January 1, 2015

The Big, Big Problem With Current K-12 Investing

By Transcend

Co-founders Aylon and Jeff, together with Alex Hernandez, make the case for why K-12 should invest significantly more in R&D—making smart bets on “big problems” every year—while radically changing how those dollars are allocated.

“If public K-12 invested 2% of its national spending on research and development (R&D), that would total $12 billion every year.

For perspective, Tesla, widely considered one of the world’s most innovative companies, raised approximately $200 million for the R&D required to put its first electric vehicles on the road. With that aforementioned 2%, K-12 could finance 60 new organizations like Tesla… every year.

Our public schools have big problems worth solving and big opportunities worth seizing. Yet it is difficult to point to the breakthroughs that define so many other industries—and it’s equally unclear who we’d entrust with $100 million to solve a problem that makes teachers and students better off.”

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