Enrollment
New Jersey's White and Hispanic Enrollment Shares Are 1.3 Points Apart
White students were 36.5% of New Jersey enrollment and Hispanic students were 35.2% in 2025-26, narrowing a once-wide gap.
New Jersey
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of New Jersey, grounded in New Jersey Department of Education data.
Lakewood's Public Schools Have Shrunk to 3,766 Students. The State Wants to Take Them Over.
Lakewood Township enrolled 3,766 public-school students in 2025-26, down 37.6% from its 2016 peak. NJ moved to take over the district in January, citing a structural fiscal mismatch with 50,000-plus yeshiva students.
Four Camden Operators Now Enroll 2,503 More Students Than the City District
Camden City School District fell 49.0% from 2010 to 2026, while four current operator districts enroll 9,099 students in the latest file.
Jersey City Has Drifted Down for a Decade While Newark Has Widened Its Lead
Jersey City Public Schools enrolled 27,464 students in 2010 and 25,307 in the fall 2025 file. The 7.9% slide is small in any one year, while Newark next door now enrolls 17,909 more students.
Lauren Thomas Starts With Listening as Cresskill Enrollment Rebounds
Cresskill's new superintendent puts listening, facilities and transitions first as enrollment rises from a recent low but remains below its peak.
More Coverage
District Spotlight
Paterson Public Schools Lost 16 Percent of Enrollment From 2023 to 2026
Paterson Public Schools enrolled 26,067 students in 2023 and 21,849 in 2026, a decline of 4,218 students, or 16.2 percent.
Equity
In Closter and Other Suburbs, a 40-Point Black-White Absence Chasm
Closter has NJ's largest Black-white chronic absenteeism gap at 39.9 points. Across 9 districts, gaps exceed 20 points.
District Spotlight
Four Shore Districts Stayed Above 30% Chronic Absence in 2024
Ocean Gate, Seaside Heights, Keansburg and Neptune City all remained above 30% chronic absenteeism in 2024 while New Jersey's statewide rate fell to 14.9%.
Equity
New Jersey's Attendance Equity Gap Closed on Paper, Not in Practice
The Black-white chronic absenteeism gap nearly doubled during COVID and has only partially recovered, leaving Black students 10 points behind.
Enrollment
New Jersey Public School Enrollment, 2025-26: The Data Release
NJ recently released 2025-26 enrollment data. Total enrollment fell 23,732 to 1,357,450, the largest single-year drop in 27 years of state files. K-12 down 24,564. Hispanic and English-learner counts each fell for the first time in over a decade.
Early Childhood
One in Three Pre-K Students in New Jersey Is Chronically Absent
NJ pre-K chronic absenteeism hit 29.7% in 2023-24, double the state average, even as the state expands universal preschool to 80,000 children.
Equity
Three in Five New Jersey Students Experiencing Homelessness Make It to Class. The Gap to Their Peers Hasn't Closed.
Students who are currently homeless miss school at nearly triple the state average, and the gap has widened since the pandemic despite statewide improvements.
Absence
South Jersey's Attendance Gap With the North Has Nearly Doubled Since the Pandemic
South Jersey districts average 15.6% chronic absenteeism vs 11.1% in the north, a 4.5 pp gap that was only 2.4 pp pre-COVID.
District Spotlight
Camden's Absenteeism Reversal
Nearly half of Camden students are chronically absent after a post-pandemic recovery stalled and reversed in 2024, widening the gap with New Jersey's statewide rate.
Absence
One in Five New Jersey Seniors Is Chronically Absent
Twelfth-grade chronic absenteeism averages 20.3% across NJ schools, 8.3 points higher than 3rd grade, but seniors have recovered faster from COVID than any other grade.
