New Jersey’s largest school district spent $566,000 on an employee fitness center that averages just seven users per day, according to an Oct. 1 report from the New Jersey Office of the State Auditor.
Key facts: Newark Public Schools built the fitness center in the basement of its administrative headquarters. Auditors found the district spent more than $300,000 on construction without proper school board approval and circumvented competitive bidding requirements.
They also hired a personal trainer to work at the gym full-time with a salary of $86,490. The remaining expenses were for insurance, equipment and more.
All gym-goers worked in the administrative building.
Newark also spent $57,065 on a “Central Office Staff Fun Day” for employees and their children, again ignoring competitive bidding requirements. Another $711,943 went towards three Senior Day trips featuring carnival booths, rock-climbing walls, DJs and karaoke.
Auditors also said Newark overstated its student enrollment by 128 students in two annual submissions, resulting in $6.65 million in excess state aid. Newark disputes that finding.
The auditors said they referred “certain matters” to law enforcement, but there are no additional details.
Background: State Assemblyman Alex Sauickie requested the audit in April 2025 to investigate what he called “brazen and frivolous” spending at Newark. That included the staff Fun Day, $1.2 million spent on catering, and an AI security camera system.
Newark Public Schools paid salaries of $200,000 or more to 13 different people in 2025, according to records obtained by Open the Books. Superintendent Roger Leon made $325,382.
Critical quotes: Newark issued a press release declaring that auditors “found nothing” and the district passed “with flying colors.
Some state leaders saw things differently.
“Kids, families, and taxpayers got hammered while apparently the board was dozing, elected officials deflected or buried their heads in the sand,” Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia told the New Jersey Globe. “The superintendent ran the district like a drunk college kid on spring break with his parents’ credit card.”
Summary: Newark’s administrators may need to spend more time exercising their financial acumen instead of their pecs.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
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[ H/T WorldNetDaily ]
