New Jersey Charter School Fiscal Analysis

Abstract

Using school aid data, as well as publicly available data from the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) and U.S. Department of Education, CEEP conducted a study analyzing the fiscal impact of New Jersey’s charter schools on traditional public schools. The analysis, which looked at the amount of funds transferred to charter schools as well as potential expenditure savings, focused on the following questions:

How much have districts paid to charter schools, and how have charter school enrollments affected revenues? What are the potential expenditure reductions of traditional public school districts as a result of charter school enrollments? What are the estimated net fiscal impacts of charter schools on traditional public school districts (overall and per pupil)? Supported by data from the 2014/15 school year, CEEP’s visualization focuses on the amount transferred to charter schools by each traditional school district. The full report considers potential expenditure savings and the net impact on traditional districts; details on methods are also included. CEEP’s study was commissioned by the New Jersey Education Association.