Bloomberg's plan has apparently been a hit this semester in certain NYC public schools, where families get paid for ensuring their kids go to school, have Dr checkups, and partake in standardized tests. I can't find the NY Times article I read a couple days ago (Sunday?), but here is some other info on it program:
NY Post's breakdown of paying the poor.
New York Times article from March 2007.
I think it's great that Bloomberg is revamping NYC public schools, supporting pay bonuses for teachers who's students kick ass on standardized tests, and for firing bad ones (shout out to my HS sophomore history teacher). But paying people to do things that are a priviledges we reveive as American citizens (education, free library)? I'm not so convinced.
"The Poor" (which I think is a very negative/unspecific term for who recieves these benefits receive:
-$50 for signing up for a FREE library card
-$150 for having a full time job. If you're a parent, shouldn't that be expected for the sake of your kids?
I have friends with mountains of student debt who work about 30 hours a week to pay their own rent. Why don't private funds delivered via Bloomberg answer their calls? They don't have full time jobs and those student loans can cost a ton more than a kid does for a year. They could end up as prostitutes on the street if the government doesn't come to rescue them!
In short, as long as my tax dollars aren't going towards paying people to do things that I believe to be basic parenting responsibilities, rock on Bloomberg. But it's not my job to pay parents to raise their kids.
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