The district was selected as one of the top "100 Best Communities for Music Education in America 2005" by the American Music Conference. NAMM named the district in its 2008 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 110 school districts nationwide. The district was also named in NAMM's 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide. It also attained this honor in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Nutley's schools, much like other Essex county communities, compete in various academic competitions on town, county, state, and even national levels. Popular in both the elementary and middle schools is the "Academically Speaking" county competition, which tests knowledge of almost all subjects and pits a carefully selected town-wide team against others from towns such as Bloomfield, Livingston, and Montclair. Nutley's teams have routinely finished in the semi-finals or finals, and their middle school team won for the first time in 2007. It also won the competition in 2012. Nutley also sends two representatives to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and one for the National Geographic Bee. They have an active "Forensics" program in both the middle and elementary schools, in which talented students dramatize famous fictional works, and finish well in the semi-statewide MathCounts competition, finishing in the top half among some of the top schools in northern New Jersey two years running.
Schools
Schools in the district are: ;Elementary schools
. Lincoln was built in 1915, with further construction occurring in 1929. It is located at 301 Harrison Street.
. Located at 379 Bloomfield Avenue, it is the newest elementary school and was built in 1955.
. Located at 59 South Spring Garden Avenue, the school was constructed in 1917 and was added on to in 1927.
. Washington was constructed in 1911, expanded in 1927 It is the second oldest elementary school still in use in Nutley. It is located at 155 Washington Avenue.
. Constructed in 1902, it is the oldest of the elementary schools still in use. In 1929, an addition was built to accommodate the growing population of Nutley. It is located at 20 Yantacaw Place.
;Middle school
for grades 7 and 8. Located at 325 Franklin Avenue, John H. Walker Middle School served as Nutley's high school until 1959.
;High school
Nutley High School for grades 9-12
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
Dr. Julie Glazer, Superintendent
Karen Yeamans, Business Administrator / Board Secretary
