How Gates Foundation Helps Shape Public Education Policy
Stephanie Simon has written a major article for Politico on the growing political influence of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Simon describes the Foundation’s investment in driving policy in public education: “About $400 million is spent in the U.S.—most of that on projects intended to transform education. Those grants go to hundreds of research and advocacy groups that often work together to amplify the foundation’s voice and extend its reach into statehouses, schoolhouses and the U.S. Department of Education.”
Jim Shelton, now a deputy secretary to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Margot Rogers, Duncan’s chief of staff during President Obama’s first term, both moved directly from the Gates Foundation into jobs at the U.S. Department of Education. “Both were granted waivers from conflict-of-interest policies to allow them to continue to work closely with the Gates Foundation after joining the Education Department.”
What has the Gates Foundation accomplished in terms of its policy objectives? “In K-12 education, Gates gets substantial credit—or in some quarters, blame—for the explosion in charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed. He’s transformed the way educators are evaluated, putting much more emphasis on student test scores as a measure of