Call it Bill de Blasio’s tax on giving.
How else do you explain his support for legislation that would force one of the city’s most generous and effective associations, the Central Park Conservancy, to give away 20 percent of its operating funds in this city to other parks? Or his bid to penalize charter schools for the private philanthropic support they receive?
Both these positions fit with the basic assumption at the heart of de Blasio’s bid for mayor: that government officials know how to spend people’s money better than the people who have earned it. Even more dangerous is that he’s apparently eager to impose the same philosophy to redistribute private charitable giving.
Let’s put aside the moral argument for a second. So much of the best this city has to offer exists only because some successful person used his or her wealth to found or fund some program or institution. That’s why we have the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which gets poor kids into good schools, and the Robin Hood Foundation, which supports everything from soup kitchens to prisoner re-entry.
It doesn’t occur to de Blasio that one reason people give to these things is that they get more accountability for their dollars. And if they don’t see the results they’re after, they stop the flow of dollars — unlike with failing government programs.
The same goes for de Blasio’s bashing of “wealthy charters.” Fact is, part of the reason charters need private money is they get no funding for capital expenses. And if Bill de Blasio really wants to ensure the city give all its schoolchildren fair and equal funding without regrard to race, religion or economic standing, there’s a very easy answer: Issue each city schoolchild a voucher for the exact same dollar amount.
If the issue is fairness, shouldn’t de Blasio be calling for his son Dante’s school, Brooklyn Tech, to share its $12.7 million endowment — raised largely by successful alums — with other, less wealthy public schools? After all, if that’s the logic he wants to apply for the Central Park Conservancy and public parks, why not for Brooklyn Tech and public schools?
Let’s be clear: We think it tremendous that Dante is getting a great education with the help of a multimillion-dollar endowment. And we’re not for taking a dime of it away. We just wish his dad weren’t pursuing policies that would shut off the same opportunity for other children in that other New York he claims to represent.