Politics - News Analysis

Elite Private School Attended by Barron Trump to Keep Coronavirus Stimulus Funds

An elite private school that’s attended by President Donald Trump’s son Barron is receiving stimulus aid that had been earmarked for small businesses, according to MSN.

Reps. for St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, the prep school Barron attends, are apparently unfazed by the ongoing pandemic and say they applied for the funds in order to keep the school fully staffed and added that there are no plans to return the funds.

“We applied for PPP funds through our longstanding bank to ensure retention of our full faculty and staff, including hourly employees and coaches, during this very challenging and uncertain time,” school officials said in a statement.

“We feel fortunate to have received funds that will allow us to maintain our promise to support our employees and to help school families facing hardship remain at St. Andrews next year. We hope every other nonprofit and small business is able to access PPP support.”

St. Andrews and other such wealthy schools are facing increased scrutiny from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is demanding that these schools return any PPP funds they have received.

“It has come to our attention that some private schools with significant endowments have taken [PPP] loans,” Mnuchin wrote in a tweet. “They should return them.”

And that’s despite the fact that his own kids are also attending an elite school, based in Los Angeles, that’s receiving the funds.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump also doesn’t like the idea of wealthy private schools using stimulus aid.

“The president has made it clear that he does not believe private schools with significant endowments should be receiving PPP money and those that have should consider returning it,” the spokesman said.

St. Andrew’s plans were first reported by The New York Times.

Though the size of the loan St. Andrew’s received is unknown, the school reported an endowment of over $8 million in a 2017 tax filing.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

Comments

Comments are currently closed.