Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District vs Redford Union Schools District No. 1
NJ · 2,223 students • MI · 2,018 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Redford Union Schools District No. 1 spends 8% more per student than Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District after adjusting for local price levels.
- Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District directs 4 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Redford Union Schools District No. 1.
- Redford Union Schools District No. 1 is far more dependent on local property taxes (30% of revenue vs 20%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 2,223 | 2,018 |
| Schools | 5 | 8 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Suburb | Suburb |
| County | Salem County | Wayne County |
| State | NJ | MI |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 102.6 | 100.3 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $25,025 | $26,535 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $24,402 | $26,457 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $23,652 | $25,395 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
- Local 19.8% Locked
- State 71.6% Locked
- Federal 8.6% Locked
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
- Local 30.2% Locked
- State 52.3% Locked
- Federal 17.6% Locked
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 19.8% | 30.2% |
| State share of revenue | 71.6% | 52.3% |
| Federal share of revenue | 8.6% | 17.6% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How NJ funds its districts
School Funding Reform Act (SFRA): an adequacy budget per district with a local fair share subtracted.
How MI funds its districts
Proposal A foundation allowance: a per-pupil grant largely funded by the state, with limited local enhancement.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
- Instruction 59.8% Locked
- Instructional staff support 2.9% Locked
- Student support 9.4% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 9.9% Locked
- Transportation 3.1% Locked
- Food service 2.5% Locked
- School administration 4.1% Locked
- District administration 2.1% Locked
- Other support 3.4% Locked
- Other current 2.5% Locked
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
- Instruction 54.4% Locked
- Instructional staff support 4.4% Locked
- Student support 12.4% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 11.0% Locked
- Transportation 4.0% Locked
- Food service 3.1% Locked
- School administration 4.6% Locked
- District administration 1.4% Locked
- Other support 4.7% Locked
- Other current 3.1% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District minus Redford Union Schools District No. 1. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 62.7% | 58.8% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 6.2% | 6.0% |
| Transportation share | 3.1% | 4.0% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 11.9 | 13.7 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 26.9% | 25.1% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -0.4% | -12.8% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
No stability flags raised.
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -0.4% | -12.8% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
We have not been able to find an enrollment page for this district, so every row in its column below says so rather than guessing at it. Ask the district's registration office directly.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrollment page for this district.
Documents to bring
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the district’s page. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrollment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrollment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in NJ and MI.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District | Redford Union Schools District No. 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $5,074 | $3,580 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 17.3% | 11.3% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Redford Union Schools District No. 1: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Who sits on the board
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District board of education
- Joseph M. Tighe, Sr. — President
- Casey Stefanski — Vice President
- Norma Alestock — Member
- John L. Ashcraft — Member
- Anthony Finkel — Member
- Renee L. Rasin — Member
- Leonela Smith — Member
- Marcia Smith — Member
- Shameka Turner — Member
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
These seats are elected, and what this board decides — the budget, the attendance boundaries, the calendar — is decided at a meeting the public may attend. The district’s own board page, linked above, is where it publishes the schedule and the agenda. We do not hold meeting dates or contact details for these people.
Redford Union Schools District No. 1 board of education
- Lorna Dean — President
- Evelyn Pridemore — Secretary
- Jeff Osowski — Treasurer
- James (Jim) Bailey — Trustee
- Megan Johnson — Trustee
- LaTina Miller — Trustee
- A seat is vacant or being filled: “The Redford Union Schools Board of Education wishes to inform the community of a vacancy on the board following Trustee Megan Johnson's resignation on August 10.”
- When the board meets: “Door #3) 2026-2027 School Board Notifications Regular Meetings are scheduled for the second Monday of each month at 6:00 PM (except if the Monday falls on a holiday or scheduled school break).”
- How long a term runs: “Each of these seats is for a full-term of six years.”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
These seats are elected, and what this board decides — the budget, the attendance boundaries, the calendar — is decided at a meeting the public may attend. The district’s own board page, linked above, is where it publishes the schedule and the agenda. We do not hold meeting dates or contact details for these people.
Funding measures on the ballot
Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District
We have not read NJ’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District. Whether it has asked its voters for money is a question its county election office can answer and we cannot, yet.
Nobody has read NJ’s school election results yet — that is a gap on our side, not a fact about this district. Its county elections office holds what it asked its voters for and what they answered, and that is a public record you can request. What it says is worth asking about at a board meeting.
Redford Union Schools District No. 1
This district appears in none of what we read from MI’s source in its current ballot window (2026).
What this state publishes: Michigan's Voter Information Center publishes sample ballots, not results. Every question here is the text voters were given; the Secretary of State's ballot preview records no vote counts and no outcome, so nothing on this page says whether a Michigan measure passed. The preview also carries only the elections in its current window — recent and upcoming — so a Michigan district's older bonds and millages are not here. And one precinct is read per township or city: where a township is split between school districts, a question that appeared only in another precinct of that township is not here either. A Michigan district with no rows has not necessarily left its taxpayers alone.
The detailed figures for Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District and Redford Union Schools District No. 1
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
$1.79 for both, for three months, 21 cents less than buying them one at a time.
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