Mark Zuckerberg Gave New Jersey $100 Million To Fix Newark's Schools, And It Looks Like A Waste

Business Insider ^ | 05/13/2014 | Caroline Moss

[SeekAndFind]

In the fall of 2010, Mark Zuckerberg announced on Oprah that he'd be making a generous gift to Newark, New Jersey. As Oprah said in her Oprah way, "one ... hundred ... million ... dollars" would be given to Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as the three began the Startup:Education foundation.

The plan was to turn Newark into what Zuckerberg called "a symbol of educational excellence for the whole nation," spent on retaining the best teachers, and creating environments that would produce successful students and, one day, graduates.

Newark is a city wrought with crime. Its graduation rate is about 67%. It needed the help, and Booker's vision sounded promising.

Between 2010 and 2012, The New Yorker reports that "more than twenty million dollars of Zuckerberg’s gift and matching donations went to consulting firms with various specialties: public relations, human resources, communications, data analysis, [and] teacher evaluation." Many of the consultants were being paid upwards of $1,000 a day.

“Everybody’s getting paid but Raheem still can’t read," Vivian Cox Fraser, president of the Urban League of Essex County, was quoted saying.

Today, the money is pretty much gone, and Newark has hardly become that symbol of excellence.

[fredhead]

I always heard that a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.

Kind of like Newark, huh?

[Dilbert San Diego]

so, did the largely minority student body in Newark not want to act white? In spite of all that money, liberals found to their dismay that simply adding tons of money didn’t solve the problem????

[relictele]

Any move that stops short of sacking nearly every teacher and ‘administrator’ is futile.

[Cowboy Bob]

He would have had better success if he spent the money trying to train a donkey to win the Kentucky Derby.

[GOPJ]

Zuckerberg’s a democrat. He would hate anything done by a Republican... If you think otherwise, get some reporter to ask him.

[kearnyirish2]

“Newark is a city wrought with crime. Its graduation rate is about 67%. It needed the help, and Booker’s vision sounded promising.”

That graduation rate is a lie; they still use “social promotion”, where illiterate minorities are given meaningless pieces of paper to show “progress”.

Mark Zuckerberg simply donated to the Democratic Party by funneling it through the teachers’ unions; after all, they own the party.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Zukerberg is free to wast his money however he chooses. However, if he actually wants to make a difference, he might consider contributing toward alternatives to the public school system. The competition would help the public schools, which are under-performing, as any monopoly tends to do.

[WayneS]

Of course it was a waste.

Newark New Jersey is a lost cause - and it has been for about 40 years.

[kearnyirish2]

“Any move that stops short of sacking nearly every teacher and ‘administrator’ is futile.”

Here in Nj the number of administrators is dropping as the property tax cap ensures income is used to pay for (unionized) teachers’ raises. Administrators have no such scam working, and are laid off to give teachers their raises.

[all the best]

“Liberals” are materialist who think money will solve anything. Just throw enough money at something a like magic it is transformed. And if it doesn’t work, it wasn’t enough. Throw more.

[I want the USA back]

Sending money to a corrupt administration won’t solve the problem.

[GeronL]

That is a sewer for money. Money goes into a government program and vanishes.

[jumpingcholla34]

Throwing money at inner-city students doesn’t work? Color me schocked.

[PGR88]

Giving money to Newark Government and expecting change?

Was his other choice sending money to Venezuela’s government?

He’s just a dumb-@ss, who happened to strike it rich on this Facebook score.

[Vince Ferrer]

It is only a failure if you didn’t understand the goals of the program. The program reduced income inequality by taking money from Suckerberg and redistributing it to upper middle class middle management. What’s to complain about?

[longfellow]

Eff him let him throw his money away, he stole it anyway.

[Kirkwood]

Schools today are >95% political indoctrination and <5% actually teaching academic skills and knowledge. So it makes perfect sense that >95% of that $100M went into the sewer.

[Liberty Wins]

if he actually wants to make a difference, he might consider contributing toward alternatives to the public school system. The competition would help the public schools, which are under-performing, as any monopoly tends to do.

Wow. Competition works?

[mowowie]

I have absolutely no problem with people of wealth but this Mark Zuckerberg character.....I just cannot stand even looking at him for some reason.