Cinnaminson Schools Among NJ's Most Equitable: Report

CINNAMINSON, NJ — Cinnaminson schools rank among the most equitable in New Jersey, according to a new analysis from WalletHub, released Wednesday.

The Cinnaminson Township School District ranked fourth out of 539 New Jersey districts in terms of equitable funding. The state, however, lags behind as a whole, with WalletHub determining that the state has the seventh-least equitable school districts overall.

Disparities within and among school districts received heightened attention during the pandemic and its aftermath. Test-score gaps between low-poverty and high-poverty districts grew substantially during school years impacted by COVID-19 closures, according to a Brookings Institution study that included data from 5.4 million U.S. students.

WalletHub determined school districts' equitability through two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per student. The Cinnaminson district has an average household income of $119,245 and spends $20,043 per student overall, according to the data.

In July, WalletHub ranked New Jersey's public schools as the third-best in the nation. But the state ranked seventh-worst on the website's national equitability rankings.

Funding disparities play a major role in equitability issues, according to WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez.

"To support underprivileged school districts during this difficult economic period," Gonzalez said, "we should make sure that all schools have the resources they need to provide a robust education in the coming year. Students have experienced a large amount of learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we cannot expect all parents to be able to afford resources to help their children catch up. That’s especially true during this period of high inflation."

View WalletHub's New Jersey rankings and national rankings.