Dunellen Public School District vs Fort Bragg Unified
NJ · 1,425 students • CA · 1,669 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Dunellen Public School District spends 11% more per student than Fort Bragg Unified after adjusting for local price levels.
- Both direct a similar share of each operating dollar to classrooms.
- Dunellen Public School District reports fewer students per teacher (11.4 vs 16.9). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 1,425 | 1,669 |
| Schools | 3 | 7 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | K–12 |
| Setting | Suburb | Town |
| County | Middlesex County | Mendocino County |
| State | NJ | CA |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 112.6 | 110.7 |
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.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $22,670 | $20,120 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $20,140 | $18,172 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $20,053 | $17,761 |
| 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 |
Dunellen Public School District
Fort Bragg Unified
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.
Dunellen Public School District
- Local 37.6% Locked
- State 56.7% Locked
- Federal 5.7% Locked
Fort Bragg Unified
- Local 37.2% Locked
- State 52.4% Locked
- Federal 10.4% Locked
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 37.6% | 37.2% |
| State share of revenue | 56.7% | 52.4% |
| Federal share of revenue | 5.7% | 10.4% |
| 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 CA funds its districts
LCFF — Local Control Funding Formula: a base grant per pupil plus supplemental and concentration grants driven by low-income, English-learner and foster-youth counts.
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.
Dunellen Public School District
- Instruction 59.6% Locked
- Instructional staff support 3.4% Locked
- Student support 10.4% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 10.2% Locked
- Transportation 0.4% Locked
- Food service 3.1% Locked
- School administration 4.3% Locked
- District administration 2.3% Locked
- Other support 3.2% Locked
- Other current 3.1% Locked
Fort Bragg Unified
- Instruction 56.6% Locked
- Instructional staff support 5.7% Locked
- Student support 6.5% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 10.5% Locked
- Transportation 2.3% Locked
- Food service 5.6% Locked
- School administration 5.8% Locked
- District administration 2.0% Locked
- Other support 4.4% Locked
- Other current 5.6% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Dunellen Public School District minus Fort Bragg Unified. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 63.0% | 62.3% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 6.6% | 7.9% |
| Transportation share | 0.4% | 2.3% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 11.4 | 16.9 |
| 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.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 10.0% | 11.9% |
| English learners | — | — |
| Students with disabilities | — | — |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | +12.2% | -8.0% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Dunellen Public School District
- Little/no transportation spending Reported transportation spending is under 0.5% of current spending. Usually this means busing is limited, contracted out, or provided by another agency — check locally before assuming a bus.
Fort Bragg Unified
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | +12.2% | -8.0% |
| 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.
Dunellen Public School District
Dunellen Public Schools - Student Registration
Read August 23, 2026.
Fort Bragg Unified
Enrollment - Fort Bragg Unified
Registration runs through Aeries. Read August 25, 2026.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Dunellen Public 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.
Fort Bragg Unified
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
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Required “If you do not have your proofs of residency or health records, described below, you will NOT be allowed to register.” | Required “Proof of parents'/guardians' current residential address (driver's license, utility bill, etc.)” |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Required “Birth Certificate” | Required “Birth Certificate” |
| Immunisation records | Required “Current immunization record” | Required “Immunization Record” |
| Physical examination | Required “Current Physical Examination completed by a physician within the last year (Universal Child Health Record Form PDF below)” | Not mentioned |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Records from the previous school | Required “a copy of their most recent report card” | Not mentioned |
| IEP or 504 plan | Required “IEP [Individual Education Plan], 504 Plan, ELL/ESL)” | Not mentioned |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Required “In addition to the above, you must provide three additional proofs of residency such as PSE&G bill, cable/internet bill, phone bill, driver's license, medical/…” | Required “Proof of parents'/guardians' current residential address (driver's license, utility bill, etc.)” |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Emergency contact information | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
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 CA.
- At least one district sits outside a metro area with its own published price index, so its cost adjustment uses the statewide index. That is a coarser adjustment.
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.
Dunellen Public 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.
Fort Bragg Unified
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.
| Dunellen Public School District | Fort Bragg Unified | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | $9,929 | $7,259 |
| 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. | 34.5% | 26.3% |
| 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 |
- Dunellen Public School District: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Fort Bragg Unified: 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
Fort Bragg Unified board of education
- Kathy Babcock — President
- Sage Statham — Vice President
- Lux Oxte — Trustee
- Diana Paoli — Trustee
- Scott Schneider — Trustee
- Members are elected: “Board members serve four-year terms and are elected by the community they represent.”
- When the board meets: “Regular Board meetings are held at 6:00 PM and are open to the public.”
- The public may speak: “Public Comment”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-25. 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
Dunellen Public School District
We have not read NJ’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of Dunellen Public 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.
Fort Bragg Unified
$38.2M approved by voters across 2 measures.
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-06-03 | Bond · Prop. Measure CTo acquire, construct, modernize, and improve school facilities, including replacing outdated heating and plumbing systems, replacing leaky roofs, and…To acquire, construct, modernize, and improve school facilities, including replacing outdated heating and plumbing systems, replacing leaky roofs, and installing solar panels to reduce energy costs, shall Fort Bragg Unified School District be authorized to issue up to $16,000,000 in bonds at legally permitted interest rates, with a citizens' oversight committee, annual audits, and provided no funds are spent on administrator salaries? |
$16M | 69.2% | Passed |
Locked One earlier measure in this district’s history is not shown.
From the state’s own election file. Latest election on record: 2025-06-03.
What this state publishes: School district bonds and parcel taxes as the California Elections Data Archive compiles them for the Secretary of State. Bonds carry the principal; parcel taxes are quoted per parcel and carry no comparable dollar figure. Recalls and advisory questions are not included.
CA published no results for 2010, so a measure put to voters in that year would not appear here. That is a gap in the state’s own publishing.
- A vote share is not an outcome. What it takes to carry varies by state and by measure — in some states a bond needs a supermajority and a minimum turnout while a levy on the same ballot needs half, so a clear majority can still lose. Every outcome shown here is copied from the state’s own election file, and the rule that applied is stated with the coverage above. Where that file stated no outcome we show whatever count it published and no verdict, rather than working one out from the percentage — and some states publish the ballot question without ever recording a count, so a blank there is a number nobody printed.
- These are the measures a district put to its voters, not its whole tax bill. A property tax bill also carries county, city and state levies that have nothing to do with schools, and in most states a school board can issue some kinds of debt with no vote at all.
The detailed figures for Dunellen Public School District and Fort Bragg Unified
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
- one more measure in the ballot history, with the amount
$1.79 for both, for three months, 21 cents less than buying them one at a time.
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Compare something else
Dunellen Public School District on its own · Fort Bragg Unified on its own