Lakewood yeshiva is buying empty Jackson middle school for $40M

💰 Jackson’s school district agrees to sell a vacant school for $40 million after cutting millions from the original asking price.
✡️ The buyer is Beth Medrash Govoha, the largest U.S. Orthodox Jewish seminary based in Lakewood.
📉 The sale follows deep budget cuts, staff layoffs, and shrinking public enrollment.

JACKSON — The township’s school district has a buyer for its vacant middle school, after slashing $10 million from the asking price.

Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood is the largest yeshiva, or Orthodox Jewish seminary, in the country.

Beth Medrash Govoha to buy former Christa McAuliffe Middle School

At the Jackson Board of Education meeting on Wednesday night, it was announced that Christa McAuliffe Middle School would be purchased by the yeshiva for $40 million “plus interest.”

The minimum bid for the more than 37-acre property was amended earlier this month to $44.4 million.

Board of Education attorney Mark Zitomer detailed the accepted bid as an addendum to the agenda, about 30 minutes into the meeting.

The board then approved a resolution to accept the offer.

“This was not a decision made lightly,” Jackson Superintendent of Schools Nicole Pormilli said in a written statement to New Jersey 101.5.

“Christa McAuliffe Middle School holds tremendous meaning for our students, staff, and families. However, due to significant funding losses, the sale of this property represents a responsible and necessary step for the district and for Jackson taxpayers,” Pormilli also said.

Yeshiva expansion continues near Lakewood headquarters

Beth Medrash Govoha’s primary campus in Lakewood along Private Way is less than five miles from the school in Jackson it is now buying.

The yeshiva has a collective of more than 9,000 students, according to its website.

It was also the first ever institute in the U.S. for men to study the Talmud — first in Westchester County, New York, before ultimately moving its headquarters to Ocean County.

In an online brochure, the yeshiva lists 10 dormitories and 10 apartment complexes for students and their families.

Read More: Jackson Township school sale price cut amid public enrollment drop

School sale follows public enrollment decline and district budget cuts

Christa McAuliffe Middle School hosted its final Jackson public school students in June.

Previous financial stresses within the school district led to the 2024 sale of Rosenauer Elementary School to an all-girls Jewish school, also based in Lakewood.

As of late last year, Jackson had already cut more than 285 positions, pushed class sizes to the district’s historically highest levels, and defunded ice hockey and gymnastics while merging Jackson’s high school swimming and bowling teams.

District leaders said they are confident that they received a fair price for a well-maintained facility, in order to handle ongoing financial challenges while maintaining core programs and services for the community.

“Without this difficult move, our district would be looking very, very different right now,’’ Pormilli said, adding “We hope the community can understand that."

“While we need these funds to continue to operate our district, there remains uncertainty about the future of the state funding formula that caused our multi-year state aid shortfalls in the first place,” according to Jackson School District Business Administrator Daniel Baginski in the same written release.

“We need systemic change to a state aid mechanism that has caused such a tremendous deficit in the district and others," Baginski also said.

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