BMG Has $40 Million to Purchase Jackson, New Jersey’s Christa McAuliffe Middle School

 The Jackson Township Board of Education has accepted a $40 million bid from Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG) to purchase the former Christa McAuliffe Middle School.

BMG has not publicly stated what it plans to do with the campus, and no formal proposal regarding future use of the property has been announced.

The acceptance of the $40 million offer comes after the district reduced the minimum asking price for the property earlier this fall. Initially listed with a minimum bid of $54.4 million, the price was lowered to $44.4 million in late November after officials reassessed market interest. At the time, district leaders said the adjustment was part of an ongoing effort to secure a buyer for the large, unused campus.

The Christa McAuliffe Middle School property is located on South Hope Chapel Road and includes a 126,305-square-foot main school building, five modular classrooms totaling approximately 3,500 square feet, athletic fields, administrative offices, and a cafetorium equipped with a full kitchen. The size and scope of the campus made it one of the most valuable surplus properties in the district’s inventory.

The Jackson School District closed Christa McAuliffe Middle School over the summer following several years of declining public school enrollment, reduced state aid, and persistent budget shortfalls. District officials have said that maintaining unused buildings was no longer financially sustainable and that selling surplus properties was the most viable long-term strategy to help stabilize the district’s finances and reduce operating costs.

The school’s location had drawn particular interest due to its proximity to Lakewood, which has experienced rapid population growth over the past decade, largely driven by the expansion of the Orthodox Jewish community. That growth has fueled increasing demand for educational facilities, including yeshivos and schools serving a growing student population. In addition, many Orthodox Jewish families have moved into eastern and central areas of Jackson, further increasing interest in large school campuses near the border between the two municipalities.

The proposed sale to BMG follows an earlier transaction completed this year, when the Jackson School District finalized the sale of the former Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School on Citadel Drive. That property was sold for $13.1 million to Bais Yaakov of Jackson, also known as Bais Faiga.