Ray Dalio's Connecticut education partnership under fire over executive pay: Report
The state is aiming to address an education achievement gap between wealthy and poor communities
The Partnership for Connecticut – a nonprofit founded in partnership with hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio – has come under fire over how much it intends to pay its leader.
According to the CTMirror, three of the four board executives are questioning whether the group’s president should make more than $300,000 – which is more than many school superintendents.
“I would find that problematic,” Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, according to the publication.
The salary proposal has also encouraged other lawmakers to ask whether the compensation plan would even be in play if the nonprofit had not been granted exemption from certain disclosure and ethics rules, the CTMirror noted.
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The partnership’s board of directors will oversee a $100 million contribution from the foundation of Dalio and $100 million in matching state taxpayer funds over five years. State legislation creating the entity also calls for another $100 million from other yet to be named philanthropists and business leaders.
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, a wealthy former businessman, has been working with Barbara Dalio since early 2019 on this effort with Dalio Philanthropies in Connecticut, a state with a large education achievement gap between wealthy and poor communities. The goal is to help “disengaged and disconnected” young people living in poor Connecticut communities, who have dropped out of high school or who are at risk of dropping out, to succeed. The first grants aren’t expected to be issued until sometime next year.
Lamont acknowledged Connecticut is “trying something new” with this public-private concept. But he and Barbara Dalio, who is also a board member, have said exempting the partnership from public disclosure rules will allow the board to have more sensitive conversations.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.