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For-Profits Get Subcontractor Role in Federal Grants

Nonprofit grantees hire firms for online work.

For-profit companies are receiving substantial earnings as subcontractors to four public-broadcasting organizations that were awarded federal grants to develop online educational materials for public schools. At least one industry observer sees these business partnerships as another sign of a trend toward greater involvement of profit-making subcontractors in education grant programs.

The four grants range from $4.8 million to $25 million and last for three or five years. They are part of a second round of “Ready to Teach” grants given out by the U.S. Department of Education’s office of innovation and improvement. That round of grants began in 2005.

So far, the federal dollars have paid for the expansion of an online math curriculum for middle school English-language learners, in addition to new online courses for teachers of all subjects and the linking of video lessons addressing specific academic skills to students’ electronic report cards of their...