Janine Yass is an education philanthropist and the wife of Jeffrey Yass, the right-of-center billionaire founder of Susquehanna Capital.

Janine is a supporter of school choice and directs tens of millions of dollars toward school choice programs annually. In 2021, she founded the Yass Prize to award education providers who champion innovative organizational models, underprivileged students, and school choice programs.

Education

Janine Yass has been involved in education philanthropy since at least 2007 when she founded the Boys’ Latin Charter School in Philadelphia. ¹ In 2011, Boys’ Latin graduated its first senior class; all Boys’ Latin seniors graduated, while 40 percent of Black students in Philadelphia did not graduate high school in that year. Half of the seniors were accepted to college, and these students received $800,000 in college scholarship money. ² By 2017, two Boys’ Latin students had perfect scores on the National Latin Exam, 60 percent were recognized for achievement for their Latin test scores and 20 percent for outstanding achievement. ³

In 2021, Yass founded the Yass Prize to award education providers that champion innovative organizational models, underprivileged students, and school choice programs. In 2022, the Yass Prize awarded 64 groups with over $10 million. ⁴ In 2023, it awarded more than $20 million. The Yass Prize is officially partnered with the Center for Education Reform (CER) and Forbes Media. ⁵

A large portion of the grants disbursed by Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna Foundation over the last few years have been toward school choice-related causes, such as the Philadelphia Schools Project, the Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia, EdChoice, and the Mastery Charter Schools Foundation. ^{6 7 8 9} It has also given directly to school choice nonprofits in Pennsylvania. ¹⁰

Media Engagements

In July 2023, Jeff and Janine Yass wrote an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer arguing in favor of school choice and criticizing Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) for threatening to veto the $100 million Lifeline Scholarships program in the state budget to facilitate school choice vouchers. Governor Shapiro later followed through with this threat, allegedly caving to the demands of “teachers’ unions and House Democrats” according to State Rep. Craig Staats (R-Bucks). ¹¹

The Yasses explained that their school choice philanthropic giving is “motivated by the terrible costs and daily hardships wrought by the failure of public school systems across the country,” and lamented Philadelphia’s poor math and reading proficiency ratings among “Black and brown” high schoolers. They cited libertarian economist Milton Friedman as an important influence on their school choice philosophy, and dismissed the notion that more public funding would ever fix education. ¹²

In December 2023, Janine was listed by the left-leaning website Inside Philanthropy as one of the “Top 50 Most Powerful Women in U.S. Philanthropy.” It celebrated her involvement in creating the Yass Prize and the Yass Foundation for Education, noting that the latter gave out $20 million in Yass Prize gifts in 2022. It predicted that the Yasses will increasingly move into the education philanthropy space, extending their philanthropic empire out of the confines of conservative-libertarian giving. ¹³

1. Deborah M. Todd, “Board To Review Charter Application Second Time.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 5, 2009. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2009/03/05/Wilkinsburg-board-to-review-charter-application-second-time/stories/200903050420.
2. Gregory, Kia. “Keeping Standards High.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 27, 2011. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.inquirer.com/education/keeping-standards-high-boys-latin-20110227.html.
3. McGurn, William. “Black Men Speaking Latin.” The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2017. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-men-speaking-latin-1492469886.
4. “Janine Yass.” Center for Education Reform. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://edreform.com/people/janine-yass/.
5. “About.” Yass Prize. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://yassprize.org/about/.
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Susquehanna Foundation. 2022. Part XIV – 3. Grants and Contributions.
7. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Susquehanna Foundation. 2021. Part XIV – 3. Grants and Contributions.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Susquehanna Foundation. 2020. Part XIV – 3. Grants and Contributions.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Susquehanna Foundation. 2019. Part XIV – 3. Grants and Contributions.
10. Rojc, Philip. “Jeff Yass Is One of America’s Biggest Political Donors. What Does His Philanthropy Look Like?” Inside Philanthropy, March 30, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/3/30/jeff-yass-is-one-of-americas-biggest-political-donors-what-does-his-philanthropy-look-like.
11.  “Shortchanging the Future: The Untold Consequences of Gov. Shapiro’s Veto of Lifeline Scholarships, Defunding Pregnancy Centers.” Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus, September 12, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.pahousegop.com/News/32872/Editorials/Shortchanging-the-Future-The-Untold-Consequences-of-Gov-Shapiro%E2%80%99s-Veto-of-Lifeline-Scholarships,-Defunding-Pregnancy-Centers-
12. Yass, Jeff; Yass, Janine. “Jeff and Janine Yass: Educational freedom is the right thing to do.” The Inquirer, July 15, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/jeff-yass-janine-yass-school-vouchers-lifeline-scholarships-education-freedom-20230715.html.
13. IP Staff. “The 50 Most Powerful Women in U.S. Philanthropy.” Inside Philanthropy, December 5, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/12/5/the-50-most-powerful-women-in-us-philanthropy.