The changing U.S. economic and education structure has created a need for private funding for public schools, according to Wall Street billionaire Steve Schwarzman.
"The world keeps moving faster and faster and the U.S. is falling behind," Schwarzman, who made a $25 million donation to his public high school, told Business Insider, noting the expense of technological education cannot keep up with government funding in our modern world.
Schwarzman, founder of private-equity firm Blackstone Group and worth $13 billion, according to Forbes, advised 3,000 superintendents that public schools need to start working to raise private funding in order to compete, according to the report.
"Part of it is, if you've never done this type of work in terms of raising money, it's preparing people psychologically for the difficulty of asking," Schwarzman told B.I. "You have to be psychologically prepared to just keep asking."
Funding for K-12 public education has waned since 2008, and 29 states were providing less per student in 2015 vs. 2008, according to the most recent U.S. Census data provided by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities.
"The middle class economically has shrunk," he told B.I. "The monies aren't there in the same way. I think we have to recognize that and figure out what to do about it."
And things will only get worse, according to Schwarzman.
"I think the roadblocks are basically just tradition," Schwarzman told B.I. "What I'm talking about is just typically not done.
"Sometimes in life you just have to adapt."
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, private money accounts for just 2 percent of public elementary and secondary school funding.
"School districts' reliance on private funding is slim-to-none, but where it does exist it tends to be in wealthier communities," Sean Corcoran, associate professor of economics and education policy at NYU Steinhardt, told B.I.
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