Money for schools -- but only some
I'm trying to determine what the NewSchools Venture Fund is and how it works, and I thought maybe sharper minds than mine could figure it out.
It's sort of a venture capital firm, and its top honchos are Silicon Valley venture capitalists. But it raises money from philanthropies, not investors, so presumably doesn't exist to make a monetary return on investment. Donors include the Gateses and our old friend Eli "rhymes with toad" Broad. Reid Hastings of charter, state BOE and Netflix fame is on its board too.
Its "team" includes two Edison Schools insiders who were running our own Edison Charter Academy during its epic battle with SFUSD in 2001, Vincent Matthews (then ECA principal) and Ana Tilton (who was then some kind of Edison regional VP and managed the press, and pretty deftly too).
It this just a middleman that funnels donors' money to beneficiaries?
This question came up because I got an e-mail from a public-school advocate in Boston. She said the Massachusetts State BOE chair is advocating scrapping a statewide project to improve troubled schools there and instead calling for turning them all over to private operators. This guy, Jim Peyser, is also a "partner" in the NewSchools "venture team." I guess NewSchools gives the money to those same private operators he wants to turn Massachusetts schools over to. It's a curious setup.
— Caroline
NewSchools Venture Fund™ is a venture philanthropy firm working to transform public education through powerful ideas and passionate entrepreneurs so that all children — especially those underserved — have the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century.This organization funds several charter school chains, and also Teach for America and our own GreatSchools.net.
It's sort of a venture capital firm, and its top honchos are Silicon Valley venture capitalists. But it raises money from philanthropies, not investors, so presumably doesn't exist to make a monetary return on investment. Donors include the Gateses and our old friend Eli "rhymes with toad" Broad. Reid Hastings of charter, state BOE and Netflix fame is on its board too.
Its "team" includes two Edison Schools insiders who were running our own Edison Charter Academy during its epic battle with SFUSD in 2001, Vincent Matthews (then ECA principal) and Ana Tilton (who was then some kind of Edison regional VP and managed the press, and pretty deftly too).
It this just a middleman that funnels donors' money to beneficiaries?
This question came up because I got an e-mail from a public-school advocate in Boston. She said the Massachusetts State BOE chair is advocating scrapping a statewide project to improve troubled schools there and instead calling for turning them all over to private operators. This guy, Jim Peyser, is also a "partner" in the NewSchools "venture team." I guess NewSchools gives the money to those same private operators he wants to turn Massachusetts schools over to. It's a curious setup.
— Caroline
Labels: Charters
1 Comments:
I've been puzzled about these guys too. Aren't they the ones that offer to donate $1 in exchange for addresses? A bit creepy. There is good info here. They seem to be in the group of people that think that the problem with schools isn't money, it is ideas. And those ideas are mostly from the business world.
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