7. Schools

This section reports what the New Jersey Department of Education and the Ridgewood Board of Education publish about the Ridgewood Public Schools. It does not reproduce any consumer rating. Every figure carries a bracketed citation to the Source list at the end of the section. Where a figure has moved the wrong way year over year, it is stated as such.

District profile

Ridgewood Public Schools (NJ DOE district code 03-4390) operates ten schools: Glen School (pre-kindergarten and district special programs), six K-5 elementary schools (Hawes, Orchard, Ridge, Somerville, Travell, Willard), two grade 6-8 middle schools (Benjamin Franklin and George Washington), and Ridgewood High School (grades 9-12). [1][2]

As of October 15, 2025, the district reported 5,361 students on roll in its budget filing (4,794 general education, 567 special education), plus 117 students received from other districts on a tuition basis. [3] The district’s audited average daily enrollment for 2024-25 was 5,412. [4]

Student population, 2023-24: 2.3% economically disadvantaged, 12.2% students with disabilities, 2.2% multilingual learners. [1]

Enrollment: seven consecutive years of decline

Average daily enrollment, from the district’s audited financial statements: [4]

From the 2019-20 peak, enrollment is down 282 students, or 5.0%. The budget filing for 2026-27 projects 5,383 on roll for October 2026. [3] The audit reports an October 15, 2025 count of 5,433, 56 fewer than October 2024. [4] The two October 2025 figures (5,361 on roll in the budget filing versus 5,433 in the audit) use different counting bases; both are reproduced here as published.

Enrollment by school: [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

2021-22 through 2023-24 from NJ DOE School Performance Reports; 2024-25 from NJ DOE fall enrollment as reported through NCES. The 2024-25 column sums to 5,419. [14]

Travell has lost one student in six since 2021-22. Its 2023-24 kindergarten class was 36, against 50 and 56 in the two prior years. [10] Benjamin Franklin has lost 72 students over the same period while George Washington has been flat, which is relevant to the boundary discussion below.

Per-pupil spending: lowest of the six neighboring districts, and below the state average

NJ DOE’s Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending defines the Total Budgetary Cost Per Pupil as the comparable operating cost, excluding transportation, debt service, and out-of-district tuition. [15] The figures below are the audited actuals and adopted budgets as filed in each district’s 2026-27 User Friendly Budget. [3][16][17][18][19][20]

State average from the NJ DOE release accompanying the 2025 Taxpayers’ Guide; the 2024-25 state figure is a budgeted amount, not an audited actual. Comparators are as published in each district’s filing. [21]

Ridgewood spends the least per pupil of the six districts in every year shown, and spent 3.3% less than the state average in 2023-24. The 2023-24 Taxpayers’ Guide figures for Ridgewood, from the same source, are a ratio of 12.2 students per teacher, a median teacher salary of $97,767, 67.8 students per support staff member, and 171.6 students per administrator. [22] The 2024-25 budgeted figures were 12.1 students per teacher and a median teacher salary of $96,627. [23]

Employee benefits as a percentage of salaries rose in every year filed: 21.32% (2023-24), 23.24% (2024-25), 26.48% (2025-26 revised), 29.52% (2026-27 budget). [3] That is the line to watch; it grows regardless of enrollment.

Class size and staffing

NJ DOE does not publish class size. It publishes staffing ratios. [1][2][5]-[13]

2023-24 School Performance Reports. Middle school ratios are computed from the published teacher and administrator counts (60 teachers and 3 administrators at each school). Each elementary school reports one administrator. [5]-[12]

Teacher one-year retention, district-wide: 91.8% of teachers assigned in 2022-23 remained in 2023-24. [7][8][9][10][11] Provisional credentials: 12.5% of Somerville teachers, 8.3% at George Washington, 3.6% at Travell, 0% elsewhere. [8][10][12]

Class size by school and grade: not available at the time of writing.† ### NJSLA proficiency, 2023-24

Percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations. District-wide: ELA 82.8% (state 52.2%), mathematics 69.4% (state 40.2%). Median student growth percentile 54 in both subjects (state 50). [1]

Willard’s report shows schoolwide ELA of 82.3% and math of 80.6%; grade-level ELA figures were not extracted. [5]-[10]

Grade 8 mathematics is suppressed at both middle schools because most eighth graders sit the Algebra I test instead. District Algebra I proficiency was 65%; Geometry was 38%; grade 11 science was 51% (state 28%). [1] At Ridgewood High School, grade 9 ELA was 84% and Algebra I was 59%. [13]

The spread between the two middle schools is 13 points in grade 8 science and 9 points in grade 8 ELA. The spread among elementaries in grade 3 ELA is 13 points (Ridge 71% to Orchard 84%). These are single-year figures from cohorts of 55 to 95 students per grade; a one-year gap of this size is within normal cohort variation and should not be read as a ranking. [5]-[12]

Chronic absenteeism

Percent of students absent 10% or more of enrolled days: [5]-[12]

Six of eight schools worsened in 2022-23 before improving in 2023-24. Ridgewood High School and district-wide figures: not available at the time of writing.† ### Graduation and postsecondary

Ridgewood High School, adjusted cohort graduation rates (state figures in parentheses): [13]

The five-year rate declined in each of the three cohorts shown. Dropout rate: 0.7% (2021-22), 0.3% (2022-23), 0.1% (2023-24). [13]

Postsecondary enrollment 16 months after graduation: not available at the time of writing.† ### Advanced coursework and testing

Of grade 11-12 students, 56.1% were enrolled in at least one AP or IB course in 2023-24 (state 35.9%), down from 57.6% in 2022-23. [1][13][24] Students sat 1,147 AP exams; 1,072 (93.5%) scored 3 or higher. [13] The largest AP enrollments were Computer Science Principles (127), Psychology (99), Physics 1 (82), Statistics (65) and Calculus AB (64). [13] Seventy-five students earned the Seal of Biliteracy. [13]

SAT: 61.3% of seniors participated; averages of 632 reading/writing and 633 math (state 530 and 519). PSAT participation in grades 10-11 was 47.4%, against a state figure of 80.7%. [1][13] The report prints a dual enrollment participation rate of 75.9% (state 26.9%); this is reproduced as printed.†

Attendance boundaries

The district assigns elementary and middle school by home address. School locations, from the state’s reports: [5]-[13]

The street-by-street assignment list and the elementary-to-middle-school feeder pattern: not available at the time of writing.† Whether any boundary has been redrawn since 2020: not available at the time of writing.† The enrollment table above is the reason this matters. Benjamin Franklin has fallen from 699 to 627 while George Washington has held at roughly 640; Travell has fallen from 354 to 295 while Somerville has grown. Uneven decline across buildings of similar capacity is the condition under which districts revisit lines. No such decision is documented in the sources reviewed; a buyer choosing a house for a specific elementary school should confirm the current assignment with the Registrar before contract, and should treat it as an assignment, not a guarantee.

Budget

School tax rate on the current (pre-revaluation) assessment base: general fund 1.8109 per $100 in 2025-26, 1.8211 in 2026-27; total school rate including debt service 1.8622 and 1.8704. Net taxable valuation used for the levy: $5.93 billion (2025-26), $6.13 billion estimated (2026-27). Equalized valuation, 2025-26: $8.80 billion. [3][25] The gap between those last two numbers is the same two-thirds ratio described in Section 2, and the school levy is the largest single component of the property tax bill that the 2027 revaluation will redistribute.

Reserves are being drawn down. Capital reserve: $9.94 million at June 30, 2025, budgeted to $6.42 million by June 30, 2027. Maintenance reserve: $3.15 million to roughly zero. Legal reserve: $5.4 million to zero. Emergency reserve: $750,000 to $3,000, after a $500,000 withdrawal in 2025-26 applied to health benefits. Unrestricted fund balance: $2.63 million, about 1.9% of the general fund. [3][26] A district that has spent its reserves finances the next roof through the levy or through a referendum.

Long-term debt: serial bonds payable of $30,205,174 at June 30, 2025. [4]

Referendum history and facilities

Bond referendum dates, amounts and results: not available at the time of writing.† Capital work funded from reserves in 2025-26: elevator systems at Ridgewood High School ($175,000) and George Washington ($185,000); boiler replacement at Willard ($600,000); gym air conditioning at Hawes ($500,000); roof replacement at Orchard ($313,629). [26] In FY2025 the district used capital reserve and state ROD grant funds for HVAC upgrades at Glen School and Ridge and a dust-collection system at the high school woodshop. [4] The 2026-27 budget withdraws a further $1.74 million from capital reserve and $1.40 million from maintenance reserve; projects are not itemized in the state filing. [3]

Long-range facilities plan status and any planned referendum: not available at the time of writing.† ### Ho-Ho-Kus

Ho-Ho-Kus operates a single K-8 school and sends its high school students out of district. Its 2026-27 budget filing shows 197 general-education students sent to other districts as of October 2024, 174 as of October 2025, and 161 estimated for October 2026, with total tuition payments to other public districts of $6.06 million (2024-25 actual) rising to $6.97 million (2026-27 budget); that tuition line also covers special education placements. [17] Ridgewood’s filing shows 147 students received from other districts in October 2024, 117 in October 2025, and 209 estimated for October 2026, with tuition revenue rising from $2.33 million to $3.68 million over the same span. [3]

The receiving-district figure identifies Ridgewood as the destination only by inference; neither filing names the other.† The high school enrollment figures above include these students.

What I tell my buyers: the number on this page that changes your cost of ownership is the levy line, not the proficiency line. The school levy is $111.7 million, it rose 4.0% this year, the benefits ratio is climbing, and the reserves that used to absorb a boiler failure are close to spent. The next capital need in this district is more likely to reach your tax bill than the last one was.

† Figures marked with a dagger are best-effort research, so verify them with the issuing office (the Village of Ridgewood, the school district, the county, the state or the utility) before making judgment calls or decisions on them.