By George N. Schmidt

The most wealthy foundation in the history of the world is pouring tens of millions of dollars into Chicago to help fund campaigns promoting the privatization and charterization of the ctiy’s public schools.

The $28 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also funds several right-wing think thanks (such as the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation) and other corporate opinion makers (such as the Education Trust and the Education Writers Association) that promote corporate versions of “school reform.” These “reforms” include vouchers, charter schools, small schools and other attacks on traditional democratic public schools.

Between January 2001 and December 2005, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation poured more than $45 million into Chicago. Virtually all of that money has gone to promote the privatization of public schools and various other corporate versions of “school reform.” Gates dollars directly fund certain charter schools (Noble Street; Perspectives; the University of Chicago charter schools) that are used to attack public schools, while fundamentally undermining the city’s traditional public schools, local school councils, and democratic forms of schools governance.

A chronological listing of Gates grants to Chicago entities for the past four years shows the extent of the influence:

-- On October 31, 2005, Gates granted CPS $4.6 million “to support the implementation of strategic planning efforts to transform Chicago high schools.”

-- On August 10, 2005, Gates gave a grant of $960,000 to Martin Koldyke’s “Academy for Urban School Leadership.” The academy has been used by the Duncan administration as part of its recent attack on public schools.

-- On May 9, 2005, Gates granted $2.3 million to CPS to “support a business planning process for current reform efforts to improve performance in Chicago public high schools.”

-- On February 8, 2005, Gates gave $6 million to the University of Chicago “to fund two new schools and assist other organizations in the design and incubation of new schools.”

-- On November 19, 2004, Gates gave $553,000 to Perspectives Charter School in Chicago “to support the establishment of Perspectives New Schools Initiative and the creation of the first Perspectives-style school.”

-- On November 16, 2004, Gates awarded $1.4 million to the Noble Street Charter School to fund “two new, small schools in Chicago and share successful practices with other educators.”

-- On August 26, 2003, Gates granted $9.8 million to the Big Picture Company “to support creation of 38 small, personalized urban high schools based on the ‘Big Picture’ principles and pedagogy over the next five years.”

-- On April 9, 2003, Gates granted $7.6 million to the Chicago Community Foundation to “support the creation of 12 new small high schools in Chicago.”

-- On October 10, 2002, Gates granted $4 million to the Chicago Charter School Foundation “to support creation of two charter school campuses and two contract schools in the Chicago Public School system.”

-- On September 21, 2001, Gates awareded $12 million to the Chicago Community Foundation “to support restructuring high school education in Chicago.”

The only Chicago critic of the Daley administration that has received any money from the Gates Foundation in the past four years is PURE. On November 16, 2004, Gates granted $200,000 to PURE “to promote effective parent-school partnerships in the Chicago school system.”

The Gates Foundation not only funds the promotion of charter schools, small schools, and other privatization attacks on public schools, but it also funds the writers and researchers whose reports and op ed pieces routinely promote these corporate “reforms.”

A major beneficiary of Gates grants is the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, run by conservative pundit Chester Finn. Finn got part of his start as a corporate “school reform” expert in Chicago (where he was hired by Martin Koldyke as the school reform consultant to the Chicago School Finance Authority 15 years ago). Finn is now routinely cited in the press attacking public schools. Members of the Education Trust and Education Writers Association promote corporate versions of “school reform” in Chicago (via Catalyst magazine) and elsewhere. In the past five years, Fordham has received more than $5 million from Gates.