Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman Says More Money Won’t Improve Public Education

Blackstone Group CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman speaks at the “Business Backs Education” event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2015. David Sirota/International Business Times

DAVOS, Switzerland — Private equity investor Stephen Schwarzmann is generally a believer in the power of money, a trait that has netted him billions of dollars worth of that useful commodity. But when it comes to education, Schwarzman says more money is not necessarily a fix for ailing American public schools.

Speaking Friday at a World Economic Forum event called “Business Backs Education,” the Blackstone Group CEO was asked by International Business Times if he supports raising more money for education through President Barack Obama’s new proposal to increase capital gains taxes or through other proposals to end special “carried interest” tax exemptions for Wall Street financiers.

He declined to answer that question and instead suggested that a focus on resources is misguided.

“In the Catholic schools they spend much less money than the public schools, and they get amazing results. Private schools spend much more money than the public schools and they get remarkable results,” said Schwarzman, who was once rumored to have likened tax increases to Hitler invading Poland.

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