Posted on 03/05/2015 6:42:03 AM PST by Kaslin
Pop star Taylor Swift has donated $50,000 to the New York City public school system. Swift, who was named the world's sixth most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine, has commendably performed numerous acts of charity since moving into her $20 million Tribeca residence last year, including visits with sick children at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The age and cultural divide notwithstanding (she's 25, I'm not, and Elvis was my adolescent icon), I like Taylor Swift, but her money would have been better invested with much higher returns somewhere other than the dreadful New York City public schools, whose problems are not the result of insufficient funding.
According to the Huffington Post, citing U.S. Census Bureau data, "New York spent $19,076 per student in the 2011 fiscal year, as compared to the national average of $10,560." In 90 of the city’s public schools, Families for Excellent Schools found that not a single African-American or Hispanic student received a passing grade on state tests.
If there were a correlation between spending and achievement, it ought to show in grade and graduation performance and state test scores, but it doesn't. A Heritage Foundation study concludes: "Continued spending increases (on public education) have not corresponded with equal improvement in American educational performance. Long-term National Assessment of Education Progress reading scale scores and high school graduation rates show that the performance of American students has not improved dramatically in recent decades even though education spending has soared."
If Taylor Swift is looking for a return on her investment in the currency of better student achievement, she might consider donating to the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF). It takes students out of failing and underperforming New York schools and places them in private schools where, in addition to academics, they learn virtues that teach them not only how to make a living, but how to live a productive life.
CSF President Darla Romfo tells me 92 percent of CSF students graduated on time last year, compared to a graduation rate of 64.2 percent for all New York City public schools. Of those CSF students who graduated, Romfo says, "89 percent are enrolled in college, including Columbia, Cornell, Fordham and NYU." Most students are African-American or Hispanic and would not have had much of a chance at life had they stayed in their public school. Most liberal politicians, often beholden to powerful teachers' unions that gather votes for them, work in opposition to school choice initiatives, ultimately condemning poor and minority children to substandard, underperforming public schools. Better to retain the votes than reform the system.
To his credit, New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo has included an education tax credit in the state's current budget. The State Senate has passed the bill. It awaits action by the House. Predictably, the teachers unions oppose it, calling the measure "a back door voucher program."
CSF chairman Mike McCurry, a former press secretary to President Bill Clinton and the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), says if the measure becomes law, it will "generate millions of dollars in new charitable donations to help school children and teachers, including nonprofit entities that provide educational programming and organizations that provide scholarships to children from low-income and working families."
CSF New York is currently managing and partially paying for scholarships for more than 8,300 children. Their students (they call them "scholars" because words have power and contribute to self-esteem) live at or below the poverty line (average family income is $31,432). Yet families contribute at least 25 percent of their child's tuition each year.
In one of her hit songs, Taylor Swift sings: "Oh, I'm just a girl, trying to find a place in this world." So are thousands of New York City poor and minority girls and boys whose lives would be greatly improved if Swift's next donation goes to the Children's Scholarship Fund.
He’s not attacking her. He’s only suggesting that donating to the NY public schools is a waste of money—there’s better places to donate.
I see it as a clumsy and stupid attack on someone who, far differently than most of her peers, understands the gift of charity. She could just as easily blown that 50k on baubles or vacations and no one would have said a thing.
YMMV
This is either sarcasm, or you didn’t read the article.
Cal certainly commended her other activities. He just pointed out that giving money to the public school system is a waste of resources.
Where does he attack her? The attack is against the NY City school system.
My wife is a Realtor(R). She subscribes to a magazine for high-end doo-dads which some human do dos might want for their homes. One of the items I saw in that magazine was “gold fleck infused” toilet paper at $1,000.00 a roll. My first comment was what sort of moron would pay that much to wipe her behind with that product and then flush it down the toiler? Now I have the answer to my question:
Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift gets photographed in Beverly Hills wearing $26 skirts. I doubt she wipes her ass with gold-infused toilet paper.
She may as well have burned it.
Mean Girls moment? Taylor Swift appeared to be somewhat annoyed sitting next to Sarah Palin, as cameras caught the air of awkwardness between the pair at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Celebration
Commie education failure
Only because they're not spending enough of the taxpayer's money. /sarc
I thought only liberals told other people how to spend their money? It’s her money and she can spend it any way she wants. Yes, and she could burn it, too if she wishes.
You could just as easily look at that photo and say Palin is equally annoyed to be sitting next to Swift. Actually, it appears Swift is looking at the screen. Or maybe she's annoyed at having to sit next to Steven Spielberg? The truth is, Taylor Swift is a big enough star that she could've sat anywhere she wanted to and at the very least, would not have been forced to sit next to someone she loathed.
I can't believe people are trying to read something into a snapshot?
What are Swift's politics? While both parties try to claim her, she wisely refuses to discuss the issue.
I’m not telling her how to spend it or that she can’t do what she wants with it, I’m telling her what she did with it was ***king stupid.
What exactly is wrong with that, Russ? I thought only liberals told other people what they couldn’t offer an opinion.
None of Cals business. Taylor sang the song, got paid, and has the right to use her money as she sees fit.
And she’s been an all around nice girl.
Donating 50k to a school, is like wiping your butt with gold flecked toilet paper. Sounds like something I’d hear out of the real estate world. They think odd things.
I’ve always thought paying a real estate agent a percentage commission is like wiping with gold flecked toilet paper. It takes the same effort to sell a 600k house as it does a 300k house, so I don’t see twice the payday.
Yeah, that 1/32nd of a second tells us Taylor doesn’t like Sarah. You can’t be serious. Let me give you the Siri here. If those two disliked each other, they would have sat elsewhere.
That’s just a moment in the program. Everyone around has an odd look on their face. Taylor is clearly looking up at something on a screen too.
Bad data.
“Taylor Swift is a big enough star that she could’ve sat anywhere she wanted to and at the very least, would not have been forced to sit next to someone she loathed.”
Exactly. Sarah and her both have that power.
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