Firm that backed Edison sours on privatization

An investment firm that was one of the early backers of efforts to privatize public schools said yesterday it no longer believes that companies managing schools for profit can make enough money to justify the political risk of investing in them.

New York-based Leeds Weld & Co., which just last summer invested $40 million in Edison Schools, the nation's largest private manger of public schools, said that it wouldn't invest in school privatization companies in the future.

"Investors frequently fail to appreciate the political risks posed by investment in companies that pursue privatization of education," the firm's principal, Jeffrey Leeds, said in a written statement. "Leeds Weld no longer view companies that pursue privatization of education as likely to generate the long-term growth necessary to offset these risks."<snip>

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/nation/6528664.htm

What about the financial risks and the risk of flushing down the toilet the prospects of poor students who most need help?

Nah, it's the politics.

Not individual investors! Well-educated, literate citizens go on to do things like, oh,...find a cure for cancer? the schools themselves are always a money drain, as are most government services! privatizing governmnet functions is INSANITY!