Franklin Borough School, Franklin NJ

Original Research by School Decision on Franklin Borough School

Franklin Borough School is the single public school serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Franklin, a small, densely settled borough in Sussex County with a working-class, small-town character rooted in its mining heritage. The school sits within the residential fabric of the borough, not on a sprawling campus, and its enrollment is modest for a PreK-8 facility. The student body is majority white, with a substantial Hispanic share and smaller representations of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. Nearly half of the students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, giving the school a notably higher level of economic need than many surrounding districts.

Academically, the picture is uneven. On the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments in English language arts, performance varies widely by grade. In the early elementary years, proficiency rates are moderate, with about a third of third graders meeting the bar. Results climb through fourth and fifth grades, where roughly half of students score proficient or above, and then reach a clear strength in seventh and eighth grades, where a solid majority of students achieve that level. Math results tell a different story. Proficiency in math hovers between roughly a third and just over two-fifths in grades three through five, then drops in grade six and falls further in grade seven. By grade eight, only a very small share of students are proficient in math. Science results for fifth and eighth graders are also low, particularly in eighth grade where the proficiency rate is minimal. When compared across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among districts in Sussex County. A parent considering this school should look closely at how math and science instruction is delivered in the upper grades, as weaker performance in these areas may affect a student’s readiness for high school coursework.

Because Franklin Borough School serves only through grade eight, there is no graduation rate to report. After eighth grade, students attend Wallkill Valley Regional High School, a separate regional campus outside the borough that also serves neighboring communities. In 2024, the Franklin district joined a process exploring the possibility of consolidating the regional high school’s constituent municipalities into a single K-12 district, a change that could reshape governance, school choice, and tax structure for families. That process remains under discussion and would be worth tracking for anyone with younger children.

The school offers no data on discipline, attendance, staffing ratios, or course access, and information about special education and English learner populations was not available. These gaps limit a full picture of the daily environment and support systems. A parent may want to visit the school and ask about class sizes, behavioral climate, and how the school addresses the needs of students who are behind in math.

The housing market in Franklin is modest by New Jersey standards. Home values are well below the state median, and the borough’s stock consists largely of older single-family homes and small lots, consistent with its origins as a company mining town. The population has been stable to slightly declining, with little new development. Route 23 is the main commercial corridor, but street life is minimal; most errands require a car. The Franklin Mineral Museum is a notable civic anchor, and the Wallkill River runs through the borough, but there is no train station and transit service is limited.

For families who value a small, close-knit school in a quiet, affordable borough with a distinctive history, Franklin Borough School offers a straightforward PreK-8 pathway. The academic record shows stronger reading outcomes in the upper grades but persistent weaknesses in math and science that would benefit from focused attention. High school options lie in a regional arrangement that may itself be in flux. The school’s economic profile and the borough’s stable, slow-growth character mean this is not a high-opportunity, high-demand suburban environment, but rather a grounded, working-class community where the school reflects the community it serves.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 8%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 51%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 7%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

This schoolFranklin Borough School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income46%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income50%12 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income58%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income53%34 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income60%Higher-income63%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income63%Higher-income79%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income20%Higher-income50%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income50%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income47%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income15%Higher-income53%38 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income20%Higher-income41%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income7%2 pp gap