In this week’s podcast (#20), I interview John Eriksen of the Drexel Fund.  The Drexel Fund is a philanthropic fund supporting innovative school initiatives in school choice states (6).  I expected we would talk about finance, money, and school choice.

What surprised me was our talk about excellence.  He said that the Drexel Fund wants to support excellent schools so they can be freed from all of their fundraising obligations.  As he points out, many of our schools have become quite excellent fundraising machines—magazine sales, chocolate sales, cookie dough sales, golf tournaments, auctions, etc.  The community can become galvanized and united around the fundraising efforts.

But aren’t we supposed to be educating?

As Eriksen suggests, we want to see schools become educational juggernauts.  We want to see the same focus on professional development, instruction, curriculum, and learning.

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