Gates Foundation pours funds into education advocacy groups
In Washington state as well as across the nation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is an influential, controversial and sometimes unnamed player in education policy debates.
Seattle Times education reporter
Three of Washington's most prominent education advocacy groups share more than a desire to change the state's public-school landscape.
All three — the League of Education Voters, the Partnership for Learning, and Stand for Children — also receive significant financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Here at home, as well as nationally, the Seattle-based foundation is a powerful player in public education. It underwrites groups pushing for change, bankrolls projects and helps out-of-state organizations establish themselves here.
With that backing, Washington state now has a broader, stronger group of voices clamoring to bring much of the national education reform agenda here.
Some consider that progress, saying the foundation is helping bring Washington out of the