Charter Schools

Big Donors Give to Charters Because They Can't Abide How Districts Hire, Fire, and Promote

BY Ed Post Staff February 10, 2016

Richard Whitmire, senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation and author of several education books, has a piece in the LA School Report that takes a look at why big education donors have moved away from giving to districts and have shifted their money to charter schools. Despite the common narrative that these philanthropists are 'anti union', Whitmire reveals that donors tend to be agnostic when it comes to unions; their issue is with how districts hire, fire, and promote.

They’re not so much anti-union as they are pro-startup. Tech CEOs live in a world where a single talented software guy binging through a weekend can solve a problem that has stymied platoons of software experts for months. You pay that guy the same?