John Paulson, a fabulously wealthy hedge fund manager, gave $8.5 million to Eva Moskowitz to expand her Néw York City-based chain of “no excuses” charter schools.
Last year, when Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to block the expansion of charter schools and to charge them rent for the use of public space–which he promised in the campaign–hedge fund managers gave millions to Governor Cuomo and spent several millions on a TV ad campaign attacking de Blasio. Eva brought thousands of her students and parents to Albany tolobby for her schools. The Governor and the legislature agreed that the city had to give free public space to charters or pay their rent in private space. In doing so, they ignored the law giving the mayor control of the schools.
“Success Academy, which was founded in 2006 by Eva S. Moskowitz, a former member of the City Council, is known for its high student test scores, as well as its sometimes polarizing methods. The network will have 34 schools as of this fall, but there appears to be enough demand for it to grow. This year it received more than 22,000 applications for fewer than 2,300 seats.
“Ms. Moskowitz has plans to grow to 70 schools within five or six years, and last year, she said she would like to have 100 schools within 10 years.”
Paulson sees Moskowitz’s chain as an antidote to poverty, but he seems unaware of her small proportions of the neediest students or the high attrition rate.
Rumors abound that she may run against de Blasio for Mayor in 2017.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Paulson is 119th on someone’s the list of wealthiest people.
This news comes to us on Milton Friedman’s birthday.
Charter schools are a hedge fund investment. The debt was $1.6 billion in 2014, with an interest payment return of 18%, which was extracted from community taxpayers, and pocketed by Wall St.
The fact that Democrats are complicit is unconscionable.
Packaging the product as a civil rights movement is also unconscionable.
But Linda, scamming the public is an integral part of reform. Who could have dreamed up the claim that standardized testing was a civil rights issue? The mainstream civil rights groups used to sue to stop their use. Now they say that children must have these tests or no one will know that they need extra help–which they won’t get from the feds. What they need is experienced teachers, small class sizes, good health and nutrition. That’s a start. But that’s not a civil right, like standardized testing.
The nation’s noble beginnings, the sacrifices made in its behalf and, the future that our children deserve, demand we not turn our heads, away from the evil in front of us. Inspiring people like you, Diane and Mary, give many of us hope.
Of course he did…you have to spend money to make money
According to the NY Times article, Success Academy raised $28 million in private donations last year to subsidize all the money they get from NYC taxpayers, and of course, their free rent, to educate less than 2,300 students. That is over $12,000 per student to subsidize their education. Wow!
Now, if Success Academy was really trying to educate the at-risk students living in poverty whose only choice is a failing public school, I would think that was money well-spent. But what the education reporters always fail to mention is that Success Academy is one charter school chain that has DROPPED priority for those low-income students — most likely because the early Success Academy schools that did give those students priority had terrible — and I mean appallingly terrible — attrition rates. Success Academy had very little “success” when they opened schools for high poverty students because the majority of students who entered their school in K did not seem to be able to remain at the school. I’m sure their suspension rate that sometimes exceeded 20% for ELEMENTARY age students was just a coincidence.
Success Academy’s answer to the high attrition rate for children living in poverty was to open new schools where most of the students were middle class or affluent and drop lottery priority for low-income students, and thus we have the absurd situation of having more Success Academy schools in very wealthy District 2 Manhattan (2 plus another one planned), than we do in very poor District 7 and 9 in the Bronx (1).
So, we have a charter chain that has more schools in wealthy District 2 Manhattan than it does in poor District 7 in the Bronx getting huge amounts of money to spend to educate a growing number of middle class students whose parents have college degrees instead of focusing their efforts on the at-risk students living in poverty. However, given that this donation comes from John Paulson — famous for a $400 million dollar donation to the richest university in the country, and giving $11 million to an exclusive girls private school, perhaps that was the intent of the donation. Perhaps, like Harvard and the Spence School, Success Academy can educate a small number of high-achieving poor students along with all the middle class and affluent students they are spending so much effort and money to market to. After all, don’t we all believe that will solve all the problems in public education? Philanthropists giving large donations to schools that DON’T educate any at-risk kid who doesn’t “fit”? Maybe she will even give him naming rights, just like Harvard did. Sad.
The network had a total of 2300 seats for new incoming students. Its total enrollment is 11,000.
The gift is earmarked specifically for start-up costs for 8 new schools: middle schools in Hell’s Kitchen and Bedford-Stuyvesant, and 6 elementary schools opening in 2016, none of which is located in District 2.
I know this is all tough, more and more families being able to leave the schools you think they should attend without exception, and not having any control over where billionaires choose to donate their money. But it could be worse! A truly progressive DOE would be thinking of ways to send a fair share of all those poor and disabled kids to YOUR child’s school and PS 321 and PS 290 and all the other “public” schools that don’t backfill or accept most-restrictive environment kids and that raise $1000-1500 in private money per kid. Chin up!
Tim, we already know that you disdain public schools, and that you adore Eva’s Success Academy schools. No need to keep polishing her apple here.
Wow, Tim, I guess I got to you. I always can tell when you are upset that I mention how many new Success Academy schools are located in very affluent districts because you desperately try to change the subject as fast as your hand can type! Are you paid to do so?
By the way, the SUNY Charter Institute DID approve a third elementary school in District 2 for Success Academy as you well know. (Do you really have to lie about that?) They approved that because Eva Moskowitz ASKED for a third District 2 elementary school in her application for new schools! Luckily for the NYC students who are low-income — the vast majority of whom do NOT live in wealthy District 2 — some intrepid public school parents embarrassed Success Academy when they found out that her two earlier schools in District 2 weren’t even filling their seats while the single schools in very poor Bronx Districts had those “thousands on the wait list”. OOPS!!! Success Academy had to scramble and withdraw their application for another District 2 school the day before the vote! But it was too late! It was a fiasco for SUNY as they so desperately tried to help Success Academy avoid the embarrassment of admitting that they had wanted another District 2 school when it was revealed that there did not seem to be enough District 2 students to meet the demand for the 2 schools they already had, while other districts — whose students were exactly those poverty-stricken kids Eva Moskowitz keeps saying she wants to educate — had none!
So I ask you again Tim, and please don’t change the subject: Will Eva Moskowitz use those millions and millions of dollars to reinstate lottery priority for low-income students in school districts with lots of failing public schools? Will she start opening more schools in the Bronx than she does in Manhattan or the brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods where there are lots of college educated parents to market her school to? Or will she use it to provide lots of middle class and affluent children with college educated parents “the best free private school education money can buy”? Which is the best expenditure of that money that will help the kids who will benefit most?
By the way, Tim, you seem to be implying that Success Academy IS getting rid of too many poor and disabled kids by your statement. I doubt that is your intention, but you are posting asking my public school to accept all the counseled out poor children who leave Success Academy in surprising numbers given that their parents are pulling them from a school providing the best education money can buy to “voluntarily” choose to put them in an overcrowded and underfunded school that is falling apart. So you better scramble to retract your statement because I don’t think Eva Moskowitz would like it at all.
Have there been any thorough interviews of students who are of age (say, 18 or older) who have gone through a charter school system or been asked to leave same and are currently in college? They didn’t all start in elementary or middle school. And possibly their parents, too? Let’s hear it from the kids. They are/were the ones subjected to the experiment. What did they miss, gain or not from their experience? Thanks.
Reports on philanthropy (although that is an incorrect identifier), would warrant more trust if we knew, who funds and who created “Inside Philanthropy”, if we knew the charter school background of the new managing editor at “Philanthropy Daily” and, if Non Profit Quarterly made clear there is a firewall between reporters/editors and the organization’s funders.
From: Office of Intergovernmental Affairs [mailto:IGA@schools.nyc.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 10:48 AM
To: Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
Subject: NYC DOE – PRESS RELEASE – CHANCELLOR FARIÑA ANNOUNCES TOUGH REFORMS TO ENSURE SCHOOL COMPLIANCE WITH ACADEMIC RULES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2015
N-7, 2015-16
CHANCELLOR FARIÑA ANNOUNCES TOUGH REFORMS TO HOLD SCHOOLS ACCOUNTABLE AND ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH ACADEMIC RULES
New Regulatory Task Force is a Proactive Approach to Addressing and Preventing Violations of Academic Policies
Independent Third Party Will Sit on the Task Force, and Evidence of Inappropriate Conduct will be Brought to Special Commissioner of Investigation
Increased Academic Policy Trainings for All School Leaders Throughout the Year
NEW YORK — Chancellor Carmen Fariña today announced an aggressive new approach to holding schools accountable for adhering to academic policies. Over the years there have been sporadic allegations regarding academic integrity, and this new approach will include the first-ever permanent task force to provide oversight, as well as new training and resources to ensure all schools comply with rigorous policies and standards. An independent third party without ties to the DOE will also sit on the task force, and evidence of inappropriate conduct will be brought to the Special Commissioner of Investigation. Separately, Ernst and Young, LLP will perform tests of the academic data and report its findings to the task force.
Chancellor Fariña has enforced a zero-tolerance approach to violations of academic integrity. Last month, she removed the principal of Dewey High School for impropriety in the school’s credit recovery program, and she has assigned dedicated staff to review school-level data at the new Borough Field Support Centers. The full-time staff will provide consistent ongoing monitoring of policy implementation and consistent support for schools, a significant change from the past.
“Schools violating our academic policies are not giving students the education they deserve, and I have zero tolerance for schools flaunting our policies. By creating a Regulatory Task Force on Academic Policy and forming dedicated teams to monitor any concerning trends, we are once again sending a clear message that violating academic policies will not be tolerated,” said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “Our policies are non-negotiable, and any inappropriate action will be reported to SCI.”
The new Regulatory Task Force on Academic Policy, which will be led by Phil Weinberg, the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, will report directly to the Chancellor and produce biannual citywide reports on how well schools are implementing DOE guidelines. Their reviews will include an analysis of issues such as credit recovery and graduation requirements, both retrospective and real-time. The task force will also identify areas where schools may need additional support and trainings. In addition to the citywide review, the DOE’s Office of Academic Policy and Systems and dedicated staff at the Borough Field Support Centers (BFSCs) will track data trends related to academic guidelines. If any office becomes aware of inappropriate actions, it will immediately refer them to the Special Commissioner of Investigation.
The new approach will also include added supervision, as well as training and ongoing support. Any schools that are struggling to implement policies correctly must develop corrective action plans – in conjunction with BFSC staff – to address and remedy the issues, which must be approved by the superintendent. Superintendents will be held accountable for ensuring that schools are following their corrective action plans. Principals at these schools will also be mandated to attend academic policy trainings. At the same time, we will be providing more trainings to schools so that they are clear about our expectations and policies. These will include:
• Trainings for superintendents and BFSC staffs through the year on academic policies
• Mandatory trainings for principals, hosted by both superintendents and BFSCs, around academic policies
• Additional training for guidance counselors and school programmers hosted by BFSCs
The full Regulatory Task Force on Academic Policy will be composed of:
• Phil Weinberg, Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning
• Alice Brown, Senior Executive Director, Policy and Evaluation
• Katie Hansen, Senior Director, Academic Policy and Systems
• Lawrence Pendergast, Director, Borough Field Support Center, Central Field Support
• Danya Labban, Auditor General
• External auditor without Department contract
As part of the additional support provided to schools, dedicated staff at the Borough Field Support Centers will be assigned to a specific group of schools and track data trends at those schools with the Office of Academic Policy and Systems, including credit accumulation and graduation requirements. Borough Field Support Centers will follow up directly if schools are not implementing policies correctly and use data about schools and student programs to target support to schools that need the most help.
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Contact: Chancellor’s Press Office (212) 374-5141
According to a NYC DOE press room spokesperson, charter schools are not affected by this oversight policy. Only NYS has regulatory authority over the charter school’s testing operation. Comptroller Stringer started a financial and organizational audit of Success Academy and some other charter schools. The audit was scheduled to be published last June. I wonder how that audit is going.
When DOE schools test students, there are very formal and highly regulated procedures for handling tests. School officials walk around the buildings during the test. Classroom doors are open so anyone can see what is going on. I suspect that charter schools do not have to adhere to these rules and regulations and do not have to worry about oversight. Keep this in mind when we hear about the miracles occurring at Success Academy schools
.