This Bergen County School District Spends Second Most Per Student In NJ: Report

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — After the state released its 2025 Taxpayer's Guide to Education Spending, a list of districts showed that North Wildwood spent the most per pupil of all individual cities' districts. And a Bergen County school district came in second.

The guide is meant to be “a straightforward, transparent look at how districts are investing their resources,” Kevin Dehmer, the state Commissioner of Education, said.

According to a database of the amounts and rankings published by Patch on Wednesday, the countywide special services districts spend the most, as they are addressing students who have special needs.

But for districts in individual towns, North Wildwood City, a K-8 district in Cape May County, spends an average of $47,001 per student, according to the chart.

A Bergen County district that serves K-6 students, the Saddle River School District, comes in second, spending an average of $41,165 per student.

Students in Saddle River can attend Ramsey High School or Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale for high school. The district pays Ramsey schools to educate their students in Ramsey's middle school.

Saddle River's district boasts that their small class sizes give students a "private school-like educational setting."

Factors that play into school costs can include payments to the state for staff pensions, legal costs, transportation, food property costs, maintenance, staff salaries, payments to other districts for services, and more, according to the state.

See Patch's database to find out where your school ranks here: This NJ School District Spends $47K Per Student

Patch Editor Karen Wall contributed to this report.