Oprah Gives $6 Million To Charter Schools

On her T.V. show Monday, Oprah Winfrey announced she will be shutting down her Angel Network charity, as her talk show also comes to a close.

To end the organization with a grand finale, Winfrey announced the charity will be giving away $6 million to successful charter schools across the country.

The announcement comes as part of a two-day focus on education, in which the talk show host spoke to education advocates such as Bill Gates and Davis Guggenheim, the director of the documentary film "Waiting For 'Superman'."

Reuters reports each of the six schools selected by Oprah will receive $1 million.

The list includes Aspire Public Schools in California, the Denver School of Science and Technology, LEARN Charter School Network in Chicago, Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, the New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy and YES Prep Public Schools in Houston.

Viewers can learn more about the state of America's education system, and how the six charter schools are finding success, on the Lessons in Education section of Oprah.com.

Comments

[dab1000]

08:50 PM on 10/16/2010

Oprah: LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY
http://youtu.be/H9ATXxyOGGI

[Retrofuturistic]

02:45 AM on 10/05/2010

Hmmm. Too bad she couldn't subsidize successful PUBLIC schools....

[jourdankr]

01:00 PM on 10/05/2010

Agreed! Here is my problem with charter schools - there are only so many of them to help kids out. Anyone who fails to get into a charter is out of luck. Why don't we revamp the system so that EVERYONE has a chance to get that kind of Help. De-centralize and de-externalize education. Finland did it...Why can't we?

[secrets 12189]

09:08 PM on 10/04/2010

to successful charter schools across the country.....right !
don't criticize ...WHAT WORKS!

[ApprxAm]

09:45 PM on 10/03/2010

The position of seeing public school's inability to teach what is always presented as bad students is misguided; intentionally I'd say. Under this posture, blame is placed on bad or absent parents, maltreated children, poor performing teachers and administration, dangerous neighborhoods and, finally culture and racialism. Rarely is better-able student and the fact they're unnecessarily disadvantaged is discussed. The potential of these forgotten children are completely ignored and never looked at as being the true victims of the massive failure of public schools. They are the ones that need to be evacuated and isolated from public schools the most.

Charter schools don't work because they need to be a clearinghouse for the better prepared student. Liberals are using egalitarianism as a means of undermining the true test of Charters schools and the desire of parental choice for their deserving children by completely ignoring merit as a tool to escape the pernicious trap called urban public schools. Charters can't work because you don't want them to.

Public schools that are failing and then fight the transfer of better students are simply acting in a treasonous manner for their own institutional survival at the destructive expense of these children. Let us see how the more motivated students performs outside of the public school paradigm of short days, long vacations, noisy and inhospitable environments, and habits of teaching just enough, then we can assess the schools of choice under the desired (supposed) conditions. It's cheaper to instruct.

[AwShucks]

12:59 PM on 10/05/2010

Charter schools are public schools

[ApprxAm]

03:21 PM on 10/05/2010

Could that why they aren't called Private schools? Thanks for the help?

[dab1000]

09:52 AM on 09/29/2010

A Small way to Say Thank You to Oprah:
http://youtu.be/H9ATXxyOGGI

[Lordcron]

04:52 AM on 09/27/2010

Way to go Oprah. You are an angel.

[wecanonlyhope]

11:36 PM on 09/26/2010

She gives an entire audience an all expenses paid trip to Australia with John Travolta as pilot, then she gives $6 million to a charter school. It nice to see a woman billionaire who has priorities. I think she needs some philanthropy lessons from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

[AwShucks]

12:56 PM on 10/05/2010

wow, dam if she does and dam if she doesn't

[dab1000]

03:11 PM on 09/26/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ATXxyOGGI

[Meldy1]

11:01 AM on 09/26/2010

Thanks O,we hope that more rich people follows your generosity!$6M,is a big donation,for crying out loud,it's her doughs,she can donate wherever or whatever she wants! Thank you Oprah.

[cjaco]

09:21 PM on 09/25/2010

Learn the truth about school reform. Read Diane Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (New York: Basic Books, 2010).
You're being bombarded with propaganda pushed by the oligarchs along with the hedge hogs of Wall Street who brought down our economy - all of whom have a financial stake in charter schools and want our tax dollars. They systematically discredit public schools and their teachers, and Lu's boyfriend has been bought by Eli Broad.
Corporations are advocating for privatizing public education with "charters are good, unions are bad, and it's the bad teacher's fault," and the mayor funders of W4S. Here are a few good reads by experts in education, not politicians, foundations, or the hedge fund managers that are driving these reforms. I hope you become enlightened:
The experts on school reform: http://zhaolearning.com/2010/09/03/master-of-myth-what-arne-duncan-says-and-does/
The Grassroots Education Movement in NYC - real parents: http://www.waitingfor­supermantr­uth.org/”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/diane-ravitch/ravitch-welcome-back-to-school.html
The reviews by experts: http://teacherrevised.org/2010/06/30/movie-review-waiting-for-superman-or-just-another-clark-kent-playing-dress-up/
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/01/philanthro­capitalist­s-go-hollywood-with.html (follow the money)
The truth: http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/09/obamas-charters-profit-centers-for.html and http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/09/is-there-crisis-in-mathscience.html””

[AwShucks]

12:58 PM on 10/05/2010

charter schools ARE public schools

[Criticallthinker1974]

11:23 PM on 10/05/2010

That are managed by private sector operators who in many cases, receive millions of dollars in public money regardless of qualification.

[olddognewtrick]

02:04 PM on 09/25/2010

I know that my five bucks to the homeless guy for wineclub dues isn't much, but, as a percentage of my income...It's way over the top...

[weebils]

02:16 PM on 09/24/2010

This woman enjoyed the benefits of public education and that includes a state university. Now, her only goal is to undermine the same system. I have never been a fan but now I truly despise her as a greedy
and selfish person.

[changing]

01:25 PM on 09/24/2010

So the rich folks are abandoning the public schools and sending their philanthropy to the charters that are pigs at the public trough. Worse than vouchers. At least vouchers were given to private schools that had to have some sort of structure; now any huckster can open a charter school and have the taxpayers pay the bill. Nice that old Oprah was pushing Michelle Rhee when the the voters of DC just got rid of her boss Fenty because of her incompetence and inhumanity. The MSM is absolutely one sided and a tool for privatization of our public system. Separate and unequal schooling for all.

[weebils]

02:19 PM on 09/24/2010

"MSM is absolutely one sided and a tool for privatization of our public system. Separate and unequal schooling for all."

And that includes HP. I have been ranting about this for the last few days. I was appalled at how Booker and Zuckerberg were hailed as heroes when their goal is to destroy public education and unions. Thank You and fanned.

[Dameocrat]

03:45 PM on 09/24/2010

I guess her boyfriend steadman sits on the board of one of these charter school corporations, but your right, many of them are nightmarish, and it won't be reported on, not even here.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Graham_Williams_Group

The good news is that these programs are self evidently bad, since most dc voters are not in the teachers union.

[tobynsaunders]

03:49 PM on 09/23/2010

I looked up charter school on Wikipedia on desperately wish I had the chance at a better primary & secondary education... it's seems like a great idea because they seem to get good results... although I would think that public schools which get lots of poor and/or ignorant people need more help...

[Dameocrat]

03:47 PM on 09/24/2010

read schools matters blog

The charters are falsifying data.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/

[tangolas]

12:39 PM on 09/23/2010

"the charity will be giving away $6 million to successful charter schools across the country."
Charter Schools? Having Chris Christie on with the $100000000 dollar facekid?
What is Oprah up to?
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/gov_chris_christie_budget_leav.html