Southland charter schools get funding windfall from Bill Gates
Software mogul Bill Gates announced today that his foundation will distribute more than $300 million in grants to improve teaching in public schools across the country. Gates pledged nearly one-fifth of that money to charter school operators who run dozens of schools in the Southland.
$60 million will go to charter school operators that include Green Dot and Alliance College Ready Public Schools. Each runs more than a dozen middle and high school campuses, mostly in poor Los Angeles County neighborhoods.
Gates Foundation officials say that improving teacher training and experience will further advance students’ ability to learn. The announcement coincides with the expansion of charter schools in L.A. County run by groups like Green Dot.
Next year, L.A. Unified is set to transfer the governance of dozens of campuses to charter operators and other groups that apply. Charter schools operate with public money, but are independent of school district governance.
Charter schools claim that their smaller campuses and innovative curricula outperform school district methods. The data undermine that claim. A Stanford University study suggests that compared to traditional schools, charter schools score well in reading but lag in math.
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