🚨 BREAKING: NJ’S STATE AUDITOR RELEASES NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOLS AUDIT. “CERTAIN MATTERS” REFERRED TO THE STATE’S DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE. (Attached links to the audit & executive summary at the bottom of this post) Nearly FOUR YEARS examined: July 2022–May 2026. Glaring failures in spending, oversight, & employee screening. MILLIONS in excess state aid & missed savings. I spent the past year making noise and being chastised by the other side that I was out of line. Well, this “I told you so” doesn’t feel so good because kids, families, & taxpayers got hammered while apparently the board was dozing, elected officials deflected or buried their heads in the sand, & the superintendent ran the district like a drunk college kid on spring break with his parents’ credit card. WHAT'S IN THE AUDIT: ▪️ Approximately $566K from the school district’s GENERAL FUND for an employee gym. Average daily use? SEVEN employees...with a full-time trainer. Newark claimed the gym services were paid for with "employee wellness funds". The auditors said Newark’s own documents showed costs were paid from the GENERAL FUND. No competitive bidding or board approval. ▪️ $2.5 MILLION upfront for a museum. A year past its deadline with no documentation re: construction progress, expenses, or updated timeline. Required DOE approval? No. Competitive bidding? Nope. The agreement totaled $4.5M, with potential additional costs. A $750K preservation grant? Missed because Newark didn’t own the property or hold a long-term lease. ▪️ $6.65 MILLION in excess state aid. Newark overstated enrollment by 128 students in two annual submissions. Taxpayers across the state paid for an inflated student count. ▪️ An estimated $18.7 M in missed health insurance savings over TWO years. Documentation showing the required 2025 review of insurance options was completed? Nope. ▪️ Approximately $1.3M in avoidable preschool payments. Enrollment fell below contractual thresholds, yet Newark stopped reducing payments. Providers got paid for seats they weren’t filling. ▪️ Approximately $4.7M in legal spending above the statewide per-student avg. over three years. Required cost-control procedures, or evidence they wouldn’t reduce costs? Nope. ▪️ Approximately $1.14M spent on catering over a two-year period. In the FY2024 transactions tested, approximately $184K lacked adequate documentation & approximately $49K exceeded meal-pricing limits, with possible overlap. SIXTEEN of 19 catered board meetings exceeded the $10-per-person limit. ▪️ $711,943 for Senior Day trips over three years. Carnival booths. DJs. Karaoke. Documentation of educational components of any kind whatsoever? Not provided. School General Fund money paid the bill. ▪️ $57,065 for a Central Office Staff "Fun Day". The board authorized $44K. Newark got around that by using two purchase orders. Auditors said that circumvented bidding requirements. DOE directed repayment of $33,649.07 in disallowed state aid from the first payment. Auditors said another $13,251 from the second payment should also be reimbursed. ▪️ $150,619 in required employee health contributions went uncollected. Another $41,602 paid ineligible medical & prescription claims during unpaid leave. Attempts to recover those outstanding contributions? None. And then there’s this: ▪️ TEN employees had never completed required criminal background checks. Another 199 hadn’t properly updated their clearances for Newark. That left a gap in notifications if those 199 committed a disqualifying offense. Live outside of Newark? State funding paid 88% of the district’s General Fund revenues during the three fiscal years examined. YOUR tax dollars were in that pot. Newark’s kids & families deserved better. EVERY TAXPAYER funding this debacle deserved better. 📄 FULL AUDIT: pub.njleg.gov/publications/a… 📄 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: pub.njleg.gov/publications/a… @GovSherrillNJ @NJAssemblyGOP @njassemblydems @NJSenateGOP @NJSenDems @NewJerseyDOE @savejersey @thenjglobe