The New Jersey Local Finance Board approved a $498 million lease for a Newark school building that local officials said is needed to alleviate overcrowding, a vote taken after complaints from Republicans who alleged corruption and mismanagement.
The board’s vote will permit the Newark School District to lease the property for 30 years, and the district’s agreement allows it to purchase the building for $1,000 at the close of the lease term. The proposed Riverfront Elementary School is set to open in the fall of 2028 on the site of a closed Catholic school.
Robert Jackson is one of the finance board’s members who voted to allow the lease.
“No one is debating the fact of the need, and I think there is a tremendous need for our school space in the East Ward,” Jackson said. “I also believe, as I said previously, that the costs — I believe something could be built a lot cheaper and done a different way.”…