Philanthropist Agitates for Change in Urban Schools

Eli Broad, a Los Angeles residential developer and founder of KB Home and insurer SunAmerica, is using his money to help urban school systems negotiate a maze of obstacles that have held back student achievement for decades, reports The Washington Post.

He and his wife, Edythe, have donated more than $250-million to school-improvement projects since 1999, and they plan to spend most of their Broad Foundation’s $2.25-billion in assets on education.

Mr. Broad, an advocate of freeing school systems from management by what he considers meddlesome school boards, has provided money and advice to efforts to bring business practices to school systems in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia.

Recently he has turned his attention to schools in the nation’s capital and has entered into talks with Washington officials, causing observers to speculate whether Mr. Broad’s involvement will bring more money and expertise to efforts to overhaul the city’s troubled school system.

“I think there is a big opportunity here,” Mr. Broad said of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan to take over Washington’s school system. “But I told him I am concerned with this board of education.”

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