BUSINESS moguls are bankrolling more than half of the Government’s new city academies as education philanthropy booms.

Eleven of the 17 schemes in the pipeline will receive cash injections of up to pound;2 million each from multi-millionaire businessmen. The sponsors include two property developers, a coat hanger manufacturer, a haulage tycoon and a baker. A stockbroker, a car dealer, a textiles tycoon, an employment agency entrepreneur, a carpet magnate and an advertising mogul complete the list.

Of the 11, five are listed as having made donations to Labour - two to the Labour party directly, two to Labour MP Frank Dobson’s failed campaign to become London Mayor, and one to both.

The Government plans to build 20 new city academy schools by 2005, utilising funding from private backers and voluntary organisations.

Critics have dubbed the city academies “McSchools” and question the motives of the men involved, claiming the lure of knighthoods or influence at ministerial level could be attractions.

Two - Sir Frank Lowe, who is backing the city academy in the London borough of Brent, and Sir Peter Vardy, who has given cash to the academy in Middlesbrough - received knighthoods last year.

John Bangs, head of education for the National Union of Teachers, said:

“I’m sure many of these businessmen are deeply committed to education but we don’t know what others might want in return.

“It is clear this amounts to privatisation of the education system. It’s a move back to the 19th century when charities ran schools and parents had no say in them.”

Doug McAvoy, NUT general secretary, said: “We have serious concerns about the operation of academies in relation to the job security and conditions of service of teachers and other staff.”

Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: “Education should not be reliant on the goodwill of firms that may come and go depending on how keen the chairman is to get a peerage or some other preferment from government.

“It opens the way for cash for influence and access, which is obnoxious. It should have no part to play in a modern democracy.”

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads’ Association, added:

“For governments to rely on donations from political supporters to fund its system of state secondary schools is appalling.

The businessman backing the academy said the feelgood factor was their spur.

Peter Shalson, sponsoring the Barnet academy, said: “I hope to get a tremendous sense of satisfaction in years to come as the school becomes an example of excellence. I can afford it. I don’t think what I am doing is very different from many successful people before me.”

As well as protests over private donors, the scheme has run up against local opposition.

Parents and teachers have mounted fierce opposition to the scheme in Liverpool, where a city academy is scheduled to replace two “improving” schools in two years’ time.

Their campaign succeeded in extending a five-day consultation period, due to end last Friday, for a further two weeks.

A city academy scheme in Southwark has also encountered problems. London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone earlier this month refused permission for a city academy to be built in Southwark, as it was to be built on valuable open space.

MILLIONAIRES’ ROW: A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE 11 BIG DONORS...

Sir Frank Lowe

Funding: Brent city academy, specialising in sports. Due to open September 2003

Sir Frank Lowe is chairman of the Lowe Group, an advertising agency he started in 1981 with five people in two rooms. The agency now spans 80 countries and is ranked fourth in the world.

Sir Frank is also chairman of Octagon sports marketing, whose clients include Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova.

He donated pound;25,000 to Labour MP Frank Dobson’s bid to become London mayor in 2000 and is also a Labour party donor. He pledged up to pound;2 million to replace Willesden high school in Brent which is in special measures. Downing Street reputedly called him to ask him to fund the school, which will take Willesden high pupils. He got a knighthood last year. He said: “I have no knowledge of education in the sense of how to run a school, but I might be able to help. I might be able to inspire a few of the children.”

SIR PETER VARDY

Funding: South Middlesbrough academy, specialising in business and enterprise. Scheduled to open 2003-4

Chairman of national car dealership chain Reg Vardy, he was awarded a knighthood for services to education in his native North-east last year. The Vardy family trust is offering pound;2m to sponsor one of two academies proposed for Middlesbrough. It will be formed by merging Brackenhoe and Coulby Newham secondaries. Sir Peter, knighted last year, has also invested more than pound;2m in Emmanuel city technology college in Gateshead, one of the top-performing schools in the country. In 2000, he offered pound;12m to endow six city academies across the North-east, aiming to replicate the results at Emmanuel, but so far only Middlesbrough has taken him up. An archetypal “local lad made good”, Sir Peter’s non-Conformist Christian beliefs lie at the heart of his educational philanthropy.

CLIVE BOURNE

Funding: Hackney city academy, specialising in technology and sports. Due to open in September 2004

Clive Bourne, president of cargo company Seabourne World Express, will contribute pound;2m.

He donated pound;10,000 to Frank Dobson’s failed bid to become London mayor.

Mr Bourne was born in Hackney and left school at 15, founding his haulage business in Shoreditch in the early 1960s. He is also founder of the New Docklands Museum and a JP. In 1982 Seabourne bought part of RAF Manston in Kent, and has attracted air freight business, as well as holiday charter flights.

PETER SHALSON

Funding: Barnet city academy, specialising in business, enterprise and information technology. Due to open September 2004

Peter Shalson will invest pound;1.5m in an academy to replace Edgware school in Barnet. He donated more than pound;5,000 to Labour last year. Mr Shalson is chairman of SGI Ltd, and made his fortune selling plastic clothes hangers.

He spent pound;5million on his wedding last November, including pound;1.5m to hire Elton John to play. Mr Shalson, who sends his daughters to private school, also sponsors Hampstead Theatre. He said: “We are going to help children who are very bright but perhaps feel stifled by the existing curriculum. There is a tremendous feelgood factor in this.”

CYRIL DENNIS

Funding: North Liverpool city academy, specialising in business and enterprise. Due to open in 2004.

Property tycoon Cyril Dennis has provided pound;2m for the academy, which is to replace Anfield and Breckfield schools. He was awarded an MBE this year and has links with a pound;60m high-rise office and accommodation scheme in Liverpool. He is a former director of the developers Rumford Investments, and still has family ties through Rumford directors Andrea and Jonathan Dennis.

He made millions buying and selling commercial property during the last recession, and is a former director of investment advice company Capital amp; Provident. He is also a benefactor of Ilford Jewish primary school, a voluntary-aided school in Essex and fundraising chairman of the Jewish Blind and Physically Handicapped Society.

DAVID GREIG

Funding: Greig city academy, Haringey, specialising in technology. Due to open September 2002

Former baker David Greig is behind the Greig Trust, co-sponsor of the academy which is to replace St David and St Katherine school, contributing up to pound;2m.

Pupils had been due to start at the academy in September 2001 and many parents had already bought their new uniforms. But the opening was halted for a year after the Charity Commission raised concerns over the change of use of the school’s land, which is owned by a church charity. That has been resolved. Mr Greig had his first baker’s shop in Hornsey, London and has long been a benefactor of local schools.

SIR HARRY DJANOGLY

Funding: Nottingham city academy, specialising in information and communications technology. Due to open in September 2003

Textiles magnate Sir Harry, a veteran school sponsor, is pledging pound;2m. He helped set up the Djanogly technology college under the Conservatives, which will now be transformed into a city academy.

Sir Harry, chairman of Nottingham Manufacturing, is not shy about his generosity. His various gifts led to a gallery, lecture theatre at Nottingham University, and even a playground being named after him.

The 64-year-old received a knighthood in 1993. He also sponsors the Victoria and Albert museum, Royal National Theatre, Tate Britain, and Hampstead Theatre. Four years ago he donated pound;2.1m to Nottingham University.

BARRY TOWNSLEY

Funding: Hillingdon city academy, specialising in science and technology. Due to open 2004

Stockbroker Barry Townsley has given pound;1.5m to replace Evelyns community school.

He donated pound;10,000 to Frank Dobson’s bid to be London mayor.

Mr Townsley is chairman of stockbrokers Insinger Townsley, London. He also chairs the UK branch of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, a trustee of the Child Bereavement Trust, and is a sponsor of Hampstead Theatre.

Mr Townsley said: “I am delighted to be involved in giving young people the opportunity to develop skills at school that will help them gain jobs.”

LORD (PHILIP) HARRIS OF PECKHAM

Funding: Peckham city academy, specialising in business and performing arts. Due to open 2003

Carpet magnate Lord Harris has provided pound;2m for the academy to replace Warwick Park school, which has recently come out of special measures. The 60-year-old is chairman of Carpetright plc and Harris Ventures Ltd.

The former showjumper, who grew up in Peckham, has sat on the board of various hospital trusts and was made a peer in 1995.

He said the academy would have “state-of-the-art facilities across the curriculum, which will be available to other local schools”.

DAVID GARRARD

Funding: Bexley Business Academy, specialising in business and enterprise. Due to open September 2002

Property developer David Garrard has donated pound;2m to establish the Bexley business academy which will replace Thamesmead community college.

Mr Garrard is a trustee of the Police Foundation and joint chairman of the international centre for children’s studies.

The Department for Education and Skills wants the Bexley academy eventually to incorporate a primary school.

Mr Garrard is chairman of property investors Minerva plc. He said: “I expect to get personal satisfaction from giving something back.

“I don’t know what the unions are worried about. I think these children will have access to a far higher level of education than would otherwise have been available to them.”

ALEC REED

Funding: Ealing city academy, specialising in enterprise and sports. Due to open 2003

Alec Reed, CBE, has pledged pound;2m towards the academy, scheduled to replace the Compton high school and sports college in the west London borough.

Mr Reed gave the Labour party more than pound;5,000 in 1998 and 1997. He is chairman of Reed Executive, which owns Reed Employment, one of the UK’s biggest recruitment agencies. The Reed family fortune is worth more than pound;50 million.

Reed Employment runs the Government’s New Deal projects in the Hackney and City area of north London.

Mr Reed is also Professor of Innovation at Royal Holloway College, University of London and visiting Professor of Enterprise at London Guildhall University.

He said: “I went to school in Ealing myself and I feel privileged to be in a position to put something tangible back into the community.

“It’s not about creating hundreds of Richard Bransons. I want to improve education so that ordinary children have a better life.”

Sara Gaines and Joe Clancy

OTHER DONORS

Sites of other academies and their sponsors:

Bristol - Bristol City FC, Chamber of Commerce and others.

Middlesbrough - Amey plc, building and support services firm for education. Lambeth - Church Schools Company. Manchester - Manchester Science Park. Walsall - The Mercers Company and Thomas Telford Online. Southwark, Bermondsey - City Corporation of London. On the table: Leeds - Anglican Diocese

Leeds - Aire Christian Academic Development

ACADEMY FACTS

* City academies are publicly-funded independent schools which are outside council control and have charitable status

* They are due to open around the country from this September, 80 per cent funded by the Government and 20 per cent by companies and church groups

* Each academy will have a private board of governors that will set the pay and conditions of staff

* The academies are designed to tackle the problems of under-achievement, so many will be based in deprived London boroughs or local authorities that hover near the bottom of league tables

* Up to 10 per cent of pupils will be selected on their abilities

* The Government is on course to meet its target of 20 academies. Plans have now been announced for 17

* They will be in Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Walsall, plus two in Middlesbrough. In London there will be academies in Hackney, Barnet, Haringey, Bexley, Brent, Ealing, Hillingdon, Lambeth and two in Southwark.