June 26, 2006 1:21PM 

# When a Billion Here and a Billion There DON’T Add up to Real Money 

By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) 

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Warren Buffett is [giving away $44 billion](http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/magazines/fortune/charity1.fortune/) of his fortune, $30 billion of it to the Gates Foundation. Much of that money will go toward education. If it is used for more fiddling about with our existing school monopoly, it will have a negligible long term impact on American education. If it is used to help empower parents with an unfettered choice of public and independent schools, it will transform the lives of millions of children.

Soon we’ll find out how well Mr. Buffett’s investing acumen translates to the education philanthropy business.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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