Pershing Square Donates

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Pershing Square Donates 25 Mil to Zuck Match
Grant
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• The original article appeared in the best place
  to buy an essay and can be reached here.
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker is expected to announce
  Monday that he has raised 40 million of the 100
  million needed to match a grant put forth last
  week by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to help
  Newark schoolchildren.
• One major boost is from the Pershing Square
  Foundation, started by New York investor William
  Ackman, which pledged 25 million in recent days.
• On Friday, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Booker and New
  Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Mr.
  Zuckerbergs 100 million challenge grant on
  Oprah Winfreys television show, as well as Mr.
  Bookers intent to raise another 100 million.
  Mr. Christie controls Newark schools but has made
  Mr. Booker his point person on its turnaround
  plan.
• Im so encouragedby the level of support weve
  seen this early, Mr. Booker said in an interview
  Sunday.
• The mayor, who plans to announce how much he has
  raised at an education conference in New York,
  has been calling on potential investors to
  explain why they should give.
• A person close to the contributions said other
  new donors include billionaire Bill Gates and the
  founders of New York investment firm Eagle
  Capital Management, Beth and Ravenel Curry.
• The contributors come from as far away as San
  Francisco. Were honored to join this effort
  with our pledge of support, said John Doerr, a
  founder of the NewSchools Venture Fund, which
  supports entrepreneurial educational programs
  around the country and has pledged to support Mr.
  Bookers efforts with an undisclosed amount. Mr.
  Doerr is a partner at the venture-capital firm
  Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.
• Mr. Ackman said in an interview Sunday his pledge
  represents a belief that the problems in the
  Newark school system are fixable within a
  reasonable period of time. Mr. Ackman, who runs
  Pershing Square Capital Management, met Mr.
  Booker before his first mayoral run in 2002 (Mr.
  Booker lost) and has contributed to his campaigns
  since then.
• No decisions have been made about what exactly
  the 200 million would be used for in a district
  that is spending 940 million this year. About
  half of Newarks 40,000 students dont graduate,
  and more than 85 of graduates who attend a local
  community college need remedial help in math and
  English. Only a fifth of Newark graduates enroll
  in four-year institutions. The district is one of
  the highest-spenders in the country, at 22,000 a
  year per student.
• Mr. Booker emphasized that the first order of
  business will be to launch a comprehensive
  community-outreach program to engage the
  residents of Newark about what they view as the
  problems with schools and allow them to influence
  the potential solutions. During a weekend press
  conference, he said that effort will include
  showing residents teachers contracts that have
  been hammered out in other cities. Lets let
  Newarkers see what the possibilities are, he
  said.

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Mr. Booker singled out several contracts,
including that signed in Washington, D.C., where
teachers who can demonstrate that their students
make progress earn more, while teachers who cant
might lose their jobs. The president of the
Newark Teachers Union, Joseph Del Grosso, has
expressed openness to merit pay tied to student
progress, but he has had a strained relationship
with Mr. Booker. At the press conference, Mr.
Christie had harsh words for the teachers
unionthough he didnt specify whether he was
talking about the Newark union, a local of the
American Federation of Teachers, or the umbrella
group that represents most New Jersey teachers,
the New Jersey Education Association. Were
about yes, theyre about no, he said. Were
about tomorrow, theyre about yesterday. Were
about the kids, theyre about their
paychecks. In a statement, Randi Weingarten,
president of the AFT, said it was really
disappointing at a time when we need to come
together for our kids, Gov. Christie has arrived
at a conclusion without ever having a
conversation with me. Ms. Weingarten is likely
to play a major role in any attempt to
significantly change the Newark teachers
contract, which expired this summer. Ms.
Weingarten said that despite repeated requests,
the governor has never met with Mr. Del Grosso.
She added that teachers come to the issue of
school reform in Newark with high hopes, open
minds and good ideas. Mr. Zuckerbergs 100
million would be managed through a foundation he
is starting, while the money that Mr. Booker is
raising would be managed through a separate
foundation whose board members would likely be
the largest contributors. The people who are
investing this money in Newark have high
expectations and they are performance-driven
people, said Whitney Tilson, a Pershing Square
Foundation board member who will be Mr. Ackmans
representative on the board. We will look to
fund programs that have demonstrated proven
effectiveness in raising student achievement.
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