Governor's School - History

Governor’s School of New Jersey was chartered by Governor Tom Kean in 1983. The first school, School of Public Issues was hosted at Monmouth University and began with one hundred thirteen students. In 1984, two additional programs were added: School of the Sciences at Drew University and School of the Arts at The College of New Jersey. Each program accepted one hundred students. In 1989, School on the Environment, hosted at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, was added with an additional one hundred students. The School on International Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey began in July 2000 and the School of Engineering and Technology housed on the Busch Campus of Rutgers University was established in July 2001.

Since its inception in 1983, the program has served over 11,000 students. In the early years, through 2007, there were typically 2,400 applicants and approximately 625 students were accepted each year. Due to budgetary constraints and decreases in corporate, foundation, and individual donations, the number of scholars served in 2008 was 424 and the Governor’s School of the Arts ceased operations that year. The number of students accepted into the program in 2009 declined again, to 264 and the Governor’s School of Public Issues and Governor’s School of International Studies ceased operations in that year.  In the current challenging funding climate, the Governor's School on the Environment did not operate in Summer 2011.