State of the City: Mayor Ras Baraka celebrated Newark’s progress on education but challenges remain

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox. Newark is not the same city it was a decade ago. Mayor Ras Baraka made that clear during his 12th State of the City address Tuesday, a presentation of Newark’s beauty “in the face of so much ugly.” On education, Baraka pointed to a number of successes. Last school year, the district’s graduation rate went up to a record-high 90%, chronic absenteeism decreased to 10.4% — achievements that earned the district a top recognition for student attendance and school climate from the Council of Great City Schools — new pipeline programs for high school students are on the way, and hundreds of prekindergarten and middle school seats have been added in light of rising enrollment in those grades. On top of that, Michael B. Jordan, a graduate of Newark Public Schools, won the Oscar for Best Actor this year, a moment of pride for the city, Baraka said. “Our city is not perfect, but we are at a damn better place than we were a decade ago,” he said during Tuesday’s address in front of city and state leaders at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Baraka, a former Newark Public Schools teacher and principal, emphasized public school successes in his speech, which were celebrated with loud applause and cheers from the crowd. Superintendent Roger León, who sat in the front row during Tuesday’s address, inherited a school system in 2018 that barely graduated half of its high school students and had just spent two decades under the state’s control. Many of the gains Baraka shared have been meaningful. But other metrics, ones Baraka didn’t share, show that many students are still struggling. Last spring , only 34% of students in grades 3-9 passed the state’s English Language Arts test, while 21% passed the math portion. Those numbers lag behind statewide averages . But that tension between celebrating how far the district has come and the urgency to move the work forward isn’t lost on those hoping to shape Newark Public Schools’ next chapter. Mark Comesañas, a 2026 school board candidate on the Baraka-endorsed ‘Moving Newark Schools Forward’ slate, said the gains are worth celebrating while also looking ahead. “We need to celebrate, and we should celebrate, but also, how do we stay hungry to do more?” Comesañas also said he was interested in learning if “there are any groups of young people for which this progress isn’t reaching,” and if so, what specific supports are in place for those students. Lisa Gray, also a 2026 school board candidate who’s running independently, raised questions about the validity of the data being reported to the public. “I wonder what processes are in place to ensure the integrity of the data, and how we know that the data being reported is accurate. The school board is supposed to be responsible for that,” said Gray, a former two-decade district employee. She also said the metrics Baraka shared on Tuesday fail to show the need for more parent, student, and teacher engagement in school district decisions. “I think we need to involve them more and take them seriously,” Gray added. That’s something students, parents, and advocates have repeatedly voiced concerns about after demanding more transparency from the district and a better seat at the table . Baraka acknowledged Tuesday that more needs to be done across the city, even as schools have improved. He said that returning public schools to local control restored community ownership and stability. And he and other city leaders have started the work to get Newark students reading more, with a goal to expand programs across the city. In 2023, Baraka launched a 10-point action plan to help foster reading opportunities for city children and boost literacy rates. And last month, Newark hosted a literacy symposium where community members and city partners gathered to talk about building more literacy programs across the area. “There’s a lot of work to do, but collectively we can get it done,” Baraka said. Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org .

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