Four private schools that lost state-funded scholarships in Florida last week are owned by a mega-sized investment company based in China.
The ownership violates one of three laws signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 8, which bans schools from entering relationships or partnerships with foreign countries of concern and names the Chinese Communist Party as one, state Education Commissioner Manny Diaz told The Epoch Times in his first interview with the national press on the subject.
The four schools—Lower and Upper Sagemont Preparatory Schools in Weston in Broward County, and Parke House Academy and Park Maitland School in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park—are owned by the Spring Education Group, Mr. Diaz said.
That company is, in turn, controlled by Primavera Capital Group, “an investment firm principally based in China, with operations in China, Singapore and the United States,” Mr. Diaz said.
Spring Education has acquired over 200 schools across the country, he said.
“This is interesting, the acquisition of private schools by this firm. I can’t imagine what the margins are for private schools, why a holding company would be interested in them,” he said.
Mr. Diaz said he wanted to hold off on further comment about the company as the schools have 15 days to respond to the administrative complaint, have a right to appeal, and the state is still investigating.
Mr. DeSantis directed the Department of Education on Sept. 22 to suspend the availability of school choice scholarships to the four schools “that have direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” the governor’s office said in a written statement.
“Their connections constitute an imminent threat to the health, safety, and welfare of these school’s students and the public,” the office said.
“The department is working with the nonprofit scholarship-funding organizations to assist impacted students in finding and enrolling in nearby eligible schools.”
“The Chinese Communist Party is not welcome in the state of Florida,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We will not put up with any attempt to influence students with a communist ideology or allow Floridians’ tax dollars to go to schools that are connected to our foreign adversaries.”
This is not the first action Mr. DeSantis has taken against China-affiliated educational institutions, Mr. Diaz said. The state removed Confucius Institutes from several colleges, including Miami Dade College, which he said is the largest two-year college in the country.
Another of the three bills Mr. DeSantis signed in May bans TikTok’s use in public schools and universities, Mr. Diaz said. The app gathers enormous amounts of data on its users accessible by the Chinese government.
Mr. Diaz emphasized that students and their families will keep their scholarships and can spend them to attend other schools. He said he wasn’t familiar with the schools in question other than their being “upscale” with high tuition.
“This is a difficult situation,” he acknowledged of the families’ having to switch schools with the school year already underway.
“But this is a thorough process. We’re taking steps to do everything possible to assist parents and students to make sure they have all the options in front of them.”
It’s possible the schools could remedy the situation as they go through the 15-day response period and any appeal they might make, Mr. Diaz said.
“I don’t want to speak for our legal team.”
Of a remedy, he said, “I don’t know what that looks like on their end.” He agreed a change in ownership might alleviate the problem.
“We were not contacted in advance and are seeking more information regarding the basis for this decision. In the meantime, we will be working directly with our families to ensure they can remain enrolled in our school.”
“We are regularly acknowledged as one of the best private schools in our area and have a track record of delivering outstanding educational outcomes, which is why parents choose us,” the statement continued.
“Our schools are locally run, abide by local, state, and federal laws, and do not have ties to any government or political party, either foreign or domestic. Our curriculum is accredited, standards-based, and academically rigorous.”
Park Maitland Schools issued an identical statement.
School Purchases Alarm Parents
With its backing from Primavera, Spring bought the Stratford Schools in California in 2017 for $500 million and five BASIS Independent Schools in California, New York, and Virginia in 2019.Spring Education’s biggest education purchase was in 2018, when it acquired Nobel Learning Communities, with 25,000 students at 190 schools in 19 states.
According to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nobel posted a $29 million profit on $232 million in revenues in 2010.
The investments it banners on its web page are all Chinese firms, including e-commerce pioneer Alibaba; XPeng, the leading Chinese smart electric vehicle company, and Yum China, its leading restaurant company.
The company says it “focuses on four main investment themes: consumption upgrade, service orientation, technological innovation, and decarbonization.”
Education is not mentioned. But it also owns the Princeton Review, which specializes in preparation for college admission tests like the SAT and the ACT.
He is a member of the Nature Conservancy’s global board and a trustee at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, which for almost a century has allowed top scientists and scholars like Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and John von Neumann to pursue pure research without teaching or publication responsibilities.
