In New Jersey, public schools across the state are experiencing significant unmet facilities needs. These range from the need for new classrooms and buildings to alleviate overcrowding to health and safety concerns due to old and decrepit school buildings. These facilities challenges exist for all public schools – whether they are traditional district schools, magnet schools, public charter schools, renaissance schools, or vocational schools.
This report provides key information that will help policymakers understand the current educational landscape in our cities, as well as new data and estimates on the school facilities needs for public charter and renaissance schools. A survey conducted by the New Jersey Charter Schools Association (NJCSA) and JerseyCAN demonstrates that public charter and renaissance schools will need more than $900 million over the next decade to serve existing students and meet future enrollment demand. Of this $900 million, the unfunded facilities needs for public charter and renaissance schools in the state’s largest six SDA districts — Newark, Camden, Paterson, Jersey City, Trenton, and Plainfield — totals $820 million.
