It probably won’t rise to the notoriety of “Gatesgate,” however colloquially tempting. And “Giftgate” is likely a reach as well. But this much now seems certain: the Hillsborough County School System was sold a bill of Gates goods on that much-ballyhooed, 9-figure grant in 2009.
In short, the $100 million Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant–aka a “gift”–was misleading from the Gates-go. It wasn’t a prestigious “gift.” It didn’t deserve that self-flattering, windfall connotation.
This “gift” had to be matched, meaning it had to come from somewhere else in a budget, where it wouldn’t have been in the first place had it not been purposeful. This should have been the reddest of flags.
Moreover, this was no deus ex machina money that the school district could target to pressing priorities–such as bringing poverty-area schools up to speed, investing in better teaching tools and funding teacher-recruitment bonuses.
This was, more than anything else, about peer evaluators and consultants. The former proved a morale game-changer for the worse, the latter proved why the consultancy class is so reviled.
The district, according to Superintendent Jeff Eakins, will now be unraveling the teacher-evaluation system it had developed with the Gates Foundation. The costs, including disputable outcomes, proved prohibitive.
The Gates’ legacy (in addition to coming up $20 million short of that promised $100,000 million grant): A district/teacher union relationship that imploded, a ravaged budget that burrowed into reserves and a county graduation rate that now trails other large counties in Florida. Hillsborough County didn’t get educational help; it got schooled by consultants.
Thanks, Bill. Thanks, Melinda. Thanks, MaryEllen.