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Impact Of Immigration On Schools In New Jersey’s

Between 1990 and 2000, New Jersey’s elementary and high school enrollment increased 21 percent—a rate even the state Department of Education did not predict. Concerns over crowded classrooms, a shortage of adequate staff, and steeper property tax bills are mounting.25

In 1998, the state Department of Education predicted that enrollment would peak during the 2003-4 school years with 1.2 million students and that by 2007, that number would drop to about 1.1 million. “Obviously we’re dramatically above those numbers now,” said Rich Vespucci, a spokesman for the department. “Those projections are not holding. It’s going up 20,000 to 30,000 students a year.”

The biggest factor in underestimating the upswing was immigration.26 One-fifth of school-aged children in New Jersey have immigrant parents. Six percent are foreign-born themselves.27 In Bloomingdale, the district is unable to accommodate all the students in need of bus transportation to school. More than two dozen students have been told they will need to provide their own transportation, as school buses are overcrowded.28 In Greenwich Township, in Warren County, an area that is quickly being transformed from a rural area into a suburb, the school population is growing so rapidly that a week after a new school opened in 2001, ground was broken on an addition that would double its size.29 In Wayne, some classes are being held in the cafeteria and stage area. “It’s very hard to say when the growth is going to stop,” said Superintendent Richard Linkh. “We simply need more schools.”30

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