$10 Million to Alliance Schools
Support Led by Broad Foundation and Individual Donors

The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools received $10 million to support the opening of 13 new schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.  That support came from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and several Alliance Board members.  “20 by 2010,” declared Judy Burton, President and CEO of the Alliance, “ We will have twenty high performance college-ready schools bringing quality education to students by the end of this decade.”

 

The announcement of the grants came at a celebration and press conference at Gertz-Ressler High School.  The event was attended by state and local education leaders, Alliance students and board members, and a phalanx of broadcast and print journalists.  More than 20 news stories in cities from San Jose to San Diego reported on the contributions to Alliance charter schools.     This significant funding includes $6.5 million from the Broad Foundation, a national philanthropy created in part to improve K-12 urban public education.  Eli Broad told the audience, “Alliance schools set a high bar for students and do whatever it takes to prepare every student for college. Charters are the way to educate our students in the best way possible.”

Alliance Board members contributed $3.5 million.  One of those donors Tony Ressler said, “The Alliance is meeting its objectives. We build schools for less than $25,000.  We educate our students for $6500 per pupil. We will graduate all our kids. And we expect that at least 90% of them will go to college.”  Chairman of the Alliance Board and former mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan, philanthropists Eva and Marc Stern, and former Alliance Board chair Frank Baxter, now the U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay, also donated substantial sums to the expansion and work of the Alliance network.

Eleventh grader Jesse Aguilar praised his experience as a student at Gertz-Ressler. “When I came here as a ninth grader, I was a C student. Now I’m an A student. I took three advanced placement courses this year.  On campus, it is safe; there’s no violence. Our teachers care about us. I will be the first person in my family to go to college. I will make them proud.”

LA School Board members Monica Garcia and Marlene Canter said they were thrilled to be at the announcement. “We are learning what works in education from charter schools,” added Ms. Canter.