Before the founder of Facebook gave $100 million to public schools in Newark, former mayor Cory Booker already had a plan to transform the district, and Gov. Christie, who controls the schools, had already approved it.

They wanted to make Newark “the charter school capital of the nation" and get rid of ineffective teachers, according to a confidential memo obtained by author Dale Russakoff. 

In her book, “The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools,” Russakoff reveals Booker and Christie chose to rely on private philanthropy, instead of public funding, to institute controversial changes without a public process.

"With philanthropy you don’t need to have a Democratic process," Russakoff said. "You don’t need to have public input, you don’t need to have a public vote, you can just move much more quickly."

In her book, out today, Russakoff outlines where $200 million in donations went.

Where the $200 Million Went 

• $89.2 million committed to teacher and principal contracts
• $57.6 million to expand and support new charter schools in Newark 
• $21 million to consultants, some paid $1,000 a day
• $12 million to projects of local philanthropies
• $1 million to Teach For America 
• $10.7 for elementary school libraries, start up costs for four new district high schools, early childhood programs, youth and leadership development, etc.

Note: Figures are as of January 2015. Smaller grants are not included.

Russakoff chronicles how venture capitalists gave Booker millions of dollars without setting benchmarks or measures of success. They gave money, she writes, because they believed Booker could change the world and they wanted to be a part of it.

Excerpt from "The Prize:" "As young finance people, they looked at a guy like Cory at this stage as if they were buying Google at $75 a share. They were talking about him being the first black president before he even got elected to the city council, and they all wanted to be a part of that ride. If it was 25 years, that was fine. They were in."

Russakoff followed 17-year-old Alif Beyah's progress in school since he was in the 6th grade to see how the $200 million reform was helping him. 

Alif’s Story

Alif was reading at a second grade level when he was in 7th grade at BRICK Avon School.

With the help of a tutor and a focused support system he jumped three levels in one year.  But the transition to high school did not go well. He failed freshman year English and his school closed. 

“This was a kid who desperately needed and wanted support in language arts,” Russakoff said. “He didn’t have support and he was in a new school.” 

Alif’s new school didn’t offer him math or English his entire first semester and no one was paying enough attention to realize it.

Click play to hear Alif’s story and the problems encountered by the school reform plan in Newark.