Sources and assumptions
Where these numbers come from
Every dollar figure on this site traces back to the East Brunswick Public Schools 2024–2025 adopted operating budget. It is aggregate public data. It is not district per-student data, it was not produced by district staff, and none of it is an official district publication. What I'm showing is what a board can direct the superintendent and the business office to publish properly.
Sources
East Brunswick Public Schools 2024–2025 adopted operating budget
The $229 million total and the six spending categories come from the district's own budget presentation and user-friendly budget filing for the 2024–2025 school year. Board budget materials are posted with the meeting agendas.
www.ebnet.orgNJ Department of Education school finance filings
Every New Jersey district files a user-friendly budget and audited financials with the state. That is the check on anything here: if a category on this site is off, the state filing is what proves it.
www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/District enrollment and building counts
Roughly 8,100 students across 11 schools, from the district's published enrollment reporting. Enrollment moves a little every year, so per-student figures move with it.
www.ebnet.org
The budget lines as I've grouped them
The district reports dozens of account lines. I've grouped them into six categories so they fit in one chart. Grouping is a choice, so here it is in the open, summing to $229,000,000.
| Reported as | Amount |
|---|---|
| Regular Programs — InstructionTeachers in classrooms | $91,400,000 |
| Instructional Support ServicesCounselors, nurses & classroom aides | $37,800,000 |
| Special Education & Related ServicesSpecial Education programs | $34,300,000 |
| Employee Benefits & Fixed ChargesHealth insurance & pensions | $30,900,000 |
| Operations & Maintenance of PlantKeeping the buildings running | $18,200,000 |
| General & School AdministrationPrincipals & central office | $16,400,000 |
Assumptions, and why I made them
The calculator has to turn a district-wide total into a figure for one student. That takes assumptions. Here is every one of them.
- Students8,100
- Published district enrollment, rounded to the hundred. Dividing the operating budget by this gives the average per-student figure the calculator starts from.
- Households18,400
- Census household count for East Brunswick Township. Used only to translate a budget change into a typical household tax bill.
- Share of the budget raised locally68%
- The rest is state aid, federal aid, and other revenue. This is the fraction of any budget change that actually lands on local taxpayers rather than on Trenton.
- Share of a property tax bill that funds schools54%
- The remainder funds township and county government. Applied so a scenario shows the school portion of your bill, not the whole bill.
- Grade-level weighting0.88 / 0.98 / 1.15
- Elementary, middle, and high school don't cost the same. High school carries labs, electives, APs, and athletics; elementary carries larger homerooms and fewer specialists. These multipliers reflect the typical NJ spread, not an East Brunswick-specific study — the district has that data and I want them publishing it.
- Service add-on costsModeled averages
- Special education, ESL, busing, food service, and athletics add-ons are averages backed out of the matching budget line divided by roughly how many students use that service. An individual student's real cost can be far higher or lower — an out-of-district placement alone can exceed the whole average.
- Board-meeting slidersUnit costs
- Each slider uses a modeled cost per unit — per teacher, per aide, per route. Treat the direction and the order of magnitude as solid and the decimal places as rough.
If you find a number that's wrong
Tell me and I'll fix it, publicly, with the correction noted. Send it here.