All Articles Tagged "business of education"
Charter Schools: Moneymakers for Hedge Funds
(Amsterdam News) — As the controversy about the co-location of charter schools continues to rage throughout the city, another issue has been raised: Hedge funds are making tremendous profits off charter schools while public school students lose already-scarce dollars because of the presence of the schools. The charter school movement represents only a tiny fraction of the more than one million students in the New York public school system. But because of the charter school presence, hundreds of thousands of regular New York City kids are getting fewer dollars. In a recent report by the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO), it was revealed that money being spent on charter schools is being diverted away from regular schools. As more charter schools are created, more money is pumped into the charter school movement.
Study: Universities Pump $11 Billion into Region’s Economy
(Afro) — While the job sector remains sluggish as the economy recovers from a recession, universities in the Washington area are employment hubs, pumping $11.3 billion into the region annually, according to a report by George Mason University. The study, which was commissioned by the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, revealed that universities have as much impact as the hospitality industry. As the largest private employers in D.C. and its environs, the 14 institutions support nearly 200,000 jobs, according to the study. In total, school employees who live in the region earn $3 billion annually.
The Changing Business of Education
(Amsterdam News) — The Financial Times has dubbed Cathie Black, “The First Lady of American Magazines.” Hearst, her former employer, touts her executive work, saying, “She has managed the financial performance and development of some of the industry’s best-known [magazine] titles…At Hearst Magazines, aggressive, international development worldwide as well as significant digital expansion are two key priority areas for Black.” Sounds like your typical CEO or chairman of Hearst Magazines, as Black was. So what place do all these skills have in public education? The answer is that in an educational atmosphere, where underperforming schools are quickly becoming privately funded charter schools and test scores are becoming the overall fiscal target, the school system in New York City, and across the country, is becoming a for-profit business in need of a CEO. “There is a growing trend to appoint non-educators to ‘run’ urban school systems, and this is not a good idea,” said Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at NYU, the author of “The Myth of Charter Schools” and a former assistant secretary of education under the Bush administration.
