Despite an outcry of criticism and fervor from folks online who didn’t understand why Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation would lend their support behind a controversial Pennsylvania bill/school program that seeks to acquire $300 million for low-income students to attend private schools instead of the public school system—Jay and Roc are holding steadfast on their position.
In a statement sent to The Root, Roc Nation explained why they felt they needed to get behind this program citing their belief that it’s the only option they’ve come across that actually puts the needs of the children first and that the support isn’t politically motivated.
“While opposition dissects the future of public and private schools and debates our support of the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS), they are missing the most critical component of this entire equation – the children. Not once are the children mentioned. Not once are the dire proficiency levels of the children in Pennsylvania acknowledged,” the statement read in part. “At the end of the day, Roc Nation’s advocacy is centered around children and their right to seek the best options for quality education. If PASS scholarship legislation is approved, the initiative would empower parents and caretakers to evaluate multiple school programs and make informed scholastic decisions for the well-being of their children. Otherwise, parents are simply at the mercy of the system, where their kids’ academic futures are predetermined based on economic status and the location of their homes. The reality is the current system is fundamentally flawed and failing our youth.”
It continued:
Look at the facts of William Penn School District et al. v. Pennsylvania Department of Education et al, a case filed in 2014 by six Pennsylvania school districts, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, the NAACP-PA State Conference, and a group of public-school parents. Nearly a decade after the original lawsuit, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled in 2023 that the state’s education system had been so underfunded that it violated students’ constitutional rights. During the course of this lengthy trial, students were denied a fair chance of receiving a basic education. It’s unacceptable, heartbreaking and appalling. Based on the conclusions of this trial we must all agree that this issue, and the future of our children, can no longer be ignored.
Fortunately, due to the Commonwealth Court’s ruling, there is a bill passed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that would potentially bring $5.1 billion to school districts across the state and help close the disparity between the wealthiest and the poorest schools. Although it’s a positive development, it begs multiple questions – how will this change take effect? What’s the plan to deploy those funds? When will the schools be properly resourced? There is no tactical solution in place from the state and children are being forced to wait for answers. With every year that goes by, more and more children – particularly from poor districts – are missing out on learning opportunities and failing to maximize the full scope of their academic potential. The PASS scholarship programs being proposed all have clear and targeted criteria to ensure those in need – specifically households earning 250% below the federal poverty line – are eligible to receive financial aid. Not to mention that PASS scholarships would be funded by a separate tax funded state account, not assigned to public education.
Roc Nation’s passion for the PASS legislation is solely predicated on educational concerns for the children of the poorest zip codes in Pennsylvania. Anyone claiming our interest is political is political. If anyone would like to propose a more immediate solution, then we are all ears and would love nothing more than an opportunity to discuss. Until then, voting against PASS scholarships is the equivalent of telling Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable students that they must remain captive to a system that is not working for them. We simply want to provide caregivers with knowledge around bills that would propose a strategic, near-term solution to support their children. Parents should be free to evaluate the best academic options possible for their kids without becoming political pawns for public pundits.
See original story below.
Over the weekend, news dropped that Jay-Z and his label Roc Nation would be spearheading an educational campaign in Philadelphia to help K-12 students from low-income households secure $300 million in scholarships to attend the city’s private schools.
On Monday, Roc Nation reportedly hosted the first in the “Dine & Learn” series will which take place over the next two weeks, according to Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
However, that big scholarship number is not all it appears to be on the surface.
What Jay-Z/Roc Nation will be doing is providing their influence and power to host a handful of events in the city to inform residents about the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS)—a Republican-backed bill and school voucher program that seeks to obtain $300 million in taxpayer dollars in order to fund private and charter schools.
And where the water gets murkier is that the proposal is also backed by billionaire conservative, Trump-backer and Philly native Jeff Yass, who has notoriously pushed his “school choice” and his anti-public school agenda for a while.
With Yass’ involvement and other Republican’s backing this voucher program under Senate Bill 757 — which many critics have been calling out for its implicit goal to take resources away from public schools and instead divert them and deplete an already underdeveloped statewide school system — it lead many online to wonder why someone like Jay-Z would want to get involved.
“Roc Nation is not backing any particular bill or any political party. What we are backing is education.” said Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez in an interview with Huffpost. “We’re not forcing people to sign anything. We’re just educating them, which I would think everyone wants people to make informed decisions. We care about our people. We care about the children. And the only thing that I don’t see anywhere is anyone talking about the kids. People are talking about the public school system and how important it is, which I agree. I hear all about the budget, government, parties and bills, but no one’s talking about the children.”
“The kids in these zip codes are suffering right now,” she later added. “If you have a better solution, aside from making [students] wait until the public school system can get it together with the funding they are receiving, I am all ears.”
Perez has a point: As of February 2023, the Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled that the state’s school funding system was unconstitutional and that it must be reformed. However, residents and other critics of Senate Bill 757 don’t think a this school voucher program is the way to go about it.
“1) Read the fine print. THIS IS A GOVT VOUCHER PROGRAM. Voucher programs have not been shown to improve results for poor Black children because most cannot get into high-quality private schools,” wrote acclaimed writer Nikole Hannah Jones on X/Twitter once the news broke. She continued:
“2) Read the fine print. All of the money is coming from taxpayers, ie. the government. Roc Nation is not funding this, it is just launching an educational campaign that maybe it is being paid to do. I’m researching. But certainly, it’s involvement is to convince poor Black parents to leave the public schools. 3) What do you think that $300 million could do for improving those low-performing public schools? 4) It is a lie that these programs do not take from public-school funding. Fewer kids in the classroom means fewer dollars to the school. 5) This is a windfall to the city’s private schools at the expense of the public ones that most kids attend.”
Music veteran and award-winning film director Karlie Hustle echoed similar sentiments: “The ‘low-performing public schools’ that they are pulling kids from to send to ‘private schools’ could use these resources. But let me not scream into the void. The rich have divested from the concept of a fair and equitable education for all.”
Hustle added in a follow-up tweet, “Whether Jay-Z or the upper middle-class family on the block: if you have resources and don’t allocate them to local public schools, you are making a moral and political choice. Taking children out of public schools in favor of private IS PRECISELY what hurts the most vulnerable.”
“1. This is not good, it’s public school money to charter schools 2. Jay-Z isn’t donating $300 million; he’s the face of an event to lobby the state to spend it 3. Jeff Yass is coordinating this 4. THE SCHOLARSHIPS DON’T EXIST,” wrote another user.
“Not Jay-Z funding the Abbott children to move to Legendary Charter Schools instead of funding Abbott,” said another user, in reference to the fictional, beloved popular public school series Abbott Elementary and its “rival” school Legendary Schools.
However, there were some that still thought Jay and Roc Nation’s involvement was a step in the right direction.
“This is weird to me, 300 million wouldn’t fix Philly wouldn’t public school system. And that should be on the elected officials job to fix public schools not Jay-Z. Jay-Z is trying to even the playing field for low income homes and yall still complain,” wrote one user.
“Outrage w/o context. Philly pub school funding increased by $86M. Jay-Z didn’t create private school scholarship legislation. Historically these scholarships have subsidized students who dont actually need the funds, so the campaign should help ensure funds land where they should,” wrote another.