Bill Gates is a growing influence in school reform

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OCTOBER 25, 2009

From today's story by the Associated Press:

The real secretary of education, the joke goes, is Bill Gates.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been the biggest player by far in the school reform movement, spending around $200 million a year on grants to elementary and secondary education.

Now the foundation is taking unprecedented steps to influence education policy, spending millions to influence how the federal government distributes $5 billion in grants to overhaul public schools.

As the Gradebook reported back in July, the foundation has already offered to help Florida put together its Race to the Top application.

(Associated Press photo by Jae C. Hong.)

Posted by Ron Matus at 11:33:55 am on October 25, 2009 in

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Gradebook features education articles and insights on schools in Florida, focusing on Tampa Bay area schools. What's the latest from the Florida Department of Education? How is the FCAT being used to compare Florida schools? What's going in on in Tampa Bay schools? Get an insider's view from the Times education reporting team.

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