district with the lowest per-student expense, Middle Township.
Many factors influence the highs and lows in per-student expense, not least of which are district size and configuration, but what is also a factor is the mix of wealth and population. Even when controlling for grades offered and student population, the county still has some of the highest per-pupil budgeted amounts in the state.
A wide range of comparative data is published annually in the New Jersey Guide to Education Spending. The numbers in this story come from the 2023-2024 edition.
The state has 11 categories for district configurations. Two of those categories, K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students and charter schools, have no representation within Cape May County.
In the category of K-6 districts, the report provides total budgetary expense per student for a total of 58 schools. A ranking of 1 means the district has the lowest amount of per-pupil expense in the category, and a ranking of 58 would mean the district’s per-pupil expense was the highest in that category statewide.
In that K-6 category, Cape May County has the Cape May City district, ranked 52 of 58 with a per-pupil amount of $28,381. The West Cape May district ranked 51 with $27,774, and the Lower Township Elementary district ranked 16 with $18,033.
In the category of K-8 districts with 400 or fewer students, Cape May County has five districts out of 76 statewide. Here the county has the distinction of the highest and the lowest per-pupil amounts in the category.
The North Wildwood district ranks 76 out of 76, with a state high $46,209 per pupil. At the other end of the continuum, the Woodbine Borough district has the lowest per-pupil cost in the category at $16,259. Woodbine’s state-lowest per-pupil amount is just 35% of what is budgeted in North Wildwood.
Also in the category are the Avalon, Stone Harbor and Wildwood Crest districts. Avalon ranks 70 with a per-pupil cost of $33,512, Stone Harbor is ranked 58 with $$26,217, and Wildwood Crest is 74 with $37,676.
Still in the K-8 category, there are 64 districts in the state that have more than 400 students but fewer than 750. The Dennis Township district is the only county district in this group, ranked 9 out of 64 with a per-pupil cost of $17,116.
Among the 76 state K-8 districts that have more than 750 students is the Upper Township district, ranked 11 at $17,572.
When it comes to K-12 districts, the county has school systems that fit into two of the state’s three categories. Among K-12 districts with 1,800 or fewer students, Wildwood is ranked 32 out of 50. The per-pupil amount is listed at $20,591.
For K-12 districts with more than 1,800 students but fewer than 3,500, the county has the Middle Township and Ocean City districts.
Middle Township is ranked 1 out of 74 districts statewide, with the lowest per-pupil amount in the category at $15,779. Ocean City comes in ranked 71 out of 74, one of the highest per-pupil amounts in the state. Ocean City’s per-pupil cost is $23,238.
The county’s only regional school district, Lower Cape May Regional, has a mid-pack ranking of 23 out of 46 districts in the state that offer grades 7 to 12. Its per-pupil amount is $21,833.
The two county districts are the special services district and the vocational district.
The state report lists only seven special services districts in New Jersey, of which the county district is ranked 3. The district’s per-pupil amount is $57,910. Special services districts’ costs are generally significantly higher than those of other districts.
The vocational district comes in 17 out of the state’s 21 county vocational school districts with a per-pupil amount of $23,941.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
