In the battle between legislators and teachers' unions over federal Race to the Top funding, hedge funds' executives are becoming powerful proponents of charter school reform. A new proposal for federal school funding would require the Assembly to pass legislation that would raise the cap on charter schools, and many managers have contributed millions in funds to lobby for the bill. “A lot of hedge fund and finance people in New York had decided state politics was too dirty and focused on their philanthropy.” said Eagle Capital Management partner Boykin Curry, “I think there’s an awakening now that we can be a force in Albany, but we’ve got to play a tougher game than before.”
Curry, along with managers from firms like Anchorage Capital Partners and Greenlight Capital, attended a breakfast with possible gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo last month for a Democrats for Education Reform meeting, pledging the money to pay for ads and canvassers to urge voters to support the reform. Charter schools have typically been opposed by teachers unions, who say the publicly-run but privately-owned schools drain money from public schools. They also don't generally hire unionized teachers.
United Federation of Teachers leader Michael Mulgrew is wary of hedge fund execs, saying, "They seem to be willing to spend anything, which always leads me to suspect motive." But the same could be said of teachers unions' motives, which Tilson Mutual Funds founder Whitney Tilson says are “To protect their own self-interest, often at the expense of children.” The state has until June 1st to apply for the second round of Race to the Top federal funding, and could be granted up to $700 million if successful.
