Thread: NYC To Test Cash Incentives For Poor

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NYC To Test Cash Incentives For Poor

RightBias News
March 30, 2007
NEW YORK, March 30 (UPI) -- New York City plans to move ahead with a test of a program that would pay poor families for good school attendance and other achievements.

The program is based on one in Mexico but would be the first of its kind in the United States, The New York Times reported. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in an announcement at a family services center in Brooklyn, said Thursday that 2,500 poor families would be selected at random for the program, and their progress would be compared to another randomly selected group of 2,500 poor families.

"In the private sector, financial incentives encourage actions that are good for the company: working harder, hitting sales targets or landing more clients," Bloomberg said. "In the public sector, we believe that financial incentives will encourage actions that are good for the city and its families: higher attendance in schools, more parental involvement in education and better career skills."

Families would get money every two months. Payments might range from $25 if a child is regularly attending elementary school to $300 for improved test performance.

How about everyone getting this benefit? I had a child who refused to go school and I finally had to take time to work to walk him into the school for his first class every day. I arranged to have his teacher call me if he skipped any class during the day. I could have used the money to make up for the time lost at work.