Baltmore Sun: Maryland private schools receive millions in Paycheck Protection Program loans designed to aid small businesses

(Note: PPP loans are designed to be forgiven if certain rules are followed, so they are really free money, not loans.)

When it was approved, the federal Paycheck Protection Program was billed as a lifeline for drowning small businesses in need of an infusion of cash to prevent layoffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But data released this week by the federal government detailing the program’s recipients revealed an unexpected group collecting some of the biggest loans offered by the subsidy: elite private schools.

In Maryland, nearly 200 schools have received loans so far from the more than $600 billion program — about a third of them for amounts upward of $1 million. The loans, which don’t need to be paid back if a certain portion is spent on payroll, total at least $110 million. (The exact sum is not known because the recipients were listed with ranges of loans, not by specific amounts.)

[...]

Maryland state Sen. Paul Pinsky said he sees no reason for any private school, whether it has a sizable endowment or not, to accept Paycheck Protection Program funds. The schools are still operating, he argued, and tuition is still being paid, often to the tune of $15,000 to $25,000 per pupil.

“I don’t understand the profit loss here,” he said. “If there’s no loss, why should they get governmental support? It just doesn’t add up to me.”

Full article at:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-private-schools-paycheck-protection-program-20200709-v565q73uefgazaauufeambsyge-story.html
(Behind paywall for some readers.)