SAC CHARTERGATE PART III
BILLIONAIRES PLAYGROUND - THE ST. HOPE SAGA AND SACRAMENTO'S CORPORATE CIRCUS
How Sacramento got Broadsided—the city of trees, rivers, and, apparently, billionaire-backed education experiments gone awry. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a handful of ultra-rich philanthropists decide they know more about education than the people who actually work in schools, look no further. The tale of St. Hope, charter schools, and the unholy trinity of Eli Broad, Bill Gates, and the Walton family is a cautionary tale wrapped in a comedy of errors. Spoiler alert: It’s less about hope and more about hubris.
The Billionaire Brain Trust
To set the stage, let’s introduce our main characters: Eli Broad, the real estate magnate turned education disruptor; Bill Gates, tech mogul and self-appointed czar of everything; and the Waltons, heirs to the Walmart empire and champions of low wages and high-stakes testing. Together, they form the Avengers of education reform—or maybe the Three Stooges, depending on your perspective.
Their mission? To save public education from itself by dismantling it entirely. Their tools? Charter schools, standardized tests, and a philosophy that treats students like data points and teachers like expendable cogs in a corporate machine. Their motto? “We know better than you do.”
Enter St. Hope: Sacramento’s Corporate Education Darling
St. Hope started as a well-intentioned community organization but quickly morphed into a charter school empire under the leadership of former NBA star and Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson. With big promises of “academic achievement” and “closing the achievement gap,” St. Hope became a poster child for the billionaire-backed charter school movement.
But here’s the catch: St. Hope wasn’t about empowering communities; it was about imposing a top-down corporate model on public education. Think less “community-driven innovation” and more “hostile takeover.” Teachers were sidelined, unions were demonized, and public schools were starved of resources to make way for shiny new charters. It was like watching someone burn down your house and then charge you rent to live in the ashes.
The Broad Academy: Where Superintendents Go to Learn How to Blow Things Up
No discussion of this fiasco would be complete without mentioning the Broad Superintendent’s Academy. Founded by Eli Broad, this program trains superintendents to think like CEOs—because nothing says “effective education” like treating schools as profit-driven enterprises.
Graduates of the Broad Academy have become infamous for their short tenures and controversial policies. They close schools, increase class sizes, and implement high-stakes testing with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop. Sacramento wasn’t spared from this chaos; Broad-trained leaders brought their signature brand of disruption to the city’s school system, leaving a trail of angry parents, demoralized teachers, and bewildered students in their wake.
In 2019, Broad even moved his Academy to Yale University with a $100 million donation. Because if there’s one thing Yale needed, it was more money from billionaires who think they’re educational visionaries.
The Walton-Gates-Broad Alliance: A Trifecta of Terrible Ideas
The Waltons brought their Walmart ethos to education reform, championing low-cost charter schools with questionable oversight. Meanwhile, Gates poured billions into initiatives like teacher merit pay and Common Core standards—projects that were about as successful as a lead balloon. And let’s not forget their collective propaganda machine, which includes everything from think tanks to glowing op-eds in outlets like "The Los Angeles Times".
Together, these foundations have spent obscene amounts of money pushing policies that prioritize privatization over public good. They call it “philanthropy.” Critics call it “vulture capitalism.” Tomato, tomahto.
Sacramento: Ground Zero for Education Privatization
Sacramento became a battleground for these billionaire-backed reforms. Charter school advocates poured money into local elections, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to install pro-charter candidates on school boards. Meanwhile, public schools faced budget cuts, closures, and overcrowding—all while being blamed for not keeping up with their better-funded charter counterparts.
Take Sacramento City Unified School District’s decision to withdraw from the CORE Waiver program, which was supposed to provide flexibility in meeting federal education standards. Critics argued that the waiver was just another way to impose corporate-style accountability measures on public schools. And let’s not forget the racial and socioeconomic disparities exacerbated by school closures in low-income neighborhoods—because nothing says “equity” like shutting down schools in communities that need them most.
The Great Charter School Debate
Proponents of charter schools argue that they offer parents choice and students opportunity. Opponents counter that they siphon resources from public schools, lack transparency, and often fail to deliver better outcomes. The truth? It’s complicated—but not as complicated as reformers would have you believe.
Charter schools in Sacramento promised to close the achievement gap for African American students. Instead, they delivered higher teacher turnover rates, less job stability, and a whole lot of broken promises. Meanwhile, teacher unions like Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) fought back against privatization efforts, warning that charter expansion would lead to job losses and reduced resources for public schools.
When Philanthropy Becomes a Four-Letter Word
The problem with billionaire philanthropy isn’t just that it’s misguided—it’s that it’s unaccountable. Foundations like Broad’s operate with zero oversight, pushing policies that often do more harm than good. They treat education as a laboratory for their pet theories, with students and teachers as unwitting guinea pigs.
And when their experiments fail—as they often do—they simply move on to the next shiny idea, leaving communities to pick up the pieces. Case in point: The Gates Foundation’s small schools initiative and Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 plan. Both were hailed as revolutionary reforms. Both flopped spectacularly.
Lessons Learned (Or Not)
So what have we learned from Sacramento’s dalliance with corporate education reform? For starters, billionaires don’t always know best—especially when it comes to complex systems like public education. Second, treating schools like businesses ignores their true purpose: educating children and serving communities.
Finally, real reform requires collaboration with educators, parents, and students—not top-down mandates from out-of-touch philanthropists. Until we recognize this simple truth, we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
Epilogue: Hope or Hubris?
St. Hope may have come to Sacramento with lofty ambitions, but its legacy is one of controversy and division. It serves as a stark reminder that education isn’t something you can fix with a checkbook and a PowerPoint presentation. It’s messy, nuanced, and deeply human—qualities that don’t fit neatly into a billionaire’s spreadsheet.
So here’s some unsolicited advice for our friends Broad, Gates, and Walton: Stick to what you know. Build skyscrapers. Write software. Sell cheap socks in bulk. But leave education to the professionals—before you dismantle it beyond repair.
And Sacramento? Hang in there. The trees are still standing tall—even if your school system has been shaken to its roots.
Big Education Ape: SAC CHARTERGATE PART I: ST. HOPE'S SAC CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA THAT PUTS SOAP OPERAS TO SHAME https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2025/07/sac-chartergate-st-hopes-sac-charter.html
Big Education Ape: SAC CHARTERGATE PART II: A History of Problems at St. HOPE Charter Schools in Sacramento https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2025/07/sac-chartergate-part-ii-history-of.html