Defending Education on May 27 asked the IRS to open an investigation into the fund, alleging that it entered into business contracts with organizations linked to the Chinese communist regime and that it warrants revocation of its tax status.
The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Partnership Fund did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times by publication time.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, is a leading science and technology school, and the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Partnership Fund was established by alumni and parents in 1999 to “support the educational programs” of the school.
The watchdog group stated that it obtained correspondence from school and fund personnel and alleges that the fund received $3.6 million from Chinese entities in return for curriculum and other intellectual property, and then used the payment for capital improvements for the school.
Thomas Schools
Concerns have been raised for years that the school fund’s largest donors were Chinese organizations.
“I am requesting that you direct schools within your division to cut ties with CCP-linked partners. Furthermore, I have asked the Virginia Department of Education to investigate the prevalence of such relationships between CCP-linked partners and local school divisions,” wrote Virginia Education Secretary Aimee Rogstad Guidera.
Reid said the school fund had relationships with three China-based entities and “from the outset followed a cautious approach to these relationships.”
Both Reid and Defending Education reported that the fund had agreements with the China-based Ameson Foundation and Tsinghua University High School between 2014 and 2018, during which the organizations donated $900,000 and $1.2 million, respectively.
Tsinghua University High School is an affiliate of Tsinghua University, which has open ties to the Chinese military. Ameson’s founder and executive vice chair also worked as a deputy director for one of the Chinese regime’s United Front branches.
“In return, the Fund gave the organizations literal and metaphorical blueprints for creating identical versions of TJ in China. The documents from the Fund included TJ’s curriculum, course syllabi, lab photographs, thumb drives containing student research projects, and even its floor plans,” the complaint to the IRS reads.
According to a 2018 email from the school’s assistant principal cited in the complaint, “[Partnership Fund] has a contract with Ameson that they will pay $1 [million] in exchange for help in getting their schools up and running in China. Called the Thomas Schools.”
Between 2016 and 2021, the fund also had an agreement with Shirble Department Store Holdings, a Cayman Islands-incorporated, China-based consulting services group, which gave the fund $1.5 million, according to fund documents referred to in the complaint.
The group alleges that, in exchange, the fund paid teachers by the hour to “draft summaries of their courses, including ‘the curriculum design/pace of the year, equipment/books/materials needed, class layout, and possible student projects/paper topics for [Shirble’s] own version of the classes.’”
The fund reported these donations as tax-exempt income related to charitable purposes. The IRS complaint alleges that the records, which show fund personnel using language such as “agreement” and “contract,” indicate otherwise.
The fund notes on its website that it is independent of the school. The watchdog group alleges that the school’s and fund’s operations “substantially overlap,” sharing workspace, staff, and other operational resources and that the contracts required sending “educators” from the school, not the fund, to Tsinghua University High School.
