Newark Superintendent Roger Leon is on a spending spree, a newly-styled real estate magnate with plenty of money to burn given the district’s $1.2 billion annual budget. That money would be a boon if it were directed towards battling learning loss: currently 13% of Newark students are proficient in math, 27% are proficient in reading, and 7% are proficient in science. Yet, judging by Newark School Board minutes, the focus is on fattening Leon’s property portfolio.

It didn’t used to be this way. In July 2015 when Chris Cerf was appointed superintendent of Newark Public Schools (NPS) under the Christie Administration (the district was still under state control) one of the quagmires he confronted was a lack of funding that had resulted in an almost $100 million deficit.  An analysis by Education Law Center found that total spending per pupil was down nearly $3,000 from 2008-2015, a result of lost state aid. (Of Newark’s current $1.2 billion budget, over one billion dollars comes from state aid.)

Cerf was determined to keep budget woes from affecting classroom instruction and so he focused on reducing the district’s unnecessarily large footprint, along with several other economies. He moved the Central Office from Cedar Street to Broad Street, cutting $2 million from the bottom line and, with the Board’s approval, decided to sell 12 unused school buildings to raise revenue. It made sense, right? Compared to New Jersey’s other large districts Newark had more space than it needed. It still does: with  its 35,320 students in 66 schools, there is an average of 535 students per school building. Jersey CIty averages 687 per building and Elizabeth averages 759. (Paterson’s ratio is 520 per building, just slightly less than Newark’s.)

But Leon is taking a different approach: Instead of focusing on student learning he’s buying back old buildings, planning on new construction, and flinging money around  like confetti.

And the School Board seems to enjoy enabling him.

The chart below (sorry it’s hard to read) shows the increase in state aid sent to NPS during the past decade. Through Cerf’s tenure the annual amount  was relatively stable: in 2015 state aid had gone up $280K from 2012 (when it was underwater) and in 2018 it had gone up to $72 million. But once Leon was crowned superintendent  that year (rumor has it the Board originally chose Robert Gregory, but political pressure pushed Leon to the top even though the search committee didn’t even forward his name as a finalist), money started pouring in. From 2018-2019, under the Murphy Administration, the district’s annual revenue change went from $97 million to $114  million to $200 million to this year’s $321.6 million. This means that this school year Newark will receive over $300 million more than it did a decade ago (and that’s not including another $300 million in federal Covid emergency aid).

But that’s a good thing given profound student needs, right?

That would be true if the focus inside NPS’s Central Office was on academic support. Instead the focus seems to be on buying buildings it doesn’t need. Tapinto Newark has done a masterful  job keeping apace of the  district’s shady real estate dealings, including the deep hole of  taxpayer debt that will convert the old St. James Hospital to the “Newark High School of Architecture & Interior Design.” (According to September school board meeting minutes, Business Administrator Valerie Wilson told the Finance Committee  it will definitely open next September even though the district is paying lawyers through the nose in its extensive litigation.) Then there’s  Maple Avenue School and State Street School, both sold by Cerf to the Newark Housing Authority, which Leon is trying to claw back.

It’s anyone’s guess why the Murphy Administration’s  Department of Education isn’t exercising oversight of the state’s largest school district.

Last year Chalkbeat reported on the risks of Leon’s leasing spree, calling it a “costly gambit,” given the district’s recent enrollment numbers (which, to be fair, are murky because when Chalkbeat filed a records request for enrollment the district refused to comply):

The district spent about $4.5 million on salaries and classroom supplies for the three schools it opened this fall, Wilson said, a price that does not include rent. Last year, it spent $3.4 million on asbestos removal while renovating several schools.

I took a look at the state database. While some schools have high enrollments, most don’t. For instance, there’s plenty of room at Sir Isaac Newton Elementary School and Ivy Hill. Malcolm X Shabazz High School’s enrollment is 339 students, down 100 students in two years. Lincoln Elementary had 457 students two years ago and now has 363. Hawthorne Avenue School has lost 40 students. Weequahic High School is down to 381 students and its current freshman class is only 90 students.  

But let’s buy some more buildings! And, according to that same single set of September meeting minutes, spend $143,000 sending staff and school board members to Miami and Atlantic City!

Hey, it’s only money.