A non-profit group allied with Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology received $3.6 million in financial support from organizations that may be affiliated with the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party.
But no contributions have been received since 2017, according to an accounting provided by Fairfax County Public Schools to the Virginia Department of Education.
Fairfax Superintendent Michelle Reid on Aug. 29 replied to a March 9 inquiry from state education leaders, providing financial details of arrangements between the non-profit TJHSST Partnership Fund while also distancing the school system from the organization.
Reid acknowledged funding from three sources with connections to China that have raised eyebrows among some in the media and public:
• $1.2 million from Tsinghua University High School, which began a formal relationship with the Thomas Jefferson Fund in 2014 that ran through 2018.
• $900,000 from the Ameson Educational and Cultural Exchange Foundation, which also had a relationship with the fund from 2014 to 2018.
• $1.5 million from Shirble Department Store Holdings (China) Ltd., which had a relationship with the fund from 2016 to 2021.
Relationships of this type have drawn concerns in some quarters about what influence the Chinese Community Party (CCP) was having in U.S. education, Reid acknowledged.
“The TJ Fund’s termination of past relationships with alleged CCP-linked entities mirrors this broader trend,” she wrote in a letter to Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera. The school system’s attorney, John Foster, also signed off on the letter.
At the same time, Reid – who was hired as superintendent from the West Coast last year, defended the TJ Fund as having taken a “cautious approach” to its relationships with Chinese entities.
That included seeking out an OK from the U.S. Department of State at the time of the Tsinghua partnership in 2014, where a State Department representative seemed to give support through an e-mail.
“These communications are reflective of different attitudes that prevailed at that time period, including within U.S. government agencies and private U.S. corporations,” Reid wrote.
In her response to questions from the state government, Reid said she was unaware of any other Fairfax schools with similar relationships, and could not comment on whether the trio involved with Thomas Jefferson “ever had CCP links.”
The full letter from Reid to state officials has been posted on the county school system’s Website at fcps.edu.
While the bulk of the student body at Thomas Jefferson comes from Fairfax County, the school also has partnerships with school districts in Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, permitting students living there to attend.
