The building boom in Jersey City has helped keep the cost of housing relatively affordable compared to neighborhoods across the river, but that’s meant more families and more school-age children crowding schools. Over at Jersey Digs, Patrick Carr digs into the problem.

New buildings in Jersey City have been going up for decades using a system of tax abatements that cheated the city out of a school taxes. That wasn’t much of a problem when the new residential units filled with unmarried people who didn’t have children. But the demographics have changed.

Carr points out that classes this year will average 35 to 40 students in Jersey City, while new classrooms added by developers have quickly reach capacity. Ultimately, Carr is calling on residents to support voting for stronger schools by selecting board of education members who will address the overcrowding.