Billionaire Theodore J. Forstmann will provide $50 million so thousands of poor New York City families can send their children to local parochial and private schools, the New York Times reports.
Forstmann, co-founder of the national Children's Scholarship Foundation (CSF), has sent out letters to the parents of 7,500 young students, announcing their acceptance into the New York program, which provides partial scholarships so these students have an alternative to public schools.
The financier said he was funding the program to help break the "government monopoly" on local school systems, the Times reports.
The New York program -- which drew from a pool of 166,000 students -- is being administered by the CSF.
While the majority of scholarships will go to church-affiliated schools, Forstmann has said this is only because these schools are the only significant alternative to the public school system, the newspaper reports.
His ultimate goal is to draw attention to the schools issue so large corporations and not-for-profits start their own educational systems, in competition with the government.
More schools -- and more choice -- should lead to better schools, better teachers and better students, Forstmann said.
"Who should be in charge of the education of a child -- the parent or the government? Certainly most of the parents in America would say, 'Of course, it should be me.' But if they can't pick the school, they can't pick the subjects, and they can't pick who teaches the subjects, then you please tell me what they are in charge of," Forstmann told the newspaper.
The CSF's own first round of national funding granted four-year partial scholarships to 40,000 children, from more than one million applicants.
Forstmann launched the foundation with partner John Walton, an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. The two men started CSF with $100 million of their own money, and raised another $80 million to help fund the first scholarship round.
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