They say virtue is its own reward, but the city of New York thought some cash wouldn’t hurt.
Using private money — but with a plan to use government money if the program worked — the city started paying poor children and their parents to do things they ought to do anyhow.
Some examples:
* A parent who went to the dentist got $100.
* Children could get $50 a month for attending school regularly.
* Students who passed certain exams in high school got $600.
On average, participating families were able to pull down more than $3,000 a year.
The program cost tens of millions of dollars, but three years into it, city officials started looking for evidence that the payoffs were working. They came up short. There was minor improvement in dental checkups, and some high school students who had already been doing pretty well went to school more regularly and did somewhat better on tests.
But middle school and elementary pupils saw no improvement in attendance or academic achievement. And high schoolers who had been doing poorly before continued to do poorly despite the bribes.
The saving grace of the program is that it was financed with private, rather than public funds. And the poor results have persuaded New York not to embark on a state-financed version.
That is no doubt a relief to New York taxpayers. They shouldn’t be forced to bribe people just to do what they should be doing anyway.