Spring Education Group

Spring Education Group (SEG), is a for-profit private school company based in Saratoga, California. It is majority-owned by Primavera Capital Group, a Chinese-based investment group. SEG's CEO is Michael Collins.^[1][2]

History

In 2017 SEG purchased Stratford Schools, which operates pre-k through 8th grade schools in California, for $500 million in a leveraged buyout using $220 million in loans from Macquarie Group. Stratford was previously owned by Warburg Pincus, a private equity group.^[3]

BASIS Independent Schools

In April 2019 SEG purchased the five BASIS Independent Schools based in California, New York City, Washington, and Virginia. 190 parents at the pre-K-12 school in Red Hook, Brooklyn (opened 2014) and the pre-K-8 school in Manhattan (opened 2017) wrote a letter with concerns that BASIS was now owned by a Chinese-based private equity group. School tuition was approximately $32,000 per year.^[4][5]

Nobel Learning

In 2018, SEG and China-based Primavera Capital Group purchased Nobel Learning Communities from Investcorp. At the time, Nobel had 25,000 students at 190 schools in 19 states. It was founded in 1983^[6] and purchased by Investcorp and Bahrain's Mumtalakat Holding Company (from Leeds Equity Partners) in 2015.^[7][8][9]

Nobel is based in West Chester, Pennsylvania and was listed on NASDAQ as NLCI. In 2010 their gross revenue was $232 million, with $29 million gross profit, and costs including total personnel costs of $112 million, rent-related costs $59 million, and school operations of $32 million. In 2006 Nobel's gross revenue was $160 million (with $23 million gross profit).^[6]

In 2010 Nobel purchased an online K-12 private school, Laurel Springs School, based in Ojai, California, for $13 million. It was founded in 1994 and accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 2000. In 2010 the school's gross revenue was $6.7 million, with personnel costs of $1.5 million.^[7][6]

On April 29, 2009, Nobel was sued in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania US District Court by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of the US DOJ for violating Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 by excluding children with disabilities from its schools and programs.^[6]

Nobel also operated Paladin Academy in Florida. The school was closed by Spring Education Group in 2021.

Other schools operated and trademarked by Nobel include Camelback Desert Schools, Chesterbrook Academy, Discovery Isle Child Development Center, Enchanted Care Learning Center, Merryhill School, Southern Highlands Preparatory School and The Honor Roll School.^[6]

COVID-19

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in Oregon

On March 20, 2020, a worker at Touchstone Preschool in Hillsboro, Oregon, operated by SEG, tested positive for COVID-19. The preschool was closed for a deep cleaning and planned to remain closed for 14 days.^[2]

After 34 years in operation, a Merryhill preschool permanently closed for economic reasons in May 2020 in Modesto, California. Its financial standing had been made worse due to COVID-19 closures. It had leased space from Tenet Healthcare.^[10]

The temporary pandemic closures, making SEG's Debt-to-income ratio worse, caused Moody's Investors Service to change their credit rating for SEG from "stable" to "negative".^[11]

Approximately 21 preschools were closed by Spring Education Group in December 2020. At the time indicated as temporary, many have since become permanent. 38% of the company's schools in Florida, including Chesterbrook Academy and Paladin Academy ceased operations by June 2021.

Florida voucher program dispute

In September 2023, Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced that voucher programs for four private schools owned by Spring Education Group would be ended due to alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) via its majority owner, Primavera Capital Group and its CEO Fred Hu.^{[12][13][14][15]} Fred Hu denied any membership in the CCP.^[15]

Notable schools

Other notable schools operated by SEG include:

• Sagemont School

References

1. "Early childhood education leaders take action for acceptance, inclusion and belonging". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
2. Brad Schmidt (21 March 2020). "Hillsboro day care worker tests positive for coronavirus". oregonlive. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
3. Berlin, Andrew (8 December 2017). "Primavera lines up US$220 million of loans for Stratford School LBO". U.S. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
4. Brody, Leslie (30 April 2019). "Parents Voice Concern Over Sale of BASIS Independent Schools". WSJ. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
5. "In the News: Parents Voice Concern Over Sale of Basis Independent Schools - Education Next". Education Next. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020. Last month, BASIS Independent Schools was sold to a company backed by a China-based investment firm. (The sale does not affect the charter schools.) Leslie Brody of the Wall Street Journal reports that families at the private BASIS Independent School in New York City have written a letter to the company expressing concern about what this sale will mean for their school.
6. "Nobel Learning Communities, Inc. 10-K". sec.gov. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
7. "Investcorp Announces Sale of Nobel Learning Communities - Investcorp". Investcorp. 1 August 2018. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020. Investcorp, a leading global provider and manager of alternative investments, today announced it has completed the sale of Nobel Learning Communities, one of the leading providers of private education in the United States (from pre-school up to high school), to Spring Education Group, the leading PreK-12 private school operator in the United States and portfolio company of Primavera Capital Group, a leading Asia-based investment firm. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1984, Nobel Learning operates a network of over 190 private schools across 19 states in the United States. The company also has an accredited online private school, Laurel Springs, that offers college preparatory programs to students from over 80 countries worldwide. With over 25,000 students, Nobel Learning is one of the largest private school operators in North America.
8. "Investcorp acquires Nobel Learning Communities, a network of 176 schools in the US - Investcorp". Investcorp. 30 March 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020. Founded in 1984, Nobel Learning operates a network of 176 schools across 18 states. The company also has an accredited online private school that offers college preparatory programs to students from over 55 countries worldwide. With approximately 5,000 teachers and staff and 25,000 students, Nobel Learning is one of the largest private operators in the U.S. Investcorp is joined in the acquisition by its co-investors and partners, Mumtalakat, the investment arm of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
9. Alexa J. Henry (7 August 2018). "K-12 Dealmaking: Imagine Learning, Spring Education, Procare Make Acquisitions". Edweek. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020. Investcorp Sells Nobel Learning Communities: Investcorp, a provider and manager of alternative investments, completed the sale of Nobel Learning Communities, a provider of private education in the United States, to Spring Education Group, a preK-12 private school operator in the United States and portfolio company of Primavera Capital Group, an Asia-based investment firm. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
10. Kevin Valine (14 May 2020). "Modesto's Merryhill Preschool closing, says its money woes made worse by pandemic". modbee. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
11. "Rating Action: Moody's affirms Spring Education Group's B3 CFR; outlook revised to negative". Moody's Investors Service. 14 May 2020. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
12. Postal, Leslie (22 September 2023). "DeSantis drops Park Maitland School, other campuses from voucher programs because of China ties". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
13. Crowley, Kinsey (25 September 2023). "DeSantis' latest anti-communist campaign targets Florida schools linked to Chinese firms". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
14. Luscombe, Richard (2 October 2023). "DeSantis invokes China 'boogeyman' narrative amid flailing campaign". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
15. Morris, Stephen; Kinder, Tabby (21 July 2022). "HSBC installs Communist party committee in Chinese investment bank". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2023. Goldman Sachs does not have a CCP committee but has employed senior party members, including Fred Hu, who was chair of its Greater China business.

External links

• Official website