Analysis: What Newark’s School Board Election Says About the Rising Influence of City’s Charter Parents
ew Jersey may be the Garden State, but don’t think you’ll find any country bumpkins in Newark, the state’s largest city with a school district that enrolls 44,000 children. Every Newarkian knows that mayors, city councilmen, and ward operators control municipal elections, including the three seats up this year for the nine-member School Advisory Board (SAB). Consequently, voter-turnout rates on school board candidate election days typically hover at a sparse 7 percent; residents know it’s not their vote that truly matters.
But the April 19th school board election three weeks ago was different because “an army of charter parents” found their voice — and started speaking as one.