The number of school-age children that will live in a given residential development is not a mystery. This is studied every several years by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) for the purposes of municipal planning.
Well, for municipalities that actually do any planning, anyway.
The quick national calculation, across all housing types, is 41 school-age children per 100 housing units. Multiply the number of apartments by 0.41, and you will arrive at a fair approximation, and therefore the enrollment impact on the local school district.
For rental units, the number is higher – 49.6 school-age children per 100 housing units.
Since you can’t have a fraction of a child, you don’t even need a calculator for this one. Divide the number of apartments in half, and you have your answer. 100 units will put 50 school-age children into the local schools, and so on.
The best part? These in-depth studies are based on U.S. Census data.
Sure, developers will try to counter with the Rutgers housing study, which is based on voluntary surveys given to apartment building owners and paid for by a coalition of pro-development entities to have you believe that families in high density housing don’t procreate. For the purposes of local debate, the NAHB studies are indisputable.
Meanwhile, developers are being given big tax breaks (PILOTs) at our expense by our own elected officials. PILOTs do not pay the school district its rightful share of the property tax revenue. 95% of that revenue gets diverted to the municipality, and the schools get nothing.
One child for every two apartments.
Now, multiply that by the annual cost to educate one child in the SPF school district – estimated to be $23,000 per child, every year – and it’s not hard to understand why our taxes continue to skyrocket. You pay for the students coming from residential developments each year, not the developer.
No matter what any developer’s witness or local elected official tells you, that is the factual, fiscal reality. That is the impact of overdevelopment in suburban New Jersey.
It’s time for developers to pay their fair share of the tax burden, like the rest of us.
For more detailed info, you can search the NAHB studies archive at the link below. Hope this information helps with your community advocacy efforts, no matter where you reside in NJ.