
The Melting of Mark Zuckerberg’s $100MM Donation to Newark Schools - obilgic
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/business/dealbook/the-melting-of-mark-zuckerbergs-donation-to-newark-schools.html?smid=tw-share
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RodericDay
I don't understand why if a financier or businessman says they're gonna "pull
their business" if higher taxes or minimum wage is enacted, this is seen as a
very important thing to take into account.

Meanwhile, if a teacher or a nurse says the same thing, you get:

> _The union boss, Joe Del Grosso, demanded a ransom of $31 million to
> compensate for what he felt members should have received in previous years —
> before agreeing to discuss any labor reforms._

Why isn't this "ransom" language used when businesspeople threaten to move
their business elsewhere, fire people, etc.?

~~~
adventured
Businesses get vilified all the time for that behavior.

Tesla got attacked a lot for their attempts to leverage the best deal possible
when pursuing a location for the gigafactory. Articles are still being written
about it. I must have read two dozen negative articles against the company
regarding that one thing alone. A few of which were on HN's front page. And in
that case it wasn't even Tesla threatening to pull existing business from a
location.

Why is it seen as an important thing? Ask California how much they've enjoyed
Texas pulling business from the state. Of course it's an important
consideration, the states compete with each other in most things including
where businesses choose to locate facilities.

~~~
andreasklinger
I think the main question here is balance.

We could have the same argument with pretty much everything - not only
companies / unions.

In the end each party is motivated to use its own power to optimize for their
end.

Systems like markets only seek equilibrium if there is a balance in power
between parties.

Balance needs to be a neutral position that's still beneficial (read fair) for
all sides.

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tdees40
Money is irrelevant to the problems of Newark schools. The problem that
plagues Newark's schools is old-fashioned segregation [1]. The whole district
is segregated, but individual schools are worse. Here's a school I literally
just randomly chose: it's 2% non-Hispanic white [2]. If Brown v. Board
disappeared tomorrow, no one in Newark would notice.

[1]
[http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/district/info/](http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/district/info/)
[2] [http://www.zillow.com/newark-nj/schools/louise-a-spencer-
ele...](http://www.zillow.com/newark-nj/schools/louise-a-spencer-elementary-
school-44819/)

~~~
pbreit
I don't think artificial integration is the solution. It certainly didn't work
very well in San Francisco. Kids should go to school in their neighborhoods.
Families should get involved. People need to start taking some responsibility
for making things better. I know that sounds right-wing but I really think
that's what needs to happen. And obviously it can. Just need humans to get
together and decide to change.

~~~
tdees40
So your position is "separate schools should make themselves more equal"?

~~~
emodendroket
Well, is that surprising? Politically speaking, in word the US is committed to
integrated schools but in deed it is not really a priority and most of efforts
do essentially look like "separate but equal." I think it's shameful but it's
reality.

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rayiner
> The union boss, Joe Del Grosso, demanded a ransom of $31 million to
> compensate for what he felt members should have received in previous years —
> before agreeing to discuss any labor reforms.

Zuckerberg's relatively hands-off approach to the donation seemed curious to
me. He's a savvy guy. Would he invest $100 million in a failing company
without replacing the existing leadership?

The problem in places like Newark isn't money. Newark City and Camden spend
$24-25k per student per year, just a couple of thousand less than expensive
suburbs like Monmouth County, and double the national average. When a system
that has plenty of money is that dysfunctional, there's a underlying reason,
and pumping money into it won't fix the problem.

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tankm0de
There was long-form about this awhile back. Interestingly the blame for waste
seemed to lay with both teacher's union and pro-reform consultants demanding a
big piece of the action. When teacher's union didn't get what they wanted they
manipulated the community of parents against the deal, which also ensured the
politicians/bureaucrats would not be held accountable for the squandered
opportunities and wasted money.

In short, it seems like places like Newark have bad schools because of bad
governance and rent-seeking behavior running rampant at the local level. The
state should be more firmly involved to police these issues.

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emodendroket
What makes you think the state would do so much better?

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tankm0de
The state is not perfect either but typically a larger organization has more
(professional) eyes on it, thus making it harder to mismanage or corrupt for a
special interest. Same rational as why Michigan steps in to run Detroit as it
was going bankrupt.

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devindotcom
How depressing. A colossal windfall for an ailing public resource desperately
in need of reform, and it's squandered in vendettas and hidden interests.

Even more depressing is that we didn't expect better.

Perhaps gifts like this should come with conditions like "75 cents out of
every dollar must be spent on in-classroom improvements" or "40 million
reserved for teacher requests." Second $100 million contingent on the first
being spent properly or something.

What a waste — not that, as many point out, Newark's school system can be
sorted out with a cash infusion. But $200 million buys a lot of band-aids.

~~~
emodendroket
I appreciate the sentiment but I don't think allowing Mark Zuckerberg to
direct exactly how the money is to be spent is really the best solution to the
problem.

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moron4hire
Is it better than what actually happened? You're going to wait a long time if
you're waiting for the "best" solution to your problems.

~~~
emodendroket
No, I'd say letting someone with no expertise play superintendent because he's
got a lot of money is arguably worse.

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kqr2
In retrospect, what would have been the best way for Mark Zuckerberg's
donation to have a meaningful impact on the Newark Schools?

~~~
blumkvist
Him overseeing spending personally.

~~~
pbreit
But since that's not feasible, surely he could appoint someone in his network
who should be able to tease out better results?

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cpursley
I don't understand the "schools need more money". My wife teaches in a Title 1
school housed in a brand new facility. It's not about the facilities or even
teachers as much as it is the student's family situation. The common trend
with her students is those who's parents who are involved perform better. The
focus should be how to create more of that.

~~~
sliverstorm
Maybe "more" isn't the operative problem, but when underpaid teachers pay out
of their own pockets to supply & decorate their classrooms, there would appear
to be a money problem.

There's also the general observation that if we want to empower teachers &
attract good candidates, it needs to be a reputable job and $32k salaries are
a major obstacle to that.

~~~
cpursley
I think you're missing my point. If the student does not have the basic
understanding of why an education is good for them and a parent who stays on
top of them, it does not matter how much money you throw at teacher salaries
or school facilities. There's case study after case study confirming that it's
not about funding. No doubt my wife would like a higher salary, but that is
not going to motivate an unmotivated student. It's the whole lead a horse to
water thing...

~~~
sliverstorm
Not to comment about your wife, but the notion is that if teaching is
reputable & pays well enough, they will be able to attract to the profession
more of the incredible individuals who as teachers can motivate & draw in
those unmotivated students.

I'm not sure if case-studies can cover this particular notion. It's a big
picture problem, like not enough women in engineering.

You could try to make the perverse counter-argument, that pathetic salaries
actually selects for people who care so much about the kids they will self-
sacrifice and perhaps those people are more likely to be the phenomenal-
teacher variety, but I've never seen evidence to support that.

Anyway my ultimate point is that whether or not increasing teacher pay to the
level they deserve fixes education and saves under performing students,
shouldn't preclude paying teachers what they deserve! But perhaps it is simply
an unrelated issue that is not relevant.

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ellebee213
Sad and frustrating. Not only will this deter future donations but it once
again highlights adults behaving badly. Given Newark's track record, the money
should have been: -given to a foundation to manage -restrictions should have
been placed on how the money could have been utilized -Newark as a whole or
individual schools or community partnerships should have been required to
submit spending plans -A grant writer could have been hired to leverage this
gift far beyond the $200 million as there are probably any number of federal,
state and private grants that could have been pursued to \- some measurement
of the impact of the various initiatives that were funded from the gift should
also have been tied to funding What Newark can not do is cry poor mouth again.

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lutorm
This seems a bit analogous to people winning the lottery. In other words, a
one time windfall without structures in place to handle it isn't likely to
make a lasting difference.

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drdaniel
Any news on his second donation to Bay Area schools? Was anything learned or
just another well-intentioned boon for useless consultants?

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hahamrfunnyguy
tldr: The money was wasted.

Did we really expect any different?

~~~
giaour
I remember the hype around this announcement, and yes, everyone expected it to
turn out differently.

~~~
merpnderp
Why? Money and education results don't correlate. Every single factor in
education is overwhelmed by parental involvement.

So maybe that $100 million should of been used to pay parents to participate
in their children's education.

~~~
VLM
> Money and education results don't correlate

Even if they did, see my math analysis above that roughly 1/5 of employees are
front line instructional and 4/5 are deadwood administrative. Therefore even
in the most superficial analysis 80% of the money will be wasted on metrics
and TPS reports and consultants. The reality of course is deadwood can cause
much more damage than a front line instructor, lets say 2x as much, so of the
$100M at least $90M would be wasted on deadwood and only $10M would get to the
instructors.

$10M to the instructors sounds helpful, but its a big district so it divides
out to only $10K or so per instructor. Figure a substantial portion of that
will be lost in paperwork and corruption (4 out of 5 employees exist to get in
the way...) so you only get $5K per teacher effective.

Assuming money equaled results, $5K isn't much. A math teacher could buy 50
brand new TI calculators, assuming buying brand new calculators increased
student results, which they probably don't. Or about ten ipads, so the ten
worst troublemakers could play angry birds and get out of the way of the rest
of the class. Or $5K is about two sets of new overpriced textbooks for
newark's very large class sizes. Again assuming any of those expenses give
results anywhere but the product sellers bottom lines... But even if they did
give results, they couldn't give much.

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merpnderp
Every single factor in education is overwhelmed by parental involvement. If
Mr. Zuckerberg wanted his $100 million to have an impact, he should have payed
parents to participate in their children's education.

~~~
sanderjd
I think teaching parents how to effectively participate in their younger
children's education would be a fantastic initiative. I know there is a subset
of parents who just aren't interested in participating, but I suspect there's
a larger subset who are interested but don't really know what to do. Would be
interested if anybody know of any initiatives like that!

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Bamafan
_" But it is downright chilling to watch the leadership team throw around buzz
phrases from business best-sellers with minimal focus on the nuanced
requirements of applying these principles to the education ecosystem
generally"_

Replace "education" with software and still applies. :)

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threatofrain
Consultants worth $20M? My god.

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pbreit
Can't he designate one person to make sure that a $100 million investment
works out better?

~~~
detaro
Sort of too late now... but could probably have been done by not donating the
lump sum, but setting up a "trust fund" that would give out money (or not) for
specific projects. This probably would have been met with more resistance and
more discussions, because it easily looks like someone external enforcing a
specific way, so everybody who is unhappy complains about that. And Zuckerberg
probably gives a good enemy figure for many in that regard.

Also, the structural issues would remain and even more impossible to tackle,
so I think a fund mostly could have slowed the process and probably would have
redirected the money to more small-scale issues (because these are easier to
get through). Which probably would have been the better alternative with what
we know now...

~~~
pbreit
Yeah, dropping in $100 million at once without seemingly much of a vision
doesn't seem exceedingly prudent.

