By John Mooney
[…]Where the money has gone
Following is a breakdown of major contributions of $1 million or more, so far, according to FNF.
$48 million: NTU teachers contract, including $31 million in retroactive pay to teachers and the balance for new performance bonuses to “highly effective” teachers and those working in high-needs schools.
$5 million: Newark Charter School Fund, a fund aimed to support and leverage charter school growth in the city
$4 million: Newark Public Schools technical assistance grant, distributed to the district in Anderson’s first two years to help build human resources and other administrative capacity
$3.5 million: New rewards administered by the Newark Education Trust for principals working in high-needs schools and showing highest achievement growth.
$2.8 million: NPS Diagnostic and Transition Phase, for audit and other diagnostic studies of the district in Anderson’s first months.
$2 million: PENewark, a public relations campaign in 2010 that surveyed residents and held community forums on educational reform and improvement.
$1.2 million: My Very Own Library, an ongoing program that allows students in select schools to choose 10 books for their home “libraries.”
$1 million: Teach for America, the national teacher placement program, for recruitment and support of teachers in the first two years of the gift.
The balance of the money spent went to smaller programs and schools, some for start-up and others to help support ongoing work. These ranged from $15,000 to NJ After 3, the after-school program, to $550,000 for the new all-boys school in the district. The foundation also continues to pay $10,000 grants to individual teachers or teams of teachers proposing innovative and promising strategies.
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