Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.A tiny fraction of Newark residents control the outcome of its school board elections every year. And they keep picking the same people. Moving Newark Schools Forward, the mayoral-backed slate that has dominated every Newark school board race since 2016, is slated for another win this year. And low voter turnout may be contributing to the lack of change and sending the wrong message to school board members about accountability. This year, roughly 3% of Newark voters turned out for the April 21 election, and of those, only 36, or 2%, of Newark’s new 16- and 17-year-old voters showed up to the polls, according to unofficial counts from the Essex County Superintendent of Elections office on Wednesday. Low turnout in school board elections is something “every community in the state” deals with, said Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. But in Newark, where the mayor’s slate has won every election in the last 10 years, Rasmussen says disengaged voters might be sending a signal to board members that they don’t have to answer to anyone. “When the public is checked out, and the public’s not interested, then I think it says to school board members, you don’t have to answer to the public,” Rasmussen said. “And I think that’s a real problem. It’s not the message the public should want to be sending.”Historically, voter turnout in Newark’s school board election has been low, with participation hovering around 3% to 4%. Last year, overall turnout was 3.47%, slightly lower than the 3.94% rate among the city’s youth, with only 73 showing up to vote in the first year of teen voting. That’s a problem for Newark’s school community that fought hard for local control of its schools and continues to demand more transparency in district decisions. The question isn’t just which candidate wins, but whether Newark’s school community can create meaningful change if voters don’t show up to the polls.“The bottom line is, when more voters are opting not to participate than to participate, I think it sends a really bad signal to the people that you want to hold accountable,” Rasmussen said. Members of the Moving Newark Schools Forward slate have been largely silent on specific plans to address issues in New Jersey’s largest school system. The slate, which includes current board president Hasani Council, Quamid Childs, Mark Comesañas, and Jordy Nivar, has broadly focused on improving student mental health and expanding existing district policies.At a teen-led candidate discussion hosted by the Youth Power Action Coalition in March, the mayoral-backed contenders committed to supporting, listening to, and engaging with Newark’s students. Since the city lowered the voting age in school board elections to 16, Newark teens have been pressing board members to get more student feedback. The youth coalition of Newark students had previously urged board members to work with them and proposed increasing student oversight over policies around mental health and school facilities. But the school board rejected their proposals in February. Students who attended the Youth Power Action Summit on April 11, 2026 heard from Newark school board candidates during a youth-led discussion. From left to right: Amanda Ebokosia, founder of The Gem Project, school board candidates John Farrell, Lisa Gray, Quamid Childs, Jordy Nivar, and Mark Comesañas.Even among the few teens who tried to vote this year, the process wasn’t easy, and some encountered confusion at polling sites, questions about their voting eligibility, and jammed machines. Research shows that those who are voting at 16 are more likely to vote later in life than their peers, but negative experiences can hinder their likelihood to participate in elections.Yolanda Johnson, who launched a write-in campaign this election cycle, understands why the community may not want to turn out for the school board election “People are saying that their vote doesn’t count. That their vote doesn’t matter. Like, we have an entire school board right now that’s the mayor’s slate, and it’s wrong. That is not what democracy looks like,” said Johnson, a four-time school board candidate and education advocate who fought for Newark’s control of schools.Johnson said she had no plans to run in the 2026 race until community members asked her to. She launched her write-in campaign after the deadline to secure a spot in the April race and urged city voters to write her name in on the ballot. Those ballots are still being counted, so it’s not clear how much support she received from voters. But when it comes to boosting overall turnout, especially among new teen voters, Johnson added that board members need to listen and engage with residents so they feel part of the process.“If you make the students feel like they’re heard and empower them and educate them, provide them with the tools, you’ll get more students involved. And you’d get the adults too,” Johnson said.Rasmussen, the political expert, agrees and adds that for Black and Latino communities like Newark, “it’s even more important” that voters show up for school board elections, especially as research shows that higher turnout in those elections is associated with better student outcomes. “People are skeptical about the power of voting and the impact of voting,” Rasmussen said. “But I promise you that the way that anybody in this country is taken seriously is by voting.”Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
