UPDATE: DFER's 'Education Warrior' Schooling in the Ownership Society: Walton paying for CPS propaganda campaign on school closings

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Walton paying for CPS propaganda campaign on school closings:

DFER's 'Education Warrior' Sen. Smith, busted trying to rig N.Y. mayor's race

by Mike Klonsky

Smith, in a conversation with a federal informant, expressed his feelings on the illegal payoffs. “Business is business.”

Hedge-fund school reformers at DFER's held up State Sen. Malcolm Smith, as their all-time school privatization hero. They describe Smith here as "a proud supporter of public charter schools long before it became popular to do so within the Democratic Party." Smith was even honored with DFER's 2007 Education Warrior Award .

Oops! This from today's Daily News:

Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith was busted Tuesday with City Councilman Dan Halloran in a 

Walton paying for CPS propaganda campaign on school closings

by Mike Klonsky

Federico Waitoller and Stephanie Farmer from CReATE, present  research on school closings at today's City Hall press conference. But can education research counter the Walton-funded propaganda campaign? (Mike Klonsky photo)

The Walton Fund, philanthropic arm of the mega-billionaire Walton family (Wal-Mart), has given CPS nearly half-a-million dollars to underwrite Rahm's pro-school-closing propaganda campaign. The $478,000 grant went to setting up the  Profits Children First Foundation, an organization created by CPS which a spokesperson confirmed was to help facilitate the “community engagement process” over the school closings.

Walton dollars were also used to set up this website with a video showing a concerned CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett bemoaning the fact that her school district is not providing "all children" with a "high quality, 21st