Spring Education Group

Spring Education Group (SEG), is a for-profit private school company based in Saratoga, California. It is majority-owned by Primavera Capital Group, a Chinese-based investment group. SEG's CEO is Michael Collins.
Spring Education Group has a network of schools in 19 states and a presence in Asia. The organization has three divisions: over 100 early childhood education centers; a K-12 division including elementary, middle, and high schools; and an online school.

History

In 2017 SEG purchased Stratford Schools, which operates pre-k through 8th grade schools in California, for $500 million in a leveraged buyout using $220 million in loans from Macquarie Group. Stratford was previously owned by Warburg Pincus, a private equity group.

BASIS Independent Schools

In April 2019 SEG purchased the five BASIS Independent Schools based in California, New York City, Washington, and Virginia. School tuition was approximately $32,000 per year.

Nobel Learning

In 2018, SEG and China-based Primavera Capital Group purchased Nobel Learning Communities from Investcorp. At the time, Nobel had 25,000 students at 190 schools in 19 states. It was founded in 1983 and purchased by Investcorp and Bahrain's Mumtalakat Holding Company (from Leeds Equity Partners) in 2015.

Nobel is based in West Chester, Pennsylvania and was listed on NASDAQ as NLCI. In 2010 their gross revenue was $232 million, with $29 million gross profit, and costs including total personnel costs of $112 million, rent-related costs $59 million, and school operations of $32 million. In 2006 Nobel's gross revenue was $160 million (with $23 million gross profit).

In 2010 Nobel purchased an online K-12 private school, Laurel Springs School, based in Ojai, California, for $13 million. It was founded in 1994 and accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 2000. In 2010 the school's gross revenue was $6.7 million, with personnel costs of $1.5 million.

Nobel also operated Paladin Academy in Florida. The school was closed by Spring Education Group in 2021.

Other schools operated and trademarked by Nobel include Camelback Desert Schools, Chesterbrook Academy, Discovery Isle Child Development Center, Enchanted Care Learning Center, Merryhill School, Southern Highlands Preparatory School and The Honor Roll School.

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

On March 20, 2020, a worker at Touchstone Preschool in Hillsboro, Oregon, operated by SEG, tested positive for COVID-19. The preschool was closed for a deep cleaning and planned to remain closed for 14 days.

After 34 years in operation, a Merryhill preschool permanently closed for economic reasons in May 2020 in Modesto, California. Its financial standing had been made worse due to COVID-19 closures. It had leased space from Tenet Healthcare.

The temporary pandemic closures, making SEG's Debt-to-income ratio worse, caused Moody's Investors Service to change their credit rating for SEG from "stable" to "negative". In November 2020, SEG's credit rating increased back to "stable."

Approximately 21 preschools were closed by Spring Education Group in December 2020. At the time indicated as temporary, many have since become permanent. 38% of the company's schools in Florida, including Chesterbrook Academy and Paladin Academy ceased operations by June 2021.

Controversies and Public Response

Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit (2009)

On April 29, 2009, Nobel was sued in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania US District Court by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of the US DOJ for violating Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 by excluding children with disabilities from its schools and programs.

Concerns about BASIS Independent Schools acquisition

In 2019, 190 parents at the pre-K-12 school in Red Hook, Brooklyn (opened 2014) and the pre-K-8 school in Manhattan (opened 2017) wrote a letter with concerns that BASIS was now owned by a Chinese-based private equity group.

Florida voucher program dispute

In September 2023, Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced that voucher programs for four private schools owned by Spring Education Group would be ended due to alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) via its majority owner, Primavera Capital Group and its CEO Fred Hu. Fred Hu denied any membership in the CCP.

Notable schools

Other notable schools operated by SEG include:
* Sagemont School

References

External links

* {{official website

Private schools in the United States
Saratoga, California