Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City, gives away a lot of money. In education, he has generously funded his alma mater Johns Hopkins University, where the medical school is named for him. As Mayor for three terms—twelve years—despite a two-term limit, he had sole control of the city’s public schools. He hired a non-educator to reorganize the public schools, and he reorganized them again and again. Testing, data, small schools, closing schools, and charter schools were the hallmarks of his twelve years in charge. Test scores were treasured above all else.
Since leaving office in 2013, Bloomberg has shown no interest in public schools. He disregards them or views them with contempt. He has donated more than $1 billion to supporting and expanding charter schools. He has given lavishly to political candidates who promise more charter schools. He recently gave money for summer school, but the gift was limited only to students in charter schools. This is puzzling. Are charter school students more deserving than those in public schools? Are they needier?
This story appeared in the New York Daily News.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is renewing a multimillion-dollar summer program to target charter school students with significant learning gaps exacerbated by the pandemic.
Charter schools can apply for up to $2,000 in funding per student through “Summer Boost” based on the length of their school days and programs. Programs run for at least four weeks and focus on English and math at the first- through ninth-grade levels.
“The best opportunity we have to help them catch up is during the summer months,” said Bloomberg in a statement.
The city’s Department of Education operates its own program for students in district and charter schools, while the Bloomberg initiative is only available to charter students.
Last summer, 16,383 students from 224 charter schools participated in the initiative — 34.5% fewer children than officials had expected to enroll. Kids learned in classrooms with a maximum of 25 students, and as low as four students in some schools.
“We found that not every school felt it was adequately staffed or prepared to create a summer program, and some schools already had programming planned,” said Jamila Reeves, a spokesperson for Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Some schools were understandably conservative about the number of students they could serve given burnout from COVID.”
Still, more than 70% of NYC charter schools ran programs, according to the organization.
Bloomberg touted the summer lessons as helping thousands of local children “get back on track last year.”
The percentage of students who met grade-level standards doubled last year in English and math, based on third-party exams administered before and after the summer.
The program is expanding to seven additional cities — Baltimore, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, San Antonio and Washington D.C. — and expects to serve tens of thousands of students across all locations. The spokesperson did not know how many students would enroll in NYC.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
School districts with significant federal and state assistance from the Pandemic relief should be doing ssummer school deeper and wider than ever done previously., No more minimum ESY for special education but a much more engaging program. Ask teachers what they want to teach rather than just remedial this , remedial that, accelerate this and accerlate that….It’s March and summer plans are being made now. Bloomberg is right to focus on summer but should know that anyone can apply to a charter summer school too fi they are honest to their open door policies. District should shine now and loudly and creatively and boldly
His hostility to public schools was second only to his hostility towards veteran (more expensive) teachers. Teaching experience meant little to Bloomberg. That said I have seen ads for jobs in his company where requirements included 20 years experience in order to apply. A very different approach when his money is involved.
Bloomberg thought his job as Mayor was to cut costs in public schools. Experienced teachers cost too much.
And this was about the time that the Gates Foundation for Trashing American K-12 Education was waxing stupid about how advanced degrees held by teachers didn’t matter because they didn’t, according to Gates-funded “studies,” correlate with higher student test scores. Ofc, the test scores in ELA are totally invalid, for many, many reasons, and the ones in Math aren’t much better. But for some reason people think this slow learner, Gates, knows something about education. How wrong does he have to be for how long? Or does his $$$$ mean that he is right whatever the consequences?
Gates was citing economist Eric Hanushek, who believes advanced degrees don’t matter, money doesn’t mattter, and class size doesn’t matter.
Bill Gates is a one trick pony. His other ventures especially in education were complete failures.
And even that trick was an accident. He had no idea that DOS would make him a multimillionaire. And then he used monopoly power and ruthlessness to make himself filthy rich, and based on that–an accident and ruthless monopolistic practices, he decided that he is a genius with the right to be the decider for everyone else. What a creep.
Agree. People confuse financial success with intelligence.
Yes. Big mistake. Consider, for example, the loser ex-president.
My kids had gerbils smarter than is Jabba the Trump.
the Association for the prevention of Small Mammal Disparagement (APSMD) is hot on your trail. Comparing Trump to one of us, however favorably, puts you on our radar.
If Bloomberg and his billionaire buddies care so much about private schools for students, they should fund the whole thing instead draining the public school budgets for private endeavors. Then, the public schools could provide smaller classes, more support for struggling students including district planned community schools, more guidance counselors, social workers and arts education for all. Public dollars should be for public schools that serve all students.
Privatization is the agenda of the billionaires, not working families. Billionaires in NYC could easily write a check for their niche schools. They should accept personal responsibility for their personal projects instead of vandalizing the common good.
“This is puzzling. Are charter school students more deserving than those in public schools? Are they needier? ”
He probably don’t think the students are more deserving. I suspect his affinity it to the operators.
is to
Wow. Even for Michael Bloomberg, this is a new low.
The story line last night on the TV program, Abbott Elementary, identified rich people as those who are promoting charter schools. The program enumerated many of the negative effects a community experiences from the charter school scheme.
Why do so many Black parents in major cities choose charter schools for their kids, often when the traditional public school is easier to transport kids to? You’re the white savior who knows better than those parents what’s best for their kids?
For those of you who frequently turn up in these fora to call the comments here “ad hominem,” please see Ms. Segonia’s comment above for an exemplar of an ad hominem argument.
Let’s let Linda answer for herself. She can tell us if she’s a white savior or not.
Maria,
Why do so many charters tell those Black parents their kids are not welcome?
If you answer that, you have more integrity than I thought.
And if you simply repeat the racist talking points of charters about how so many 5 year old children who have dedicated parents who jumped through hoops to get them into a top performing charter and committed in writing to do everything the charter asked them to do just happened to have violent natures that “forced” the charters to suspend them, then you are more racist than I thought.
If your argument is that you believe that Black parents are different than white parents, so if you hear that huge numbers of Black parents who jumped through hoops to get their child into a lavishly funded, high performing charter then “changed their mind” and decided to pull their kid from that charter, you are absolutely positive that it had nothing to do with the charter’s actions toward their kid, then just admit that you have a very low opinion of many Black parents. People who aren’t racist understand that when so many Black students disappear, it’s because the charter made it clear they were not welcome.
Of course the parents of the most academically able and motivated students would be attracted to a charter that dumps all the difficult kids. In fact, there is a good argument to be made that public schools should be able to act like charters and dump all the difficult kids and keep the rest. But it is a ridiculous waste of public money to pay charter CEOs and administrators undeservedly high salaries to cherry pick the cheapest to teach students who have always done well in public schools.
But since you seem to support that, how about you tell me where the kids that are dumped go?
Charters won’t teach them and you don’t care. Why? If charters are really public schools, they should act like it.
In New Orleans, parents have no choices! Ironic ain’t it? Once charters have a monopoly, you know the kind they lie about public schools having, their zealous support of school choice will go “poof.” See deficits under republican administrations for precedents. And how doe a “traditional public school” differ from a public school?
Maria,
Charter chains spend heavily on marketing campaigns to lure unsuspecting Black parents with false promises.
Why did some Black people support Bloomberg’s racist Stop and Frisk policy? Might it be that race is not a monolith? Education is not supposed to be a popularity contest. Michael Bloomberg is a racist who appeals to the base elements of fear and bigotry among others to make money for himself.
Maria-
My answer to your attack (in order to avoid repeating established facts about the anti-democracy intent of charters and vouchers), is that I pay my taxes unlike rich Republicans, for example Donald Trump and right wing churches. My willingness not to dodge taxes is proof that I understand what price we must pay to live in a civilized society. That view is not exclusive to any race.
Good policy is not written for the exception, it is written for the good of the whole.
When you write to defend the indefensible, I don’t make assumptions that it relates to your race. I assume it is your self interest which you place ahead of the good of the 90%.
Maria must have been thumbing through a hackneyed playbook and found the passage about how to take the criticism lodged (like about Eva Moskowitz) and to redirect it
against the opposition without regard to its applicability.
In his last term as mayot Bloomberg pushed for teachers excessed from closing schools to b laid off and if they couldn’t find a job with a few months laid off, the Union opposed, no legs in the legislature, and, the union decided not to attempt to negotiate a new contrsct, they waited until he was outc of office. Ynr Union outfoxed the billionaire.
You will rememeber Blooomberg jumped into the presidential race, spent $100M of his own dollars and never got beyond single digits in polling.
He blamed the teacher unions.
His generousity to charter schools is simply his anger over his faiiled run …. and his efforts to punish union teavhers by supporting non-union charter schools.
Petty and childish.
Could be construed as a fellow who feels too much education of the masses is a danger to society.
Will there be charter flights?
American jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. 1933-2023.
Maybe Bloomberg should know that Mr Shorter graduated from Newark New Jersey Newark Arts High School. It is still in business. It is rigorous. And full of dance, drama, music, tv production and so much more.
Truly a generational musician. Miles Davis, Weather Report, so many solo projects. His wife died on the explosion of TWA flight over Long Island Sound in the late 90s. One of my favorite Wayne Shorter songs.
A devastating loss. Thanks for your comments, Greg.
“Play How You Want The World To Be.”
Beautiful Wayne Shorter!
RIP, Mr. Shorter!
Bloomberg’s actions makes me think he must be a member of ALEC.
I also think that ALEC is the subversive so-called Christian version of ISIS, al-Qaida, or Taliban (maybe all three rolled into one) haunting the United States, threatening not only the people but our species and the planet we live on.
IMO, school privatization has lost its support in many organizations. For example, Karen Symms Gallagher who headed the education department at the University of Southern California, no longer holds the position. She was part of Gates’ Pahara Institute. She founded a network of charter high schools. She was replaced a couple of years ago by Pedro Noguera whose 2016 article at the Forever site indicates he understands the detrimental effects of charter schools. It seems unlikely that he will continue the cheerleading for privatization.
Pedro Noguera was on the State University of NY board that authorized charters. One of his children worked for Bloomberg. However, he went to visit “no excuses” schools and wrote a scathing critique of the pedagogy. He said they were teaching children of color to take orders, not to lead or think for themselves. He quit the board.
He should have had better understanding prior to the authorization. He can’t control where his daughter works but, he should be embarrassed, IMO.