The Corporate Takeover of Public Education in America
Reform Gone Wrong: Despite $100 Million From Facebook, Newark Schools Still Screwed Up
April 14, 2011Good Worldwide - Last September, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg famously went on the Oprah Winfrey Show to announce that he'd sent a $100 million friend request to the troubled Newark, New Jersey schools. Six months later, only $1 million of those funds has been spent and the community is bickering over how to best use the $99 million balance that's being held by the foundation that Zuckerberg started to administer the funds, Startup Education.
Controversy started right off the bat when Zuckerberg attached strings to the money, like demanding that Newark Mayor Cory Booker be given control of the city's schools. Due to abysmal academic performance and mismanagement, the 40,000 student-strong district has been under state control since 1995 and mayoral control is prohibited by New Jersey law. Governor Chris Christie went ahead and opted not to renew school superintendent Clifford Janey's contract—a new superintendent still hasn't been hired—and said Booker would play an "advisory" role to the schools.
Booker set out to match Zuckerberg's donations, raising $44 million from corporations and private donors like Goldman Sachs and the Broad Foundation. Booker's initial reluctance to be forthcoming about who was giving money created the impression that decisions about what will happen in Newark are being made under secrecy by outsiders.
He then spent $1 million surveying parents thoughts on education reform, and claimed survey results indicated community support of his reforms, like closing schools and bringing more charters to the city. But plans to shutter several schools in the district and make the remaining schools share their space with charters led to enraged parents and community members storming meetings to voice their opposition.
On Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced that he and Booker have decided to give another $1 million of the money to five new public alternative high schools. The city’s school advisory board opposed the decision but state officials overruled them. Rutgers professor Junius Williams summed up community sentiment when he told NJ.com,
"Most Newark schools will suffer cuts in teaching staff, social workers, counselors, and programs that will make schools interesting for the vast majority of Newark schoolchildren."Indeed, Zuckerberg's gift could easily close the district's $75 million budget deficit. Almost 400 district employees—teachers and other school personnel—are set to lose their jobs due to the shortfall.
What's happening in Newark a case study on school reform gone wrong. Everyone claims to be putting kids first, all while pushing their own agendas. Former school advisory board Richard Cammarieri aptly criticized the disunity and the general lack of cohesion, telling USA Today,
"It's like they have somebody trying to figure out how they can screw this up the most. Everything they've done is totally tone deaf."
For their part, Booker and Zuckerberg might want to look to the example of Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who was ousted by community members displeased with the steamrolling reforms of his school's chancellor Michelle Rhee. Booker nobly says he doesn't care about re-election, and if doing right by kids makes voters hate him, so be it.
Given that only half of Newark's student's graduate, it's easy to think that listening to the community and actually considering their opinions will do nothing but perpetuate the status quo. On the other hand, not involving parents and other community members in a transparent education reform process ends up breeding mistrust, which ultimately only hampers progress.
Five New Newark Schools to Get Nearly $1 Million from Facebook CEO Donation
April 13, 2011The nearly $1 million award, granted to five new public alternative high schools, was announced Tuesday following a week of open hostility after the city’s school advisory board opposed the schools set to receive grants. In an uncommon rebuke to the board, state officials, who have controlled the district since 1995, reversed the board’s decision.
While the money and schools may be a welcome development for parents and students, deep divisions loom in Newark over how the state’s largest school district will enact reform.
"I congratulate the educators of the new schools," said Rutgers professor Junius Williams, who leads the university’s Abbott Leadership Institute. But, he added, "most Newark schools will suffer cuts in teaching staff, social workers, counselors, and programs that will make schools interesting for the vast majority of Newark schoolchildren."
Even with the new schools, roughly 400 public school employees could be laid off next year to close a $75 million hole in the district’s $970 million budget.
The much-anticipated $975,000 Zuckerberg grant was supposed to be announced last week, but the fallout from the board’s vote delayed the rollout, district officials said.
The vote also divided board members and led to a public feud between chairman Shavar Jeffries and Newark power broker Steve Adubato. Some board members felt the decision to create the five schools should be made after this month’s school board elections, but others argued waiting would prevent the schools from opening in the fall.
Deborah Terrell, Newark’s interim superintendent, reversed the board’s vote Friday, saying the schools will go ahead as planned.
The five alternative high schools, set to be co-located in existing schools, will split the funds from the Foundation for Newark’s Future, which is administering the Zuckerberg money and matching funds. The $975,000 grant will be used to recruit principals, students and staff, as well as to plan curriculum. Starting July 1, the new schools will start receiving budgeted funds from the district.
Bard High School Early College Newark and Sakia Gunn High School for Civic Engagement will each get $225,000 from the grant. Newark Leadership Academy, Newark Bridges High School and Newark S.T.E.A.M. Academy will get $175,000.
So far, Mayor Cory Booker has raised $44 million to match Zuckerberg’s donation, most recently garnering $500,000 from the Broad Foundation and $500,000 from Goldman Sachs. The grant announced Tuesday comes directly from Zuckerberg’s foundation, Start Up: Education. No timetable has been announced for the remaining $99 million.
School leaders expressed cautious praise for the grant announcement.
"My initial reaction is this is good for kids, so I’m thrilled about it," said school board member Nakia White.
"I think it would also be great for kids to utilize that money to bring down class sizes and hire back some of the stellar teachers that we may have lost," she added.
Paul Tractenberg, a Rutgers law professor and founder of the Education Law Center, an advocacy group established in the 1970s to ensure funding parity for urban schools, praised the award going to public schools, but said it would not erase rancor in the community.
"I just think it hasn’t gotten off on a good footing," he said, adding that people in Newark were deeply distrustful of the reform process so far. "I’d like to believe that if we can get beyond that, the merits of the programs may win people over."
5 New Jersey Schools Get Grants from $100 Million Facebook Gift
April 12, 2011WABC-TV - Five new high schools in New Jersey's largest city have been awarded grants totaling nearly $1 million from last fall's $100 million donation made by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The awards were announced Tuesday by the Foundation for Newark's Future, the organization created to disburse the money.
BARD High School Early College Newark and Sakia Gunn High School for Civic Engagement each received $175,000 grants. Newark Leadership Academy, Newark BRIDGES High School and Newark S.T.E.A.M. Academy each received $125,000 grants. The five schools received an additional $50,000 each to help them open in the fall.
It's been six months since Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave the Newark School System a lifeline, a $100 million gift.
The first of that money to be seen in the classroom, almost one million, is a small percentage, but Mayor Cory Booker says it will go a long way.
"It's going directly to support new public school models in the City of Newark. Incredible school models that help with college achievement, with kids at risk for dropping out," Mayor Booker said.
It's a grant not without controversy.
"If I went out side and made any statement there would be someone who would oppose it. You can't stop because some people don't want great public schools," Mayor Booker said.
The city's schools advisory board opposed the grant, but state officials who have control of the district didn't take the advice.
Newark's acting superintendent says the board said it didn't have enough information.
"We have to look at what's best for our students, and to say you don't have enough information, that's not enough to stop the process," said Deborah Terrell, the Interim State District Superintendent.
A process of reform that both Ms. Terrell and Mayor Booker say is vital for the survival of Newark's students.
This is just one million of Zuckerberg's $100 million gift.
There's no telling how or when the other $99 million will be spent.
Mayor Booker has already raised $44 million to match the Zuckerberg grant.
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