After more than three decades of state oversight, Jersey City is regaining full control of its public school district. The state Board of Education on Wednesday approved the transfer and congratulated the school system for meeting its milestones while becoming a high-performing district.
The state took over Jersey City schools in 1989 after state officials said students weren’t getting the education they deserved because the schools were plagued by cronyism and other chaos. The state appointed a superintendent to make all decisions including hiring, rather than the school board. Since then the city has slowly regained control of both hiring and decision-making rights.
This is the third school district in New Jersey to regain local control. Newark and Paterson were taken over in the 1990s for similar reasons, but were able to come out from under state oversight in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Camden is the only district still under full state control.
