The Jersey City school board regained full control of the school district in early 2017, after a 20 plus-year state takeover. Dr. Leila Sadeghi of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center analyzed and evaluated the documentation provided by the district and produced the first of two just releases annual reports: ‘Transition Plan for the Return of Local Control to Jersey City Public Schools” progress report that was submitted to the New Jersey Board of Education in February. The progress report uses a scorecard to track whether the district is carrying out the activities in the transition plan, such as choosing and evaluating a new superintendent, ensuring that school board members attend training sessions and submit a balanced budget.

The scorecard and report may be found at https://go.rutgers.edu/NJSDScorecard.

The Center is also working with the Newark and Paterson school districts on their interim and final reports. Newark’s transition began in early 2018, with a final report due in late June; and Paterson’s transition began in May 2018.