By Kathy Amoroso
October 4, 2010

Newark (NJ) Mayor Cory Booker is joining forces with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an effort to boost student achievement and jump'start education reform in Newark schools, the two announced in an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, September 24. Zuckerberg has agreed to donate $100 million to improve Newark's long-troubled schools, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will surrender some control of the state-run school system to Booker to coincide with the generous grant.

Newark's schools have been under state control since 1995, when New Jersey seized control of the system and declared the city's schools a failure. At that time, the state replaced the elected school board with a far less powerful advisory board. Although the planned changes would not formally alter the legal power the state currently holds, Christie does intend to give Booker a major role choosing a new superintendent and redesigning the system, while retaining the right to retake full control.

Both Booker and Christie support education reforms such as improving school choice by expanding access to public charter schools, and tying teacher pay to students' academic achievement.

The challenge grant is to be matched by additional fundraising and distributed over five years by Zuckerberg's new foundation, Startup: Education. Booker announced that he has secured $40 million of the $100 million needed to match the grant from the Facebook CEO to transform Newark schools, when he appeared alongside Zuckerberg and Christie on NBC on September 27, as part of “Education Nation,” a week-long summit hosted by the network to address low student outcomes and the education crisis in America. “We have $60 million to go,” Booker said. “When we get to $200 million, we will have a powerful tool in our toolbox to get things done.”

Booker stressed that the first priority will be to kick-off a comprehensive community-outreach initiative to engage Newark residents for their input on potential solutions for the city's education woes.