An announcement on Friday that Roc Nation was launching a new, multi-million dollar initiative to provide scholarships for Philadelphia students caused controversy as the details became apparent. Many are slamming the company for supporting a school voucher program, which critics maintain is harmful to public education.

After ‘scholarship’ announcement, details emerge

XXL tweeted about the initiative on Friday, announcing, “Jay-Z’s Roc Nation will spearhead an educational campaign in Philadelphia that helps students K-12 from low-income households secure about $300 million in scholarships to attend the city’s private schools.” The tweet added that Roc Nation would hold events “to bring awareness to Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS)—Senate Bill 757—legislation helping to increase education opportunities for underprivileged youth in lowest-performing public schools.”

While this was initially presented as a huge benefit for Philadelphia students, the plan’s details were quickly picked apart by various organizations, experts and concerned commenters. Philadelphia City Council member Isaiah Thomas explained in a tweet that “these scholarships aren’t going to be paid for by Roc Nation, they would be paid for by taxpayers.”

“Jay-Z supporting Republican led legislation in Philadelphia was not on my 2024 bingo card,” read another comment about the story.

‘Read the fine print’

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones dissected the program in tweets responding to the story. Urging readers to “read the fine print” of the proposal, Hannah-Jones explained that the proposal was a school voucher program, noting that “voucher programs have not been shown to improve results for poor Black children because most cannot get into high-quality private schools.” Hannah-Jones further explained Roc Nation’s role in the program. “Roc Nation is not funding this, it is just launching an educational campaign that maybe it is being paid to do.” The purpose of Roc Nation’s involvement, she concluded, was “to convince poor Black parents to leave the public schools” while also noting that “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.”

HuffPost reported that the Roc Nation plan is meant to drum up support for the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success program, a Republican-pushed proposal in the Pennsylvania Senate that would give “low-income students in low-performing schools with scholarships to attend the school of their choice.” Democrats in the Pennsylvania House, meanwhile, are pushing a different bill that would send an additional $5.1 billion to the state’s public schools over the next seven years, a proposal that some Republicans criticize for lacking accountability for how the money will be spent.

Roc Nation’s managing director of philanthropy, Dania Diaz, said the company wants “to empower the youth and families with the knowledge to pursue their scholastic dreams, make their voices heard and become the leaders of tomorrow” in a statement, per HuffPost.

In a phone interview with the outlet, CEO Desiree Perez said Roc Nation “is not backing any particular bill or any political party. What we are backing is education.”

There has been a long debate over improving educational opportunities and decreasing disparities in areas like Philadelphia and across the country. While there are no easy answers, many say solutions like the school voucher program being promoted by Roc Nation won’t solve the problems and may make them worse for the students in public schools in Philadelphia and around the nation.

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