It looks like the Gates Foundation is trudging an uphill climb in reforming the current state of the public school system. The foundation was intended to revolutionize the way education works across the states, ensuring that no child is left behind regardless of race or ethnicity; during its early years, the prospects were promising. With 27 billion dollars in funds to back it up and a software mogul at the helm, it’s hard to imagine that such a venture can go wrong. But it has, and the reason for the setback is a misstep in implementation.

At first, the Gates Foundation was particularly selective of the schools which it intends to take under its wing, choosing schools and school districts which bear the most potential for improvement. Success Tech Academy is an offspring of the program; the expenses for an entire curriculum year were paid for, and full support was provided in terms of professional development and the provision of technological amenities for all of its students. The teacher and staff were trained and kept updated to the latest trends in teaching, and in due time the school has become a public option for students who can’t keep up with the increasing education costs in the state of Cleveland, particularly those offered by the for-profit charter schools which dot the state.

Unfortunately, state subsidies which were pledged to keep such a school operating has fallen short in recent years, with huge budget cuts threatening the capability of small schools to provide innovative and personalized instruction. The state’s lawmakers have yet to pass a bill which significantly increases the budget reserved for operational costs of smaller schools such as Success Tech Academy, and many are bearing the brunt of the crisis with massive layoffs and slowly-degenerating amenities. When once the Success Tech enjoyed 95 percent attendance and improved student participation, now there is a general sentiment of dissent among them; they have every reason to worry since the faculty staff has changed and is predominantly white due to employment turnovers – this in a school where over eighty percent of the student population are African Americans.

This bodes ill for the foundation’s vision, and the only way it can turn around is if the government takes legislative action to help smaller schools survive in the wake of layoffs. The foundation grants are only intended to make headway for the school to operate, for about a year or so (as is the case in Success Tech Academy), and after that, the state basically takes over. States should do more on their end of the bargain apart from raising the bar and creating more rigorous exit requirements. Prioritizing schools within low-income communities should be on top of their concerns. On the part of the Gates Foundation, its education director Tom Vander Ark should take measures to withhold grants to states which won’t keep their end of the bargain; the public school system has much to lose since it has made thorough headway since the program started, and it would be a shame for everything to die a natural death now.

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