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Essex County · New Jersey

Newark, NJ public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Newark Public School District — federal education data, not a star rating.

Yellow public school bus parked at dusk, illustrating local school district data

Quick answer

Newark Public School District is the primary public district for Newark, NJ. It enrolls 41,672 students in 63 schools with 2,849 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $32,694 per pupil, 89% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
41,672NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
63Operating school count
Students per teacher
14.6Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$32,694Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Newark

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
12.2%
$160,699,000
State revenue
80.4%
$1,057,525,000
Federal revenue
7.4%
$97,340,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Newark property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 36 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Newark numbers

What the 2021-22 NCES and FY2020 Census finance numbers say about this district.

$32,694 per pupil puts this district in the top spending tier of the metros tracked here — 89% above the $17,320 median and higher than 95% of them. Only 36 cents of each dollar ($11,721 per student) is classified as instruction, so a large share goes to support services, facilities and transport — common in districts with long bus routes or older buildings.

The state carries this district: 80.4% of revenue arrives from NJ state aid and only 12.2% is raised locally. Budget swings here follow state formula changes, not local property values. Federal aid is a small 7.4% of the total, so national funding changes have limited effect on this budget.

41,672 students across 63 schools averages 661 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 14.6:1 student-to-teacher ratio is ordinary for this set of districts (median 15.2:1). It counts all FTE teachers district-wide, so actual class sizes run higher.

Worth flagging: with state aid at 80.4% of revenue, comparisons to districts in other states say more about NJ's funding formula than about Newark itself.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Newark Public School District (LEAID 3411340) as one unit, not any single school in Newark. Independently authorised charter schools, private schools and regional vocational programs are counted separately by NCES and are not in these totals. Enrollment is the 2021-22 NCES collection; dollars are the FY2020 Census F-33 survey, the latest complete national release. The two years differ, so per-pupil spending is a stable indicator rather than a live budget line.

Other Newark datasets on this site.

Statewide: New Jersey cities · New Jersey ZIP codes · New Jersey sales tax · New Jersey counties

Source: NCES Common Core of Data + Census F-33, via Urban Institute Education Data · rates as published for 2021-22 / FY2020

NCES LEAID 3411340. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.