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Uncategorized Thursday, November 1st 2012 at 9:00 am

George Lucas to Use $4 Billion From Disney Sale Toward Funding Education

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Just two days ago, The Walt Disney Company announced they acquired Lucasfilm, and that the next Star Wars trilogy would begin in 2015 with Episode 7. The deal was said to cost $4.05 billion, a staggering sum of money that George Lucas plans to put toward funding education.

By the end of the year, the deal should be finalized, adding Lucasfilm to the stable of Disney-owned mega-properties along with ESPN and Marvel. After the finalization, George Lucas, who owns 100% of his company, plans to put the bulk of the money into a foundation that will focus on educational issues. Though these intentions have been announced, and Lucas is the chairman of educational foundation Edutopia, it has not been announced if Lucas will dump all of that money into a currently existing foundation, or if he’ll create a new one using the money.

Wherever Lucas puts the money, it’ll most likely calm some fans’ souls that he’s not planning on putting it toward some kind of technology to resurrect dead movie stars so he can put them into films.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-E-Screws-Jr/5200506 Bruce E. Screws Jr.

    I am just glad he isn’t dumping it directly into the public school coffers like Zuckerberg did. Public schools are fantastically wasteful with spending. I am a big proponent of education and I think someone should be free to spend their money how they want, but I’d rather see him get the most bang for his buck.

  • Anonymous

    For years I’ve heard NPR mention sponsorship by Edutopia and the George Lucas Education Fund and always wondered “Is it THAT Georgie Lucas?” I guess it is!

  • Anonymous

    So it’s going to education, but not directly into the public school system? Okay. Will live with that.

  • Anonymous

    Oh yeah, we wouldn’t want to miss a chance for educational corporations with their multimillion dollar per year paid CEOs to get hold of the money instead of it helping taxpayer paid public education! We don’t want to help anyone but the rich! You go Bruce!

  • Anonymous

    You cite taxpayed education as being the lesser of two evils. People don’t volunteer to pay taxes.

  • Ridiculous

    Oh, those fantastically wasteful public schools!
    Everyone can see they have way too many new books, new schools, sports and music programs. They are just flush with cash and should be cut down like any other wasteful government program! But, most to blame, are those ‘lazy’ teachers who are willing to go back to work every day for the kids whose parents don’t care about nutrition, reading to their children or aren’t rich or savvy enough to send them to a private or charter school. I mean, how stupid are they to keep working in a profession that every outsider thinks they’re an authority- especially every jackass politician and high-minded blogger without a clue.

  • ecco

    As a teacher, I can personally say that yes, public schools are fantastically wasteful with spending. The people in charge of the money are so far removed from the students they don’t know what teachers need or want. And most of the time they don’t care. What looks best on their resume? “Purchased TECHNOLOGY for teachers!” My high school just recently purchased thousands of dollars worth of unwanted Smart Boards. When we asked for new microscopes they penny pinched us some elementary grade microscopes with mirrors.

  • Crazy

    I work in a government school and I’ve seen first hand the wasteful spending that Bruce is talking about. However, on the other hand I have a firm belief that it is not so much the Government School System that is wasting the money, but more the students who the money is spent on. The school where i work dumps hundreds of thousands of dollars into ICT equipment every year and this equipment is lucky to see through the first 12 months without damages that require further expenditure.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-E-Screws-Jr/5200506 Bruce E. Screws Jr.

    Schools are wasteful. Per capita spending had doubled in the last 40 years, adjusted for inflation. The US ranking on international tests remains stagnant. Private schools operate on smaller budgets and face stiff competition from “free” public schools. They have to have superior product (education) to convince people to pay them money for something they could get “free.” Competition and free markets work. Dumping more money into government monopoly schools does not.

    If your kid goes to a bad government school, what recourse do you have? If you kid goes to a bad private school, how likely are you to sign them back up for classes? How many other schools are greedy enough to want to entice you to sign your kid up and pay them tuition?

    Private schools consistently operate on lower operating budgets than their public counterparts AND they outperform them. Some private schools suck and mismanage money, and they go out of business. Government schools that suck and mismanage money get more money.

    The nation of Belgium provides a great case study for a voucher system. Half of Belgium has a system similar to the US, the other half has a 100% flat voucher program where students are assigned a value and parents choose which schools to send them to. The side with vouchers significant outperforms the government side on a lower operating budget. Parents get to choose what school is best for their child, not bureaucrats.

    Your argument that I only want to help the rich is laughable. The current system perpetuates poverty. Poor people have the fewest options and are stuck sending their kids to bad schools.

  • jones

    Good Guy Lucas.