Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft and the Gates Foundation Inherit More Roles of the US Department of Education

US Department of Education seal



Summary: A look at the latest evidence we have of a silent takeover of US education, courtesy of Gates' newer monopolistic venture

LAST week we showed how US education was being hijacked by Bill Gates. This was just the latest among many posts on the subjects -- posts that quote respectable people who made identical allegations against the Gates Foundation. Today we wish to present more evidence that we have gathered over the past week. As always, readers are encouraged to follow the links and reach their own conclusions based on the many reputable sources that we cite.



We wish to begin with this news report:

D.C. agency to probe Rhee critic's complaint over ethics of school funds clause



The District's Office of Campaign Finance will investigate a complaint, filed by an outspoken critic of Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, alleging that Rhee violated the law by soliciting donations from private foundations that reserved the right to pull their funding if there was a change in the school system's leadership.


Fortunately for us, Gates Keepers (dedicated observer of the Gates Foundation) summarised this by saying that "Foundations bought leadership" (we will show more examples in a moment). To quote the interpretation of the article above:

Whether Michelle Rhee went too far or not, philanthropic donations involved vested interests. She should resign and see if the money stays put. The Gates Foundation appears to have dodged this bullet by not being directly involved.

Is a leadership clause really a "standard feature of private funding agreements" in education. It is not in field of health.


It is not unusual for the Gates Foundation to use funds for PR in education, or even in order to fund self-serving 'studies', change leadership, and to change curricula. We saw more examples like this last week (people move from top academic jobs to help the educational push of Gates) and here is another, newer example:

Harvard Trader Zuzic Quits, Said to Join Gates’s Fund Manager



Stan Zuzic, one of Harvard University’s top-paid endowment managers, quit and joined the firm that oversees investments for Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


This was also covered here. Stan Zuzic has a lot of influence and Gates has a lot of money that it can offer Stan in exchange for this power. It's not the first such story.

According to Murdoch's press, this whole intervention in education is a success. But it's probably just PR intended to give the impression that they are beneficial. It's a Washington article, so the bias should be expected. Gates' foundation assesses its own performance, so he is giving himself high scores.

According to another new report, Gates is entering the university business. The University of Indiana is apparently not enough, so another one gets adopted by the Gates dynasty. From the press release:

WGU Indiana is being established with support from the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


Here is some local press coverage:

The university will not receive state tax dollars. The nonprofit institution is receiving startup funding for its Indiana operations from the Lumina Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and will operate on tuition dollars after that.


It's called "startup funding", it's not a donation. Here is some more coverage; they will probably just teach Microsoft, as expected.

Speaking of "startup funding", here is a very new example from last week. It involves Microsoft:

Harris: 'Launch' event gives startups a boost



[...]

Launch, co-presented by Microsoft and Garage Technology Ventures, has been casting a wider net since.


Watch what Gates is doing in Memphis:

Memphis City Schools has won a highly competitive $90 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by submitting a brilliant proposal based on a commitment to obtain and train highly qualified teachers like Miss Buchanan. I cannot imagine an effort more important to the future of our city.


What Gates has been doing in Memphis is a subject that we've already covered in the posts below (it's where Microsoft changes the education agenda using carrot-and-stick tactics, i.e. money).



Recent Techrights' Posts

Richard Stallman Gives Public Talk at Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic
"For programs that you could run, and for network services that could do your own computing, under what circumstances is it reasonable to trust them?"
Another Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Comes Shortly. Microsoft Propaganda Sites and Slopforms Powered by Microsoft LLMs Already Spew Out Face-Saving Nonsense.
Based on last month's leak, some very extensive layoffs are now imminent [...] Perhaps we can expect a lot of noise, some of it spewed out by bots, to distract from or belittle the impending mass layoffs
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Windows and Microsoft Causing Serious Data Breaches, Media Rushes to Blame That on "Linux" Somehow
While selling us some rusty old propaganda about how moving to Microsoft GitHub (Rust) will improve security
Making Site Archives More Easily Accessible (Approaching 50,000 Blog Posts)
Efforts to censor us have always backfired badly
 
Finland, Lithuania, and Latvia Fortify Their Digital Border With GNU/Linux
This month's data from statCounter is particularly interesting near the Baltic Sea
Today We Turn 18.5
The eighteenth "and a half" anniversary
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 06, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 06, 2025
Microsoft Finally Admits That XBox is ****
In this case, "enshittification" is an understatement
Slopwatch: Microsoft Slop, Anti-Linux Slop, and IBM Marketing Itself as a Slop Company
Microsoft-controlled LLM spewing out garbage about "Linux"
Links 06/05/2025: Microsoft's Assassination of Skype After Years of Failure, Slop Hallucinations Are Getting Worse
Links for the day
Links 06/05/2025: Changing Places and StarGrid for PalmOS
Links for the day
Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part II: Hiding Behind Lawyers and Barristers Who Lack Standards so as to Engage in Classic Corporate Extortion
They're trying to scare people and they misuse their licence to operate
Links 06/05/2025: LLMs/Chatbots Attract More Scrutiny (Getting Worse Over Time), PwC Has Many Layoffs
Links for the day
Thanks for listening. How can this Morse feed be further improved?
Right now any and all feedback on the audio would be helpful
statCounter: Bing's Market Share Lower Right Now Than It Was When LLM Hype Began (With "Bing Chat")
If anybody gains at Google's expense in search, it is BRICS' alternatives such as Yandex
Gemini Links 06/05/2025: Failure and Proxmox Cluster
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 05, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 05, 2025
Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part I: Hiding Behind Lawyers (or Guns for Hire) After Abusing Many People and Even Strangling Women While Microsoft Paid Salaries
This whole thing is very typical of the Microsoft and Bill Gates mindset
From EPO to "MAGA Regime": A Shift Away From Reality to Fake News and False Metrics
Disbelief in itself isn't a bad thing; but the problem is that people are taught to believe rich people in suits more than they believe others
Skype is Officially Dead Today and This is Why People Should Use Free Software Instead (Goodbye, Microsoft)
It's also a good reminder of why people should move to GNU/Linux
'Simple Articles' in MyGemini Just One of Many New 'Sites' in Geminispace
Geminispace has grown fast lately; it's turning 6 next month
Links 05/05/2025: TikTok Still a Romanian Woe/Foe, Signal Perils Showing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: Debian and GNOME and a "Welcome to Simple Articles"
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: US Economy Shrinks, US Presidency Spreading Deepfakes
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: Breaches, Environment, and Conflicts
Links for the day
SUSE the Company Now Uses LLM Slop to 'Write' Its Blog, What Does That Tell Us About SUSE?
There are many giveaways
Richard Stallman is in Alicante Today to Give a Talk, Czech Republic in Two Days (Wednesday)
Of course he can deliver the talk in Spanish
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: XL Bullies and Luddites
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 04, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 04, 2025