“We started with a philanthropic school in the poorest neighbourhood in Las Vegas and then figured out an out-of-the-box private sector solution for a huge, daunting societal issue, which is scaling the best in class charter schools across the country.”
A charter school operates independently of the state school system, doesn’t charge for tuition and receives government funding per student it attracts.
The problem that arises is that an initial investment of capital is required to establish the school’s facilities. That is where Mr Agassi’s fund comes in.
The fund has the capital to invest in the school’s infrastructure and then affordably lease them to a charter school operator. Once the school reaches full occupancy has a reliable income source from the state, it can begin to purchase back the facilities.
For 2019, Mr Agassi said there was “$400 million more to deploy before we move onto a third fund, and that will be another probably 25-30 schools”. Mr Agassi opened his 90th school in 2018.
Thoughts on tennis
The four-time Australian Open winner said he had applied the lessons he’d learnt on the court in his philanthropic work.
“What you do on a tennis court is try to figure out effective, efficient ways to meet the objective at hand, and it’s not really that much different in business or in philanthropy.”
Mr Agassi is in Australia for his endorsement deals with Lavazza and Longines, as well as being a part of Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov’s coaching team for his Australian Open tilt.
He said he approached coaching in the same way he played the game.
“I find myself coaching similar to how I played, which was I kind of only think about one person at a time because you don’t have to beat 127 players here, you just have to beat the one that’s across the net.”
Mr Agassi said the modern game had been changed by the amount of topspin that can be put on the ball and this meant the serve-volley play style championed by the likes of Pat Rafter and Stefan Edberg was tougher to play.
“The strength that has come along with this evolution, when the ball can get down as fast as it can get down and can get over you and in as quickly as it can, it’s hard to come in [to the net], unless you come in completely on your terms.”
Mr Agassi said while people may miss this style of play he had “too much of a nuanced appreciation” of the game and realised why it no longer existed.
The philanthropist said it was his greatest wish for his education work to be made redundant by the public school system.
“There’s nothing more I’d wish for our public school system than to put innovations like this out of business because there’s no problem to be solved, they’re doing it.”
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2SWcEAp
0 Comments