In Education: Gifts Keep L.A. Charter-School Network Afloat; Harlem Children’s Charity CEO Was Offered N.Y. Job

The struggling charter-schools operator ICEF Public Schools said Thursday that it has collected $10.5-million in donations to allow it to keep its 15 Los Angeles schools running, writes the Los Angeles Times.

Among other gifts, ICEF has collected $2.2-million from Richard Riordan, the former Los Angeles mayor who now heads the nonprofit group’s board, and $2-million each from Eli Broad and the Otis Booth Foundation.

In September Mr. Riordan, Mr. Broad, and other donors bailed out ICEF when the organization nearly ran out of cash due to heavy debt and delayed payment of money it was owed by the state.

Plus: The leader of one of the country’s most publicized and praised charter-school programs was offered the chancellorship of New York’s school system but said no, according to The New York Times.

Citing sources with direct knowledge of the talks, The Times writes that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg tried to persuade Geoffrey Canada—whose Harlem Children’s Zone was held up as a model in the documentary Waiting for “Superman”—to take the city post that was eventually offered to the publishing executive Cathleen P. Black.

Mr. Canada confirmed he had been offered the job but did not comment on it.