The Corporate Cash Which Fuels Jeb Bush’s Education Empire
At least Jeb Bush isn’t trying to hide where and who he’s getting his money from. On the website of Foundation for Excellence in Education are the proud shields of the corporate and billionaire financiers who stake Bush’s school privatization takeovers. Two entities – Pearson and Charter Schools USA – have directly benefited in Florida from Bush’s education legislative pushes.
The Pearson Foundation – the philanthropic arm of Pearson’s huge publishing and education corporation drew scrutiny last month over news it had sponsored lavish trips to exotic locations for numerous state level education leaders for summits. Former Florida Ed Commissioner Eric Smith - a close Bush ally – was among them. Pearson has certainly benefitted worldwide from its education businesses as it recorded 31 percent profit gain in the first half of this year. Its not a stretch to see that Pearson’s FCAT administration failures weren’t somehow