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Wednesday, March 4, 2026

XQ INSTITUTE: BECAUSE NOTHING SAYS 'PUBLIC EDUCATION' LIKE PRIVATE EQUITY

 

XQ INSTITUTE: BECAUSE NOTHING SAYS 'PUBLIC EDUCATION' LIKE PRIVATE EQUITY

CALIFORNIA'S EDUCATION CRISIS: BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SAME PEOPLE SELLING YOU THE SOLUTION

The Oligarch Express Just Pulled Into California Station—Again

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the oligarchy, and I'm here to help fix your failing schools."

Well, folks, buckle up. The billionaire education reform carousel has made another rotation, and this time it's brought along some shiny new brochures, a fresh coat of "innovation" paint, and—surprise, surprise—the same old playbook that's been strip-mining California's public schools for the better part of two decades.

Meet the latest installment: State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and the California Department of Education, partnering with XQ Institute and the Emerson Collective—that would be Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, for those keeping score at home. They're here to "redesign" your high schools. Again. Because apparently, the last seventeen redesigns didn't quite take.

Now, before we dive into this particular flavor of educational disruption, let's set the stage with some California context that would make even the most jaded political operative wince:

Over 20% of California's public schools have either closed or been privatized—handed over to, you guessed it, billionaire-backed charter school operators. And California charter schools? They've earned themselves a truly impressive distinction: home to the largest charter school fraud scandals in known history. And those are just the ones that got caught. The ones where someone actually bothered to look at the books before the money vanished into a Cayman Islands bank account or a founder's Tesla collection.

The XQ Institute: Innovation™ or Invasion?

So what exactly is XQ Institute? According to their glossy materials (and they do love their glossy materials), they're essentially the "R&D department for the American high school." Their mission? Moving us away from that dusty, century-old model of education that—checks notes—produced generations of scientists, artists, engineers, civil rights leaders, and the entire foundation of American innovation. But sure, it's totally obsolete now.

What really stands out about XQ is their "Learner Goals." Instead of boring old metrics like "can this kid read at grade level" or "does this student understand algebra," they prioritize creating "original thinkers" and "generous collaborators." It's a refreshingly vague, holistic take on what a diploma should represent—so vague, in fact, that it's nearly impossible to measure whether they've succeeded or failed. Convenient, that.

The Three Pillars of the XQ Approach

Let me translate their strategy from nonprofit-speak into plain English:

1. School Design: "Moving away from 'seat time' toward competency-based learning"
Translation: Getting rid of those pesky requirements that students actually attend class for a certain number of hours. Because who needs structure when you've got an app?

2. Community Power: "Engaging local students, parents, and businesses"
Translation: Creating the illusion of grassroots support while tech companies get a pipeline of pre-trained workers who've been "competency-based" into accepting lower wages and fewer benefits.

3. Policy Change: "Removing bureaucratic red tape"
Translation: Eliminating those annoying regulations like teacher credentialing requirements, collective bargaining rights, and financial oversight that make it harder to run schools like startups.

The Emerson Collective: Philanthropy or Private Equity in a Hoodie?

Now let's talk about the money behind the curtain. The Emerson Collective isn't your grandmother's charity. Founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, it operates as an LLC, not a traditional nonprofit. Why does this matter? Because it gives them a "utility belt" that would make Batman jealous:

  • Venture Capital Investments: They can invest in for-profit companies and keep the returns
  • Political Lobbying: Unlike actual charities, they can directly influence legislation
  • Media Control: They own a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine (handy for shaping the narrative)
  • Selective Philanthropy: They can pick and choose which "innovations" to fund without the transparency requirements of real nonprofits

It's the perfect vehicle for what I like to call "philanthrocapitalism"—where doing good and doing well are so thoroughly blended that nobody can quite tell where the charity ends and the profit motive begins.

The Emerson Collective describes their approach as "frictionless philanthropy": find bold leaders, give them resources, and get out of their way. Which sounds lovely until you realize "getting out of the way" also means "minimal accountability" and "don't ask too many questions about the results."

Tony Thurmond's Faustian Bargain

Here's where it gets especially rich: California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction—the person supposedly charged with protecting and strengthening our public schools—is partnering with organizations whose entire business model depends on convincing people that public schools are irredeemably broken.

The California Secondary School Redesign Pilot Program has been allocated $10 million (chump change in California's $100+ billion education budget, but enough to create some pilot programs and generate PR). It's being administered by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE), which will work hand-in-glove with XQ to identify "effective redesign models."

Let me predict how this goes:

  1. A handful of well-resourced pilot schools get flooded with money, support, and attention
  2. They show "promising results" (carefully measured using XQ's own vague metrics)
  3. These results get trumpeted in The Atlantic (remember who owns that?) and education trade publications
  4. Policymakers declare traditional public schools obsolete
  5. More schools get converted to charters or "redesigned" with non-union staff
  6. A final report in 2029 declares success, regardless of actual outcomes
  7. Rinse and repeat

The Charter School Scandal Hall of Fame

Let's not forget California's truly spectacular track record with charter schools. We're talking about:

And these are just the greatest hits. The ones where the fraud was so egregious that even California's notoriously lax charter oversight couldn't ignore it.

Meanwhile, traditional public schools—you know, the ones with elected school boards, open meetings, and actual accountability—are being starved of resources and then blamed for "failing."

What You Can Actually Do

So here we are again. Another billionaire, another "innovative" scheme, another round of "disruption" that somehow always seems to disrupt teachers' job security and students' stability more than anything else.

But here's the thing: You have power. More power than Laurene Powell Jobs wants you to know about.

Pay Attention to School Board Elections

This is where the real battle happens. Billionaire-backed candidates are flooding local school board races with money—often outspending grassroots candidates 10-to-1 or more. They run on vague platforms about "innovation" and "accountability" while their real agenda is privatization.

Red flags to watch for:

  • Candidates who receive major funding from outside your district
  • Endorsements from charter school advocacy groups
  • Vague talking points about "choice" and "flexibility" without specifics
  • Hostility toward teacher unions
  • No actual experience in public education

Ask the Hard Questions

When XQ or any other "reform" organization shows up in your district:

  • Who's funding this, and what do they get in return?
  • What happens to the teachers currently working in these schools?
  • Will this program respect collective bargaining agreements?
  • What's the plan if this "innovation" fails—can we go back?
  • Why are we partnering with organizations that profit from privatization?

Support Your Teachers

Those "terrible teacher unions" that billionaires love to demonize? They're the only organized force standing between your kids and complete corporate takeover of public education. When teachers strike for better pay and smaller class sizes, they're fighting for your children's learning conditions.

The Bottom Line

The nine most terrifying words in the English language aren't actually "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

They're: "I'm a billionaire with ideas about your children's education."

Because when someone who's never taught a class, never attended a public school, and never had to worry about whether they could afford rent decides they know better than professional educators how schools should work—that's when you should clutch your wallet, your school board, and your kids' futures very, very tightly.

California's public schools were once the envy of the nation. We can get back there. But not by letting tech moguls and venture capitalists run experiments on our children while calling it "innovation."

The real innovation would be this: Fully fund public schools. Pay teachers a living wage. Reduce class sizes. Provide mental health support. And let educators educate.

Radical, I know. But it just might work.

And it won't cost you your democracy—or turn your kids into data points for some billionaire's portfolio.

So hang on tight, California. The Oligarch Express is pulling out of the station again. Whether you're on board or standing on the platform trying to derail it—that's up to you.

Vote in your local school board elections. Ask questions. Demand accountability. And for the love of public education, stop letting billionaires tell you that the solution to underfunded schools is to hand them over to... billionaires.

The irony would be hilarious if it weren't happening to our kids.


Highlighting CA HS Redesign: XQ Institute Report - Year 2026 (CA Dept of Education) https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr26/yr26rel09.asp


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