Mnuchin Says Rich Private Schools Shouldn’t Apply for Coronavirus Loans Like His Kids’ School Did
DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said rich private schools should not apply for the Paycheck Protection Program—even though his children’s high school, Los Angeles’ prestigious Brentwood School, announced this week that it would receive one, the Los Angeles Times reports. The school disclosed an endowment of $17.4 million in 2017, and high school tuition is $44,000 per year. “It has come to our attention that some private schools with significant endowments have taken #PPP loans. They should return them,” he tweeted Friday. A spokeswoman for the Treasury told the Times the Secretary had no knowledge of Brentwood’s loan. President Donald Trump’s son Barron attends St. Andrew’s Episcopal, which plans to accept an $8 million loan from the PPP despite a $38 million endowment, CNN reports.
Sidwell Friends, where the Obama children and Chelsea Clinton received their education, has been approved for a $5.2 million loan. The Paycheck Protection Program, intended to keep small businesses afloat and employees on the payroll, has become an emblem of bungled bureaucracy. Multimillion-dollar corporations received loans, and thousands of small businesses could not even apply before the PPP ran dry.