What's Next for This Darling of Charter School Funders?
Success Academy, the 2017 winner of the Broad Prize for Charter Schools, plans to step up its college readiness programs, roll out a digital platform to share its curriculum and pedagogy, and expand its network even further.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation recently announced Success, New York City's largest charter school chain, as the winner of the funder's annual prize for charter schools. The foundation said the network "has transformed not only the landscape of public education in New York City, but also the idea of what’s possible for students of color and low-income students."
Success is the sixth winner of the prize, which was launched in 2012 and awards the winning charter organization $250,000. Broad had previously offered an annual $1 million prize for urban school districts through its Broad Prize for Urban Education, but in 2015 decided to pause the award. Officials with the funder said at the time that a lack of robust growth in academic performance among urban school districts was a reason for its decision to put the award on hold.
Broad has since continued the annual prize for charter schools, awarding one each year to a charter organization that serves low-income students and children of color, and that demonstrates success in closing performance gaps between these students and their more affluent peers.
Success Academy was founded by former New York City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz and is supported by a network of Wall Street financiers and deep-pocketed funders, including Broad. The $250,000 from the Broad Prize is a tiny sliver of the millions that Success Academy has received over the years from its network of supporters. Last year, the charter operator landed a $25 million grant from the foundation led by hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson. The Walton Family Foundation is another steady funder, giving the network several million dollars in recent years.
But the Broad Foundation has been an especially important ally to Eva Moskowitz. It reports that it "was the first major investor in Success Academy, giving $1 million to Success Academy in 2008. To date, we have invested nearly $14 million to support the charter network, particularly in its efforts to grow to 100 schools to meet the demand from families seeking a high-quality education for their children." In 2014, for example, it made a $4.2 million grant to the organization for a charter school in the Bronx.
Starting from a single school in Harlem in 2006, Success Academy now operates 41 elementary and middle schools in four of New York City's five boroughs (only Staten Island does not have a Success Academy What's Next for This Darling of Charter School Funders? — Inside Philanthropy:
