Does anyone have a problem with Venture Capitalists, Charter Schools, and Entrepreneurs all being in the same sentence? You should.
Yes, the $Billionaires are lining up to invest in Charter Schools and are looking for like-minded entrepreneurs. Nothing new here. BUT and I mean a BIG BUT.....
It seems like kids are a great commodity to invest in, like pork bellies. There is a Kid Rush as tech companies and school builders line up for the Charter Gravy Train.
The Charter School Investment Gravy Train began during the Clinton Administration thanks to a new law: New Markets Tax Credit Program
NMTC emerged in the late 1990s, when numerous foundations and think tanks were working to popularize the idea of using business-oriented mechanisms to help disadvantaged communities increase wealth and jobs.
... to open untapped markets through a fostering of “community capitalism.”
participants called for improving access to capital (especially through equity investment)
Vice President Al Gore, in support of the conference conclusions, stated that,
“The greatest untapped markets In the world are right here at home, in our distressed communities.”
That's so true. Poverty is a huge, profitable market. Just as the Pay Day Lenders charging poor people 600% interest or the car dealerships that charge poor people 25% interest. And privately owned and operated Charter Schools are booming.
We are closing Head Start programs, some 60,000 kids will be shut out, but Goldman Sachs to Finance Early Education Program
Thte Walmart Foundation is one of the largest financial behemoths funding Charter Schools. Let's no forget that Hillary Clinton served on Walmart's Board of Directors for six years, from 1986-1992
David Sirota has done a great job following the well-funded, often scandalous, and mediocre-at-best but VERY PROFITABLE Charter School movement. Here's his recent article:
School reformers give a lesson in corruption
Paradoxes come in all different forms, but here’s one that perfectly fits this Gilded Age:
The most significant lesson from the ongoing debate about American education has little to do with schools and everything to do with money.
This lesson comes from a series of recent scandals that expose the financial motives of the leaders of the so-called education “reform” movement — the one that is trying to privatize public schools.
David hits the "For Profit Charter School drive" nail on the head in this video. (embedding twice, with both the old and new embed codes).
IN A NUTSHELL: Charter Schools are For-Profit Public Education, run by hopeful entrepreneurs, funded by $Billionaires, Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity firms who will profit from For-Profit Public Education.
For-Profit Public Education is a $1.3 Trillion dollar market to be tapped. All those yet unscooped dollars must be driving some investors absolutely crazy.
Like the privatized prison business model, K-12 School privatization is just another humanity-callous opportunity for the 1% Owners to profit from the 99% Serfs.
But the Charter School corruption is becoming a huge scandal. Click here for an alphabetical listing of Charter School Scandals
Also, Check out these reports:
Hucksters, Campaign Donors, Scam Artists: Open a Charter School in New Jersey
Charter School Moguls Scam Oregon Out of Millions
Head of Charter School Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges
Charter School Founder Dorothy June Brown Charged in $6 Million Fraud Scheme
Georgia file connects Twin Cities charter school, fraud scheme
SHAME ON AMERICA!
Imagine how wonderful public education would be today if these uberly wealthy people had spent their $Trillions on improving existing schools and building enough new schools to keep the student teacher ration below 20:1
But, hey, who expects anyone to invest in America's children and their future without some promise of profiteering.
This isn't Sweden, you know!
Will the $Billionaires pockets keep the money train rolling if the Charter train crashes? Are they aware they might be making unsound investments?
According to the following, today's Charter School profits might just crash the train in the not-to-distant future. Here's why
Even television's somewhat conservative Legal Authority, Jonathan Turley, is raising the alarms about Charter School Investors profits being made off of publically-funded, privately-owned Charter Schools.
Shockingly, the GOP Congress, towards the end of Bill Clinton's second term, provided the financial incentive to make HUGE PROFITS from building Charter Schools: New Markets Tax Credit Program (NMTC Program)
Turley writes:
Charter Schools and The Profit Motive
Gonzalez said the banks and other wealthy investors had been making “windfall profits” by taking advantage of “a little-known federal tax break to finance new charter-school construction.”
That little know tax break, the New Markets Tax Credit, can be so lucrative, Gonzalez said, “that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years.”
He added that the tax break “gives an enormous federal tax credit to banks and equity funds that invest in community projects in underserved communities, and it’s been used heavily now for the last several years for charter schools.”
WHAT WILL WALL STREET AND THE $BILLIONAIRES BET ON NEXT? My guess is federally-funded Pre-School.
Who is providing all the cash?
THE WALTONS
Note two items the Waltons are funding: New Teacher Project and Students First. Both of these organizations were launched by Michelle Rhee, as seen in this chart.
There is so much big money flowing into the Charter School movement it is mind boggling. For instance,
BILL & MELINDA GATES, JP MORGAN, & other $Billionaire Foundations
And Lawrence Summers is a former Director for Teach for America, along with his many insider money making ventures that should disqualify him for the Fed Chair, imo.
THE INFORMATION THAT WAS MISSING WAS HOW THE MONEY FLOWED from $Billionaires through foundations to Entrepreneurs to build and open, operate, and profit from Charter Schools that collect taxpayers money for the students.
There are several funnels but NewSchools Venture Fund is a key financial sourse element. And, yes, Ms. Rhee got a grant from them, too.
PLEASE FOCUS ON TWO NAMES IN THIS LAST CHART:
Kim Smith, Co-Founder of NewSchools Venture Fund; and
Deborah McGriff, Partner of NewSchools Venture Fund
THIS IS WHERE THE RIGHT WING MEETS THE LEFT WING and Cory Booker is on board.
Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO): Community Voice or Captive of the Right?
BAEO announced its formation on August 24, 2000 at a national press conference in Washington, D.C. Former Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Dr. Howard Fuller, the group's president and founder, said it would support tax-funded voucher programs, private scholarships, tuition tax credits, charter schools and public/private partnerships.
Note that Deborah McGriff is also Vice Chair of BAEO and Kim Smith and Cory Booker are two of the directors of BAEO.
Also, note that Theodore Mitchell is a Director of New Leaders AND he is the CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund.
He has long been a leader in education reform in California and nationally. From 2008 through 2010, he served as president of the California State Board of Education.
So here's how it works:
$Billionaires make money selling to us, the profits are donated to their foundations that then fund organizations that are organized to fund entrepreneurs to grow the Charter School movement, change political policy to be more favorable to Charter Schools, and to fund politicians that will go with the Charter School program which, once built, will be PAID FOR BY US and our children forever.
To add spice to the HUGE K-12 MARKET, you can invest in all sorts of new businesses springing up everywhere THANKS TO FUNDING from the $Billionaires and their foundations.
You will find an interactive link here that you can use to find the hundreds of new business NewSchools is helping to launch.
Education is now a burgeoning market for venture capitalists, private equity, and entrepreneurs.
In a short time, we will begin to hear about problems with a new investment opportunity to help poor people:
Building a Healthy & Sustainable Social Impact Bond Market:
Pay-for-Success (PFS) financings, sometimes known as Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) or Social Innovation Financings
Over the next several months, we hope to continue to drive the field forward by catalyzing investor collaboration that brings together private foundations and commercially-oriented capital, leveraged into these deals initially by subordinated philanthropic investment.
Our commitment to testing SIBs stems from the belief that this structure could represent the most tangible example of innovative financing we are likely to see for the next five to ten years. We hope you will join us in building this market to scale solutions to social problems facing poor or vulnerable communities in the US.
Apparently, investors can double their investments in a few years earning 7.5% - 13% depending on how successful the program they invest in becomes.
If the program creates better results through lower re-conviction rates, the return to the investors can increase up to 13.5%.
