Public schools shouldn't depend on handouts from billionaires

From the New York Times:

Although praiseworthy as a matter of personal philanthropy, the donation by the mayor and the others, whose names were not disclosed, is highly distressing as a matter of public policy. It is disgraceful that essential components of our public education system now depend on the charitable impulses of wealthy citizens.

A number of judges have begun to respond to the devastation in state education financing: in May, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered Gov. Chris Christie and the Legislature to reinstate $500 million in funds for poor urban districts, and last month, a North Carolina judge blocked cuts that would have decimated financing for a statewide preschool program. -- When schools depend on handouts

Related: NYT, 8/3/11, Private Donors, Including Mayor, Save January Regents 

Over the last several weeks, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a series of unusual fund-raising calls to a handful of wealthy New Yorkers. Would they be willing, he asked, to chip in $250,000 each to save some standardized tests?

Where did that Zuckerberg money go?

Remember Mark Zuckerberg's $100M gift to Newark Public Schools. Hey Mayor Booker, Gov. Christie -- Where'd the money go?  Public wants to know. ACLU files suit. But Booker acts outraged that anyone would dare to ask. He claims, "there are no documents."

Excuse me!

"As parents, as taxpayers and as citizens, we have a need and right to know how the money pledged to Newark’s public schools will ultimately serve Newark’s public school students," said Laura Baker, the grandmother of a Newark public school student who filed the initial OPRA request on behalf of the Secondary Parents Council, a 30-year-old group of Newark parents and grandparents. -- Star Ledger

Did they really give VanderArk his own chain of charter schools?

Tom VanderArk, was the Gates Foundation’s former executive director of education and a national proponent of online learning. His for-profit company was granted charters in 2010 to open a high school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and two others in Newark. The New York school, Brooklyn City Prep, also got space in a public school building — a precious and controversial commodity — hired a principal, and welcomed applications from 150 eighth graders this spring.

But after spending more than $1.5 million of investors’ money on consultants and lawyers, Mr. Vander Ark, 52, has walked away from the project, and the schools will not open as planned this fall, leaving others involved stunned and frustrated.  -- N.Y. Times

Powerful Dem backs N.J. T-Party gov's school voucher program

In an interview after the ceremony, Norcross said his interest in school choice was borne of moral obligation and old-fashioned capitalism. -- Star Ledger

High-powered Dem, George E. Norcross III rushed to Gov. Christie's side in the wake of the N.J. gov's chopper scandal. The billionaire insurance mogul who also sits on the Democratic National Committee, came out at a Camden rally and locked arms with the T-Party gov in support of his OSA school voucher plan for New Jersey. Sitting alongside Christie and Norcross was a who's who of the school "choice" (voucher) movement: Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf and several executives representing Excellent Education for Everyone, or E3.

"Cooper Hospital and my family's foundation are going to be involved in several new charter schools in the city of Camden," Norcross announced. He had previously signaled interest in establishing a new charter school in Camden, but Friday was the first time he stated definitively and in public that the wheels were already in motion. -- Courier Post

Besides being chairman of the board at Cooper Hospital, Norcross is actively involved in the redevelopment of Camden's Lanning Square neighborhood. A new cancer institution and teaching hospital are among the major facilities already under way.