“Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox. It’s school board election day in Newark — but you wouldn’t immediately know it. On Tuesday morning, Newark’s bustling Broad Street in downtown was business as usual, with no campaign signs posted on lamp posts or outside City Hall as in previous years. If you didn’t stumble upon a polling place with signs reading “vote here” in English and Spanish, you’d be hard-pressed to find any sign of an election. At 10:30 a.m., poll workers at the Old First Presbyterian Church said they had not seen a voter since doors opened at 7 a.m. Schools are in session, but they hope to see a few more people after school and closer to the end of the day. While the election is off to a slow start, the school board race is among the most important for education in the city. Voters will pick four candidates to serve on the Newark Board of Education, three for three-year terms and one for a one-year term. The nine candidates in this year’s race have pledged to revise and expand on district policies such as mental health, boost academic achievement, draw more community feedback on district decisions, and improve district transparency. Overall, 161,591 Newark residents are registered to vote in this year’s April school board election. That’s a pattern advocates say limits how much of a say community voices have in district decisions. After a high-profile push to register 16- and 17-year-old voters last year, teen registration has dropped, with 1,522 signed up this year – down from last year’s 1,772 in 2025, according to the Essex County Superintendent of Elections. Last year, Newark Public Schools launched a Vote 15+ campaign to register student voters and hosted state and city officials to encourage teen participation. This year, the district made no visible effort to register teen voters or promote youth participation for the April 21 election. While the election energy is low, that silence is stark in contrast to what’s at stake. The Newark school board plays a key role in shaping New Jersey’s largest school district and makes decisions that impact more than 41,000 Newark Public Schools students. But where the public school district felt short, some charter school students stepped up. On Monday, dozens of Great Oaks Legacy Charter High School students marched to Newark City Hall to cast their mail-in ballots, while others marched in solidarity despite not yet being eligible to vote. That march reflected months of student-led civic engagement at the charter school driven by the school’s Student Advocacy Club, and initiatives led by the Youth Power Action Coalition , convened by The Gem Project. “This was a proud moment for our school and for Newark,” said Jared Taillefer, CEO of Great Oaks Legacy Charter School and a Newark resident who also casted his vote Monday morning. “Our students are learning that their voice matters right now.” For advocates, the dip in teen registration is also concerning because students are directly affected by school board decisions, but historically have had little say in them. Amanda Ebokosia, founder and CEO of The Gem project, said getting youth to the polls isn’t just about enthusiasm, but it’s about cultivating a tradition of civic participation from an early age. “You have to show up more than once, and you have to want to prioritize it more than once, not when it’s hot and shiny,” Ebokosia said. “It’s also about having a commitment to young people, and I think that more could have been done, definitely when it comes to prioritizing the youth vote.” Adding to the city’s low political engagement, the Board of Elections website still listed polling locations from the prior year on Election Day. Parents, students, and advocates say they want their new board to improve school lunches, add more translation services to the district and board meetings, and hold Superintendent Roger León accountable for his spending decisions, among other demands. But advocates say it’s been a challenge to boost voter turnout around school issues in Newark. Historically, voter turnout in the Newark school board election has been low, with participation hovering around 3% to 4%. Last year, just under 4% of city residents voted in the election, with only 73 teens showing up to vote. Tuesday’s election may also be falling victim to voting fatigue. In the runup to the school board election, state and national political attention was focused on the April 16 special election to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s seat in the 11th Congressional District, which includes parts of Essex County. Locally, Newark’s May 12 municipal race has been front and center in the landscape, with candidate posters and signs displayed across the city. That flood of political activity may be drowning out the school board race entirely. Jhamar Youngblood, a Newark mayoral candidate, said it doesn’t feel like an election is happening today, with few people talking about it. Youngblood believes the city could do more to promote the school board race, but he also feels it’s a strategy to keep residents disengaged “so they can do whatever it is they want.” “We just need more courageous people to talk about what’s happening, because that’s the only way, historically, that we’ve seen some type of accountability in our city,” Youngblood said. Ebokosia, the founder of The Gem Project, thinks teen voters can be the courageous voice the city needs to enact change. But for that to happen, leaders need to work together to create consistent efforts to boost teen voter turnout and remove the barriers that limit them from voting, including a lack of information about the school board election. ”We have to make an honest assessment as to who we are actually making this a priority for,“ Ebokosia said. ”If we’re not making it a priority, how can we work together to ensure that as many young people know about this election?” Polls are open until 8 p.m. Tuesday. Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org .
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