In a unanimous vote, the New Jersey State Board of Education gave final approval to returning the Newark Public School system to full local control on July 1, 2020, after 25 years of state intervention.
The Newark school board regained full control of the school district in early 2018, after a 22-year state takeover. Marc Pfeiffer of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center analyzed and evaluated the documentation provided by the district and produced the final ‘Transition Plan for the Return of Local Control to Newark Public Schools” progress report submitted to the New Jersey Board of Education. In the final report, the district received perfect scores on all of its evaluation categories, which include governance, fiscal management, instruction and personnel training.
The Center is also working with the Paterson and Jersey City school districts on their interim and final reports. Jersey City’s transition began in 2017 and Paterson’s transition began in May 2018.
Additional information about the July 1 decision of the NJ State Board of Education may be found here.