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[Mammoth Jones]

Government is poor at spending other people's money because most government solutions nowadays amount to:

"Keep government out of it, and let the private sector work its magic."

Case in point: Charter schools.

Charter schools aren't the problem. They're a symptom of the problem in public schools. I didn't go to a charter or private school because our public schools were good. But take those decent public schools and turn them into shit then it's no wonder many parents are willing to try private/charter schools as an alternative.

Government is bad at spending other peoples money because the people aren't in the street flipping the fuck out when their money gets poorly spent. But hey, House of Cards is 4K in June. Sure, in 100 years our kids will be so dumb we won't even be to innovate technology and solutions but whatevs.

Edit: This is just one example that I always consider when the magic charter school bullet point is brought up:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/education/28school.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

A school can work together with its union, not fire employees, and actually be successful. I know, in this day and age, unions and "BIG" are two big no-no words, but that's a false dichotomy.

I didn't bring up Charters school, lol. But ok.

 

[xbhaskarx]

im sure its a smear campaign against christy

I'm guessing you don't know who Corey Booker is.... the mayor of the actual city is a little closer to the problem of Newark's schools than the state governor.

 

[PhoenixDark]

I feel bad for Zuckerburg on this. What a waste so far.

Why feel bad for him? Him being a sucker is his fault. Who gives $100mil to someone who doesn't have a clear, concrete plan on how to spend it, and then sits back and doesn't follow back on how the money is being spent? A smart person would have had his own advisers involved to make sure things were being done well.

Really just further confirms that he's not a good businessman. He's really smart, he created a great thing in Facebook, but he's not the guy I'd want running a company.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Why feel bad for him? Him being a sucker is his fault. Who gives $100mil to someone who doesn't have a clear, concrete plan on how to spend it, and then sits back and doesn't follow back on how the money is being spent? A smart person would have had his own advisers involved to make sure things were being done well.

Really just further confirms that he's not a good businessman. He's really smart, he created a great thing in Facebook, but he's not the guy I'd want running a company.

He's not a sucker at all. He got 100million of good publicity. If it fails (which it did) it's not his fault. He gave money.

 

[Enduin]

Most school systems in the country aren't lacking funds, they're lacking authority over those funds and proper administrators at the school level to use them.

There's a reason private, and especially catholic, schools out perform public ones at a much lower cost per student. Most public school systems are heavily centralized and give little financial authority to the actual schools themselves, they're dictated to from on high and given what is deemed necessary and appropriate to their needs, where private schools have near complete control over every dollar spent and can use that money to most effectively help their students.

The state might spend 35k on little Suzy in public schools, but the actual school itself likely only has direct access to a fraction of that 35k. Where as a private school may only spend 25k per student, but they'll most likely have direct access to the majority of those funds to use as needed.

 

[captmcblack]

I want to believe Booker wasn't the bad guy here, and that it was more to do with Christie...but really, everyone failed here.

 

[iamtheb]

Know how you help those kids? You give those money directly to the parents of those kids.

This isn't a very good idea. A lot of parents aren't, well, good parents and they don't have their children's best interests at heart.

 

[Blader]

yeah, giving the money to parents instead seems like a heavily misguided idea.

 

[mreddie]

Let me guess, it went to the city suits and not the schools.

 

[DSN2K]

should have spoken to Bill Gates...would have been advised well.

 

[timetokill]

yeah, giving the money to parents instead seems like a heavily misguided idea.

As terrible as it would certainly be, it STILL would've likely been more effective than what it ended up being used for.

 

[entremet]

Sad, sad, sad.

 

[AntoneM]

200 million is 4k per student. That's not a whole lot when you get down to it. Is that even enough to cover free lunch for every student for a whole year?

 

[Zoe]

And this is why I don't feel bad at all during school budget votes and voting "no" for increases when people say "but it's for the kids"...the people involved in this should be fucking ashamed of themselves.

Sometimes schools really don't have the money to do what needs to be done.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

200 million is 4k per student. That's not a whole lot when you get down to it. Is that even enough to cover free lunch for every student for a whole year?

The average school year across the US is 180 days. $4k would get every student steak for lunch lol.

 

[mavs]

I remember admiring Corey Booker back during his first mayoral run. Now I wish he'd go away. Typical politician

The mayor, Hugh Addonizio, previously a U.S. representative, said, when he returned, “There’s no money in Washington, but you can make a million bucks as the mayor of Newark.” In 1970, he was convicted, with four others, of having extorted $1.4 million from city contractors. The next two mayors, Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James, both African-American, also became convicted felons. Booker is the first Newark mayor in fifty years not to be indicted.

Atypical in one respect?

 

[perfectchaos007]

$1000 a day to be a middle man? I want that job! I wish I had a network with those connections.

 

[IISANDERII]

 

[Biff]

The world may hate bankers, but give them that $100 million and a year later the school board would get back $110 miilion (after commissions and management fees of course).

Give $100 million to consultants and you get back empty PowerPoint pitches with 3 step plans to springboard long-term synergy generation. Or in other words, itsfuckingnothing.gif

Consultants are the real shitheads of the 7-figure club.

 

[SUPREME1]

Chris Christie approved initiative.

Hehe.

 

[JABEE]

This is why non-profits for the most part are a load of crap. Tax people and use these funds to make the schools and other programs as a whole better. No need for Daddy Warbucks to come around and give money to pet projects.

Brown and Harvard University are non-profits even though they are flush with billions of dollars in cash. Rich people can just give money to their alma maters and get huge tax write-offs. Only people with parents rich enough or with lineage get into these universities, so they are essentially only distributing their income to high-income families and their children.

If you want to do income re-distribution in a way that eliminates income inequality in a real way, you have to do it on society as a whole. There is no need for piece-meal pet projects, and fund your dog's liver transplant campaigns. Force people to give back to the community in a meaningful way. Even if it doesn't mean you can get dressed up and parade around with your yuppie friends at benefit dinners or see some puppy smile at you.

Help all people, not just cute people. Help homeless people, people who aren't like you, people you may not even like. Help people because you know it means that society as a whole will improve. That's what is missing from these kinds of charitable donations. Too many people think they're Jesus coming down and saving the little people.

Pay REAL taxes and you wouldn't have to do these stupid half-assed campaigns. Build systems that work with funds that aren't so transient and dependent on saviors looking for an ego boost.

 

[bodyboarder]

$1000 a day for a consultant is only a $125 bill rate. That's not abnormal at all.

Yeah, I've seen much higher.

 

[Wall]

Zuckerburg actually comes out looking the best of all the parties involved if you actually read the article. The rest of the actors ..... not so much.

At best, I think it is a case of good intentions gone horribly wrong. The reformers had a massively inflated sense of what they could achieve given the scale of the problems they were facing. Even if the were able to implement their plans without any resistance, there was no way they accomplish what they said they would given the problems faced by the district, especially given the fact that the fallout from the financial crisis was going to force budget cuts. It was always going to be a matter of plugging leaks while others formed in an already leaky boat. In any event, having a group of wealthy outsiders try to implement a top down solution on a population that has been fucked over since forever was guaranteed to blow up in the reformer's faces.

In the end, it looks like it is coming down to a power struggle between the local party bosses and the "ed reform industry". The kids and people of Newark, of course, get caught in the middle. Christie is what he is (a power hungry crook), Booker is self-promoting megalomaniac, and the mayoral candidate opposing them just looks like a member of the local political power structure looking to protect his interests.

 

[Shiv47]

Was expecting some kind of GTA photoshop with "WASTED" in it. C'mon, GAF.

 

[gdt]

This is heartbreaking. Newark is my home town and I love the city. Grew up in the North Ward which was a nice place to live, but I want the city as a whole to get better. Even up there, the high school is horrific. Barringer High is like a scary story you tell your kids.

I went to a tech school which was pretty much the same, and got some credits out of it. Plus people weren't knifing each other in the hallways.

Edit: The redevolpment in Downtown is really something to see. But you hear this and it really starts to make you think of The Wire...

Edit: BH, 1 out of 10 on some site http://www.greatschools.org/new-jersey/newark/1317-Barringer-High-School/

Sweet jesus at the "parent reviews" Is that a joke? I'm dying here.

 

[-PXG-]

This is a fucking shame

 

[terrisus]

no review of priorities and spending sounds like it would always lead to a disaster.

Pretty much.

"Here's $100,000,000. Put it to good use improving that education!"
"Sure... We'll do that..."

4 years later...

"Hey, how's that education thing going?"
"Oh... Yeah... About that..."


For all the people saying it's terrible and horrible and everything... Who couldn't have seen this coming a mile away?

 

[elrechazado]

So they are just as good wasting private dollars as public. Shocked

 

[zomaha]

humans can suck so hard

 

[Fuzzery]

This sucks so much. He should have made a company maybe instead of just donating it.

Good on zuck though.

 

[Malleymal]

My dad grew up in Newark and luckily Basketball brought him out of there, but when I go back and see family, it pains me to see how bad it is.

 

[Piecake]

Thats awful. That money would have been much better spent on an excellent pre-k education program for Newark. Of course, the results of that take a while to become apparent, so its not surprising that politicians wanted a 'quicker' fix.

 

[Ether_Snake]

He should have given his money to Green Bronx Machine.

This guy did more than Zuckerberg's 100 million dollars. He could change all of the US with more money, like he is doing in NY which is: reducing crime, improving children health, sinking dropout rates to nothing, creating jobs, with not a cent of tax dollar.

 

[terribletwo]

not surprising. everything about education is set up to rob people and divert all funds away from the student and teacher as much as possible

 

[figadapaura]

What do I have to do to become a consultant? Shit.

 

[CornBurrito]

people trusted the government to handle $100 million with honor and integrity and made sure not one penny was wasted?


how naive

Would you trust a business?

 

[Loki]

control f: consultants

Yep that's a great way to waste money without really doing anything..

Yup. I have lots of family in the school system here in NYC, and it is ABSURD how much various "consultants" get paid. Some in the multiple hundreds of dollars an hour. Not sure how any of it is justified.

 

[Aesius]

The world may hate bankers, but give them that $100 million and a year later the school board would get back $110 miilion (after commissions and management fees of course).

Give $100 million to consultants and you get back empty PowerPoint pitches with 3 step plans to springboard long-term synergy generation. Or in other words, itsfuckingnothing.gif

Consultants are the real shitheads of the 7-figure club.

Yeah, I never realized how true it is until I started working with consultants at my last job.

It was mind boggling. These guys had no clue about anything, yet they were getting paid 10x as much as me and the managers treated everything they said like it came down from God himself.

I'm pretty sure both of the major projects they worked on failed miserably.

 

[CornBurrito]

How do I become a consultant?

 

[entremet]

How do I become a consultant?

Business school is a decent entry point.

 

[FStop7]

A towering example of how you can't just throw money at problems.

 

[terrisus]

How do I become a consultant?

So you're saying you want a consultation on becoming a consultant?

$1000 a day seems to be the going rate on that.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Damn GAF, I actually want to be a consultant (in biotech).

 

[terrisus]

Damn GAF, I actually want to be a consultant (in biotech).

Hey, at least you know you can get good pay in it!

 

[Haly]

More evidence that you can't just throw money at problems and expect them to go away, no matter how much people like to think so.

 

[CrankyJay]

Sometimes schools really don't have the money to do what needs to be done.

Sure, and in my personal experience and in my school district it's because of mismanagement of money and unsustainable pension deals.

 

[Drazgul]

More evidence that you can't just throw money at problems and expect them to go away, no matter how much people like to think so.

Sure you can, you just need the right people - it's just that government drones are usually the opposite of that. I would've used some of that $100M to hire people to oversee that the money was being used properly, and give regular reports on how it's all proceeding. With the stipulation that if they couldn't reach the initially set goals, they wouldn't be seeing the rest of the money.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

New Jersey

 

[Camp Lo]

Someone lined their pockets super heavy off that deal.

 

[Haly]

you just need the right people

This is what I was getting at. It's not merely enough to have a budget, but an efficient system is necessary to turn those monetary resources into results.