NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The superintendent of New Brunswick’s public school district will receive a $20,696.50 bonus after reaching several goals over the past academic year.

The city Board of Education approved the merit-based bonus for Aubrey Johnson this week, at its July 18 meeting. The payout comes on top of his $177,500 salary for the year, bringing his total earnings to just over $1980,000, according to information provided by the school district during the meeting.

To get the extra money, Johnson completed four of the five merit goals that he and the school board agreed upon last September. Each goal carried a certain amount of bonus money.

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For one, according to the district, Johnson launched and spearheaded an “aspiring leaders” program. That’s designed to target educators who wish to take on a greater leadership role. The team is focused on innovation and research, its members tackling a project and meeting with community figureheads.

Johnson earned additional money by creating a “parent academy,” which aims to improve communication with families, in hopes of better preparing for technology upgrades, standardized tests and more, according to the district.

Another goal the superintendent met centered on ways to refer fewer elementary school students to intervention services, according to the district.

Finally, the school board found that Johnson increased student literacy. They saw evidence of that in third-graders’ improved reading scores over the previous school year, according to the district.

As of press time, a representative of New Brunswick Public Schools didn’t provide TAPinto New Brunswick with the one goal that Johnson failed to hit.





Merit goals came about several years ago, when the state Department of Education moved to cap superintendent salaries.

Middlesex County’s interim executive superintendent signed off on Johnson’s bonus.

Johnson has led New Brunswick’s public school district for two years.