Here Comes Another Privatization Group

Meet Schools for America. Well, more to the point, watch out for Schools for America.

This group was launched just a month or so ago. And despite the echo in the name, it is not related to Teach for America. 

It's an "issue advocacy organization exclusively dedicated to rightsizing the regulatory barriers that prevent new schools from opening across the United States." Because if there's anything that education needs, it's a group that lobbies for less regulation of charter and private schools. The group is "laser-focused on a singular mission: unlocking new school supply." 

And not just by lobbying-- they "partner directly with state legislators, committee staff, and governor's offices to introduce and advance reform legislation." 

Before we draft a single bill, we conduct granular regulatory audits—identifying the specific zoning codes, fire marshal interpretations, and occupancy classifications that block new school formation in a given state. This isn't theoretical research. It's litigation-grade documentation designed to be dropped in a committee hearing.

In other words, a bill mill. Write the bill and hand it off to a cooperative legislator.

They target some particular sorts of legislation. Zoning blocks schools form being opened in some neighborhoods. Fire codes are too strict ("A 15-student co-op in a church hall isn't the same fire or occupancy risk as a 500-seat campus") Occupancy classifications are too hard on tiny schools ("a 15-student learning pod shouldn't require a $500,000 renovation").

You see the pattern here. Small "schools," like the microschool in your neighbor's rec room or the church basement, should be able to set up a "school" without having to follow school rules. At LinkedIn they declare, "Demand for new schools—microschools, homeschool cooperatives, private schools, and innovative learning models—has never been higher."

And if you have any doubt of where they want to head, there's a tab on their site-- The Florida Blueprint, honoring Florida's new law that makes it easier to set up your pop-up-and-cash-in school in the Sunshine State. She worked as a staff assistant for Representative Paul Ryan in 2011, then went to work for the Romney Presidential campaign. 

SfA's executive director is Jane McEnaney. According to her LinkedIn McNaney is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross with degrees in Political Science, Latin America, and Latino Studies. Then she went to Illinois, where she worked for Illinois Policy Institute, then worked for Governor Bruce Rauner for three years. She served as midwest director for TechNet ("the voice of American innovation" aka advocacy group for our tech overlords). She helped found ReDirect Chicago, an organization that seems to have existed to promote "direct education funding" in Chicago and push privatizer and upward-failing Paul Vallas in the 2023 election. 

After that she went to work as Director of Education Policy Initiatives for the State Policy Network, that delightful network of right wing thinky tanks, dark money distributors, and advocacy groups. After that, she landed at Schools for America as ED.

LinkedIn does list her as a founder for SfA, but hers is the only name appearing anywhere on the site. A promotional launch video includes a glowing endorsement by Ryan Delk, a silicon valley start-up guy who currently is running Primer, a micro-school start-up outfit that pushes teaching through the "timeless foundations of American education" aka old elementary school primers. Delk lists himself as a member of the SfA board. 

Schools for America is still pretty new. Their page for founder Stories is still "coming soon." But the Wall Street Journal let McAnaney have space in their op-ed section to opine about Florida and plug her outfit. Jeanne "Backpacks full of cash" Allen at the Center for Education Reform has plugged them. Their tweeter account is still pretty sleepy (they aren't on Bluesky). Their Youtube page is not busy, either. 

But the privatization of schooling has always been partly driven by the real estate business, so advocacy to make the commandeering of real estate easier seems right on brand. On the dead bird app, privatization fans like Alpha School's MacKenzie Price bemoan how sad it is that public schools are so reluctant to transfer taxpayer-owned assets to edupreneurs.

So I'm guessing this outfit will be active, whether helping write and pass bills to replicate Florida's "Schools of Hope" program to help private operators take public school real estate, or clearing away all those regulations getting in the way of the latest pop-up school scam. Keep an eye peeled for them in your neighborhood.