As he prepared to leave office on Jan. 20, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a measure that will expand the number of teachers who can instruct Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) classes at schools that are not publicly funded.
Eligible schools include private and religious institutions, but not charters. In the township, two faith schools – the Foxman Torah Institute and the Yeshiva of Cherry Hill – have utilized a pilot version of the program, though it’s unclear if they will increase the number of teachers now that STEM has expanded.
A pilot program was signed into law in 2019 that enabled current teachers with proper credentials to teach STEM at non-public schools, as long as doing so doesn’t conflict with their schedules. The new measure expands eligibility to include retired teachers and teachers at community colleges and covers grades three through 12.
Both Politz Day School of Cherry Hill and the Foxman Torah Institute did not respond to a request for comment.
Katie Katz, the executive director of Teach NJ, said the expansion of STEM has helped shore up teacher shortages.
“It was the answer to a lot of different things,” she explained. “One is the shortage of credentialed STEM educators in the state of New Jersey, which is a huge thing. And it also offers teachers the opportunity to make additional money – paid at their regular hourly educator salary – doing what they love, doing what they’re trained to do as opposed to maybe taking an after-school job that might pay a lot less.
“This way, they’re actually putting their skills to work and educating more students through this program with the state.”
When the pilot STEM program started six years ago, the state allocated $5 million in grants, some of which initially went to about 11 participating schools. In the 2025-’26 school year, the number of schools teaching STEM expanded to 37 across the state, and they need an additional $2 million to $3 million from the state legislature to keep running.
While only a handful of schools have used the pilot program so far, Katz said the reason more haven’t is a lack of awareness.
“It’s really just awareness,” Katz said. “And so that’s where we’re working to make sure that as many people know of this program as possible. It’s just a tremendous opportunity. We look to help as many schools as possible.”
Before factoring in the new measure, Teach NJ anticipates that next year, there will be more than 45 schools participating in the program. Grant applications for the 2026-’27 school year are due in March.
Katz said Teach NJ pushed for the bill Murphy signed – passed without any opposition – because restrictions on teachers who teach STEM were hurting the program. Since its expansion, multiple schools want in.
“We wanted to be able to find a way to expand this program so that more teachers could participate and more schools could participate throughout the day,” Katz pointed out, “not just at the very end of the day … Last period of the day is a challenging time to learn STEM subjects.
“I can speak from my own experience when I was in school, often times they try to have some of the classes earlier in the day, because it’s just a better time for focusing.”
