EduKaithshun

[Flatlander]

This is drawn from Kaith's platform:

Education:
- Revamp existing funding structure and encourage private investment into education.
- Tougher standards for teachers and students
- Encourage private sponsorship of technical training

Could you be more specific regarding what kind of private investment you are referring to, how you intend to encourage it?

Tougher standards for teachers - could you elaborate?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Following the example of Niagara Falls NY, I see a plan where private investors will fund our future schools.
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/0913/news_3-2.html

In the case of NF, this plan allowed the city to consolidate 2 outdated schools into 1 ultra modern one, with no new levys or taxes. It also returned the old property to the tax rolls creating new income, and gave each new student their own laptop and internet access.


Tougher standards for teachers would include active enforcement of existing standards, as well as a requirement that the teachers also take the same test each year as their students.

 

[Flatlander]

I'm missing something. I did read your article, but it did not adequately adress the question. Why would a private investor fork out capital to finance the construction of a school? Where is the ROI?

 

[PeachMonkey]

Moreover, why is handing even more of the formative years of children's lives over to the hands of capitalists a good thing?

 

[Cryozombie]

Moreover, why is handing even more of the formative years of children's lives over to the hands of capitalists a good thing?

I agree with this statement... read the Cyberpunk Novel "Jennifer Government" by Max Barry...

Do you want you kids going to "Mattel School" where the uniform is as much "Barbie" brand clothing as you can afford for your child, they can only bring lunch in a "Barbie" brand lunchbox, and school prepares them for a job in the Mattel corporation?

No clearly not.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

The return is in part, in tax writeoffs.
I'll do some additional digging in the mean time to determine the rest.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Ok, here is more on the idea.
Short summary - There is no need to worry about major corporate indocrination. These investors build and maintain the facilities, manage them, and lease back to the community over a period of time to recoup their investment with interest. Because building this new facility often times will allow for the consolidation of multiple older facilities, the funding to 'pay the rent' will be available due to the savings found after shutting down the older facilities. More modern heating and cooling alone can provide substantial savings to cash strapped school districts.

The school systems and students win by having state of the art facilities constructed faster. The investors win by having a high ROI, an increase in positive PR, and a better educated future work force. The public wins by not experiencing another tax increase or the controvercial issue of 'I have no kids, why pay for a school" that crops up everytime a school tax is implimented.


Private Capital for Public Schools
http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/2003-08/McLaughlin.htm

Mother of Invention
Out of options is how one might have characterized the Niagara Falls, N.Y., Public Schools. In the late 1990s, Niagara Falls had a shrinking tax base and many decrepit public school buildings. After a year and a half of evaluation and public input, the board of education determined it needed to build one new facility to replace the 100-year-old Niagara Falls High School and the rapidly aging LaSalle High School.

To accomplish this goal without a tax levy, Niagara Falls obtained special state legislation allowing the district to partner with a private developer to manage the high school project. Honeywell, which had a strong relationship with the district after completing energy retrofit work on 18 of the district’s schools, was selected as the program manager. Niagara Falls High School became the first privately financed, privately managed public school construction project in New York state.

Honeywell selected J.P. Morgan to find private capital to finance the construction. One incentive for investors in the deal is the fact that the interest portion of the lease payments is exempt from federal tax. Because Honeywell is not in the real estate business, a special purpose entity was established as the financing and ownership vehicle for the project.

The school district now leases this $80 million state-of-the-art high school, which opened in September 2000, for $4.8 million a year. In 27 years, ownership of the 400,000-square foot facility transfers to the school district. Superintendent Carmen Granto calls the project “a revolution in school financing, partnership, programming, leadership and technology.”

The innovative financing of Niagara Falls High School bought the district something that traditional financing methods could not—time. The district would have had to go through the entire lengthy bond election process and faced an uncertain outcome with voters. The agreement with Honeywell allowed the district to open its facility much sooner than it would have with the traditional method of financing.

NEW PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL FUNDED THROUGH PRIVATE SALE LEASEBACK

The newly constructed $80 million Niagara Falls High School opened this fall, marking the culmination of a very creative effort to fund needed construction in a school district with a shrinking tax base. The state-of-the-art building was constructed without an increase in the property tax. Under the agreement, Honeywell Corp. and a group of private investors built the school and will lease it to the school district for 30 years for about $4.8 million a year. After the 30-year term expires, ownership will transfer to Niagara Falls. The arrangement required a special act of the state Legislature to skirt the bond process traditionally used for school construction. Buffalo, NY is now pursuing a similar arrangement for a handful of its schools.

References:
http://web.mit.edu/bshumway/www/ThProp.htm
http://www.detnews.com/2000/schools/0009/21/schools-123400.htm
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/1997/12/01/editorial1.html

 

[Feisty Mouse]

So you are simply referring to the school structure and maintenance - NOT the selling-Coke-to-kids kind of thing we've got going on in our public school now, I hope?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Thats pretty much it. Coke can buy em laptops, books, etc. if they like, but I'm not talking about awarding them the 'soda supply' contract.