Mark Zuckerberg's New Jersey Education Donation Hits Legal Snafu

What began as a swashbuckling move by the mayor of Newark, N.J., the state's governor, and a newly minted billionaire to reshape the beleaguered Newark school system has turned into a tangle of blowback and counterpunches as skeptics contend their plan would violate state law.

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Comments

[jackstpaul]

01:50 AM on 10/06/2010

This legal stuff about where authority resides is no surprise. I've been expecting to hear that the proposal would run into legal barriers. Nice PR move by Facebook J.erk, though.

[caribindian]

12:44 AM on 10/06/2010

Ok now go fix FB cause it crashes every other day....

[mauibob]

12:42 AM on 10/06/2010

Liberals will never give up control regardless of how destroyed the education system gets. It's about the power and the unions, not the kids.

[tangolas]

12:35 AM on 10/06/2010

Bushes Big Boy 'aint gonna let that doe go to the 'public schools'. Hes Privatization Nation, Union buster all the way. I smell a rat.

[breakingpoint]

09:31 PM on 10/05/2010

he should have donated it anonymously - it was a PR stunt and millions in free advertising

[3 magi]

11:10 PM on 10/05/2010

yep...he had to go on Oprah and get his ego-strokes...the very week the Movie launched.

[GoodRead]

09:06 PM on 10/05/2010

Here is what I learned from reading the article:

[a] In addition to Zuckerberg's $100 million, there is a match of another $100 million
[b] Newark's schools have been under state control for 15 years
[c] Newark already spends $22,000 per pupil each year
[d] Half of Newark's students fail the state's regular graduation


If you take [a] times [b] and divide it by the inverse square root of 1 over [c] and subtract [d], what you will get is that money is not the problem in Newark.

[Seafarer61]

05:29 PM on 10/05/2010

When peoples' pieces of the pie are put at risk, all of a sudden what is best for the kids becomes secondary. This knock down drag out to preserve power and influence while the system is crumbling is pathetic.

[Greg Bell]

06:45 PM on 10/05/2010

True, perhaps, but this also must be seen as a virtual privatization of the Newark school system - a school system that New Jersey taxpayers ALL already pay to fund. Why should just these three individuals be allowed to upend a system that a majority of citizens has put in place without any say on their part? Who speaks for the tax payer dollars that will STILL go to this system? A mayor and a governor who've now been publicly co-opted by private funds? Money alone, or at least the lack of it, is not the problem in Newark, whose funding is already at a high level. It is not at all clear that these three men and all the money in the world will fix a problem that clearly does not exist in a vacuum. And when has education ever only been about the kids? It's easy to dismiss the concerns of other interest groups, but the alternative to NOT addressing their concerns is their walking away from something they no longer feel is in THEIR interest, as well. As in all of life this too is a balancing act and you shift too far this way or that at the possible peril of more than just this system breaking down. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done - just that it should be done with some caution if at all.

[GregCoyote]

05:06 PM on 10/05/2010

My understanding is all the money was to go to charter schools, furthering the demise of our once excellent public schools system. Why is everything always about the money that can be skimmed off the top by politicians and other fat cats? We can't even agree on the importance of our schools and education. Ignorance is the tool the right depends on, so why should they be in support of education, it just spawns more democrats. Fox News, Rush and Glenn will tell you what you should be thinking, just relax!

[hope for change]

05:20 PM on 10/05/2010

This money is to go toward the schools in one city, Newark. When were Newark public schools ever "excellent?" They are failing the children who are forced to attend them because their parents can't afford private schools, or they were not fortunate enough to get picked to attend a charter school.

[tangolas]

12:37 AM on 10/06/2010

You answered you own question. It was never about the Public Schools. This is an all out assualt on the Teachers Union and the Public School system.

[studioh!]

05:03 PM on 10/05/2010

oh! the fine print.
punk genius billionaire; 2 out of three it is

[chachablix]

04:59 PM on 10/05/2010

the system is broken. zuckerberg should really give the money to some private non-profit for education instead of some corrupt government institution.

[grandma58]

04:50 PM on 10/05/2010

Wow. Something needed is going to take the lifetime of the children in need to fix.