A Step Toward Better Schools, Private Schools ... or Both?

The Philadelphia Schools Partnership Thursday announced that it has raised almost $52 million, putting the two-year-old nonprofit more than halfway to its goal of $100 million.

Mayor Michael Nutter applauded the milestone and the foundation's website includes this:

“The Maguire Foundation has been supporting education reform in a number of ways over the years, but broad-scale improvement in the city has been elusive,” said James J. Maguire, founder of Philadelphia Insurance Cos. and The Maguire Foundation, and a board member of PSP. “We have elected to make this big investment in the Great Schools Fund because we see a real opportunity, through collective action, to achieve citywide improvement.”

Of course, not everyone is cheering.

Over at The City Paper they've connected a bunch of dots and come to this conclusion: "What readers might not glean from press reports is that PSP is an integral part of a broad and well-funded campaign to privatize public education in Philadelphia."

Check out their site for the details.