TAIM Exchange|Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to drum up support for private school vouchers in Philadelphia

2025-04-30 19:27:49source:Safetyvaluecategory:Finance

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jay-Z is TAIM Exchangeputting his weight behind an effort to fund private school vouchers in Philadelphia.

The entertainment mogul’s Roc Nation announced it is funding a campaign this month to drum up support for the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success, a statewide legislative proposal to spend taxpayer money on private school scholarships for low-income families in neighborhoods with low-achieving schools.

“We have enjoyed such a special connection with Philadelphians, so we’ve made it our mission to invest in the long-term success of the city’s changemakers,” Roc Nation Managing Director of Philanthropy Dania Diaz said in a news release last week.

Jay-Z has developed close ties to Philadelphia through Roc Nation’s annual Made In America festival and involvement in the REFORM Alliance, which advocates for criminal justice reform.

Vouchers are controversial in a lot of states — including Pennsylvania, where Republicans promote them as a way to help students escape underperforming schools, and teachers unions, school boards and many Democrats oppose sending taxpayer money to private and religious schools.

RELATED COVERAGE Judge agrees to let George Santos summer in the Poconos while criminal case loomsPennsylvania schools would get billions more under Democratic plan passed by the state HouseArpichaya Yubol shoots a career-best 61 to take the first-round lead at ShopRite LPGA Classic

Jay-Z’s support of the voucher bill drew pushback online. The AFT Pennsylvania teachers union said on the social platform X: “This ain’t it,” over a photo of Jay-Z and Jeffrey Yass, a billionaire who is the biggest donor to Republican campaigns in Pennsylvania. Yass’s top issue in the state is school choice.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a first-term Democrat, supported a Republican-backed proposal last year to send $100 million to families for private school tuition and school supplies. Shapiro later backed down in the face of House Democratic opposition.

More:Finance

Recommend

Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti

Haiti has been racked by political instabilityand intensifying, deadly gang violence.  Amid a Federa

Want to turn off the Meta AI chat on Facebook, Instagram? Take these easy steps to mute it

Artificial intelligence, or AI, remains one of the hot-button tech issues of the year, with an incre

Arizona governor’s signing of abortion law repeal follows political fight by women lawmakers

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ signing of the repeal of a Civil War-era ban on nearly all