Wendy Lecker: Dalio’s secret pet project
Ray Dalio is well known in Connecticut as head of a profitable hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates — whose profits have been fueled in part by generous state tax breaks and subsidies. His Dalio Foundation has been involved in Connecticut charter and public schools, with mixed reviews from the communities involved.
Dalio’s newest venture is the Partnership for Connecticut. Using his influence, he had a law passed creating a nonprofit corporation in which his foundation contributes $100 million, the state contributes $100 million and together they attempt to raise another $100 million. The laudable but vague goals of this partnership include “strengthening public education” and “promoting upward mobility” in underserved communities. The contributions, while generous, represent a small fraction of what is needed to meaningfully address even one of several goals of the law.
According to the law, the membership of this corporation consists of directors appointed by the Dalio Foundation and the governor, the governor and members of the General Assembly. No one from the law’s targeted underserved communities leads this effort.
Controversially, the Partnership insists on being exempt from Connecticut transparency and ethics rules. Supporters maintain that “innovation” is required to solve entrenched problems like poverty and struggling public schools, and addressing these sensitive issues can only be done in private.
When it comes to public education, the issues have already been addressed in a public forum- the CCJEF trial. The trial judge made thousands of public findings of fact in his 2016 decision in Connecticut’s school funding case, all based on evidence presented during the months-long public trial.
Among his findings are that Connecticut’s poorest districts have significantly lower levels of children who attend high quality preschool, and that preschool provides significant lasting benefits, particularly for poor children, such as: reduced grade repetition and special education identification rates, decreased behavioral problems, higher graduation and employment rates, higher lifetime earnings, reductions in involvement with the criminal justice system, reductions in the probability of being on welfare, and improved health measures.
The evidence at trial also proved that, despite higher need, Connecticut’s poorest districts could not afford an adequate supply of guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists, reading interventionists, special education teachers, and CONTINUE READING: Wendy Lecker: Dalio’s secret pet project - StamfordAdvocate
