What remains utterly unclear is just whether the Edison Project can make money.

The Edison Project sets for itself a herculean task: creating 1,000 private schools to serve two million students by the year 2010.

The Edison Project plans to design the schools over the next two years, then to open 200 campuses with 150,000 students in the fall of 1996.

The financing brings to $161 million the amount raised since he began the Edison Project in 1991.

He also started the Edison Project, which hoped to make money operating private schools.

"The Edison Project gives me the opportunity to see that all public education is saved," she said.

Initial plans for the Edison Project called for creation of 1,000 entirely new schools.

The company also has a separate entity, the Edison Project, which plans to operate public schools for school boards.

The Edison Project is the company's lone remaining enterprise, and its finances are shaky.

The Edison Project is opening another school this fall with substantial philanthropic support.