How Segregated Is Your NJ School? See District Breakdown

NEW JERSEY - More than 130 of about 700 Garden State K-12 school districts are considered segregated with at least 80 percent of students of one race, and 41 school districts with at least 90 percent of students of one race, according to a Patch analysis.

The school districts span from Bergen to Cape May counties and consist of 103 majority-white schools, 15 majority-Black schools and 25 majority-Hispanic schools, according to 2022-23 enrollment data released by the New Jersey Department of Education. No school district in New Jersey reported a total Asian student population of over 73 percent or a Native American student population of over 2.1 percent.

The data is a decrease from 2019-2020 enrollment figures, which reported 153 majority-white schools, 17 majority-Black schools and 21 majority-Hispanic schools. But New Jersey's schools are still among the five most segregated in the U.S., Robert Kim, executive director of Newark’s Education Law Center, told NorthJersey.com last year.

"Leaving students in segregated school environments means leaving them in schools more likely characterized by weak, if not harsh, social bonds, limited learning opportunities, especially for high-level learning, and fewer human resources," reads a 2023 report from the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University on segregated schooling in the state. "If one wanted to design environments to increase achievement gaps, this is what they would look like."

Despite touting a more diverse student body than ever before, U.S. public schools are still highly segregated across racial and socioeconomic lines, according to a 2022 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, with over a third of U.S. students attending a majority same-race/ethnicity school in 2020-21.

"Because district boundaries often determine which school a student can attend, school district boundaries can contribute to continued division along racial/ethnic lines," the report reads.

The latest New Jersey data comes on the heels of an October court ruling that said the state hasn't corrected its racial segregation problem in public schools, in part due to the state's existing residency law, which assigns pupils to schools based on where they live.

Ruling in the 2018 lawsuit filed by NAACP and other organizations against the state Department of Education, Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy sided with the plaintiffs and noted the state's constitutional duty to amend existing school segregation.

The full lawsuit can be read here.

When asked about the latest enrollment data, New Jersey Department of Education said it does not comment on matters that involve pending litigation.

"Schools that we separate out on the basis of economic disadvantage are strongly racialized, averaging 70% minority students," the Rutgers report argues. "Much of this report will be an elaboration of the idea that what we call “segregation” is a euphemism for compounded educational need."

Here are the school districts with at least 90 percent of students of one race, according to state data:

White

• Medford Lakes School District (98.3 percent)
• Spring Lake Borough (97.4 percent)
• Port Republic School District (97.2 percent)
• Fair Haven School District (95.8 percent)
• Sea Girt Borough School District (94.7 percent)
• Brielle Boro School District (94.3 percent)
• Woodland Township School District (94.2 percent)
• The Lower Alloways Creek School District (93.2 percent)
• Rumson Borough School District (93 percent)
• Holland Township School District (92.7 percent)
• Dennis Township School District (92.6 percent)
• Stillwater Township School District (92.2 percent)
• Stone Harbor School District (91.8 percent)
• Upper Township School District (91.3 percent)
• Spring Lake Heights School District (90.6 percent)
• Margate City School District (90.5 percent)
• Little Silver Boro School District (90.4 percent)
• Monmouth Beach School District (90.3 percent)
• Stow Creek Township School District (90.2 percent)
• Bay Head Borough School District (90.2 percent)
• Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School District (90.1 percent)

Black

• Pride Academy Charter School District (94.6 percent)
• East Orange Community Charter School (94.2 percent)
• Great Oaks Legacy Charter School (93.4 percent)
• Burch Charter School Of Excellence (93 percent)
• The Village Charter School (92.5 percent)
• Link Community Charter School (91.7 percent)
• Discovery Charter School (91.4 percent)

Hispanic

• Paterson Charter School For Science And Technology (100 percent)
• Union City School District (94.8 percent)
• Maria L. Varisco-Rogers Charter School (94.4 percent)
• West New York School District (94.4 percent)
• Academy For Urban Leadership Charter School (94.1 percent)
• Passaic City School District (94.1 percent)
• Perth Amboy Public School District (93.8 percent)
• International Charter School Of Trenton (91.7 percent)
• New Brunswick School District (91.7 percent)
• Ocean Academy Charter School (90.9 percent)
• Guttenberg School District (90.8 percent)
• Dover Public School District (90.5 percent)
• Fairview Public School District (90.1 percent)

Here are the school districts with at least 80 percent of students of one race, according to state data:

White

• Harmony Township School District (89.8 percent)
• Avon Boro School District (89.7 percent)
• Point Pleasant Borough School District (89.4 percent)
• Frankford Township Consolidated School District (89.3 percent)
• Sandyston-Walpack Consolidated School District (89.2 percent)
• Downe Township School District (88.9 percent)
• Kittatinny Regional School District (88.3 percent)
• Pitman Boro School District (88.1 percent)
• Estell Manor School District (88.1 percent)
• Avalon School District (88 percent)
• Shrewsbury Borough School District (87.9 percent)
• Kingwood Township School District (87.7 percent)
• Lebanon Township School District (87.5 percent)
• Oceanport School District (87.5 percent)
• Upper Pittsgrove Twp School District (87.4 percent)
• Wenonah Boro School District (87.3 percent)
• Lavallette Borough School District (87.1 percent)
• Shamong Township School District (87.1 percent)
• Sussex-Wantage Regional School District (86.8 percent)
• Haddonfield School District (86.8 percent)
• Hampton Township School District (86.7 percent)
• Alexandria Township School District (86.1 percent)
• Southern Regional School District (86.1 percent)
• Long Beach Island Consolidated School District (86.1 percent)
• Alloway Twp School District (85.9 percent)
• High Point Regional High School District (85.5 percent)
• Knowlton Township School District (85.5 percent)
• Eagleswood Township School District (85.3 percent)
• Colts Neck Township School District (85.2 percent)
• Mendham Borough School District (85.1 percent)
• South Harrison Township School District (85 percent)
• Tabernacle Township School District (85 percent)
• White Township Consolidated School District (84.5 percent)
• Mendham Township School District (84.5 percent)
• Pequannock Township School District (84.3 percent)
• Wall Township Public School District (84.2 percent)
• North Warren Regional School District (84.2 percent)
• Island Heights School District (84 percent)
• Harding Township School District (83.9 percent)
• Audubon Public School District (83.8 percent)
• Manasquan School District (83.7 percent)
• Wyckoff Township Public School District (83.6 percent)
• Folsom Borough School District (83.5 percent)
• Hope Township School District (83.2 percent)
• Sussex County Technology Charter School (83.2 percent)
• Lacey Township School District (83 percent)
• Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District (82.8 percent)
• Fredon Township School District (82.7 percent)
• Green Township School District (82.6 percent)
• Medford Township School District (82.6 percent)
• Bethlehem Township School District (82.5 percent)
• Frelinghuysen Township School District (82.4 percent)
• Atlantic Highlands School District (82.4 percent)
• Henry Hudson Regional School District (82.4 percent)
• Blairstown Elementary Township School District (82.3 percent)
• North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District (82.2 percent)
• Point Pleasant Beach School District (82.2 percent)
• Harrison Township School District (82.1 percent)
• Stafford Township School District (82 percent)
• Middletown Township Public School District (81.9 percent)
• Beach Haven School District (81.9 percent)
• Northern Hills Academy School District (81.8 percent)
• Pinelands Regional School District (81.8 percent)
• Ocean City School District (81.8 percent)
• Springfield Township School District (81.7 percent)
• Delaware Valley Regional High School District (81.6 percent)
• Plumsted Township School District (81.6 percent)
• Verona Public School District (81.6 percent)
• Byram Township School District (81.5 percent)
• Upper Freehold Regional School District (81.5 percent)
• Union Township School District (81.4 percent)
• Shore Regional High School District (81.4 percent)
• Tewksbury Township School District (81.3 percent)
• Linwood City School District (81.2 percent)
• West Essex Regional School District (81.1 percent)
• Riverton School District (80.9 percent)
• Sussex County Technical School District (80.6 percent)
• Belvidere School District (80.6 percent)
• Clearview Regional High School District (80.4 percent)
• Ogdensburg Borough School District (80.4 percent)
• Oxford Township School District (80.3 percent)
• Milford Borough School District (80 percent)

Black

• Phillip's Academy Charter School (88.4 percent)
• Benjamin Banneker Preparatory Charter School (85.2 percent)
• Marion P. Thomas Charter School (85.1 percent)
• Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School (83.4 percent)
• Achieve Community Charter School (82.7 percent)
• East Orange School District (82.3 percent)
• New Horizons Community Charter School (81.6 percent)
• North Star Academy Charter School (80.8 percent)

Hispanic

• Greater Brunswick Charter School (89.6 percent)
• North Bergen School District (89.2 percent)
• East Newark School District (89 percent)
• Northern Region Educational Services Commission (87.9 percent)
• Lakewood Township School District (87.3 percent)
• Camden's Promise Charter School (85.8 percent)
• Passaic Arts And Science Charter School (83.4 percent)
• Red Bank Borough Public School District (82.9 percent)
• Achievers Early College Prep Charter School (81.6 percent)
• Plainfield Public School District (81.4 percent)
• John P Holland Charter School School District (81 percent)
• Freehold Borough School District (80.2 percent)

See the full district breakdown below: