TRENTON — Cape May County has some of the highest per pupil education costs in New Jersey, according to the 2010 Comparative Spending Guide released by the Department of Education on March 26.
New Jersey’s comparative average cost per pupil was $13,835 or 4.3 percent higher than last year’s figure of $13,539.
Excluding special services districts, Avalon School District had the highest total per-pupil cost, $35,882, of any district in the state. Sea Isle City finished just behind Avalon with a per-pupil cost of $33,821 and Stone Harbor was next at $25,693.
In the spending guide, school districts school districts of similar size are compared with each other. Of the 67 K-8 districts with less than 400 students, those three barrier island schools ranked 65th, 66th and 67th.
Other school districts in this county that ranked high in their respective categories included:
• K-6 districts — West Cape May, $24,117, ranked 61st out of 62 districts
• K-12 districts with up to 1,800 students — Wildwood, $19,227, ranked 45th out of 45 districts
• K-12 districts with 1,801-3,500 students — Ocean City, $17,264, ranked 66th out of 69 districts
• Special Services districts — Cape May County Special Services, $50,675, ranked 6th out of 8 districts
• Vocational districts — Cape May County Tech., $17,909, ranked 17th out of 21 districts
“The Department makes this guide available every year so that citizens can make informed decisions as school budgets are created, debated and voted upon at the local level,” Education Commissioner Brent Schundler said. “In this year of very limited resources, it is imperative that district officials and citizens closely examine the use of every education dollar.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
