Walton Family Foundation Aims To Bolster Charter Schools With $1 Billion In Grants
The Walton Family Foundation announced today that it will spend $1 billion over the next five years to expand “educational opportunity” across the country through partnerships with charter school operators, researchers and education reformers.
Since 1997, the foundation says it has invested more than $385 million in 2,110 new public charter schools, about a quarter of all charters in the U.S. The foundation says last year it supported 100 new charter school start-ups with more than $20 million in grants.
The foundation’s lofty goals include helping “low-income and minority children live the American dream.”
The foundation is the family philanthropy created by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen. Their heirs control a fortune estimated byFORBES at $165 billion, the largest family fortune in the world.
In its strategic plan, the foundation acknowledges that not all charter schools live up to their promise, but not all traditional schools have delivered positive results for all their children either.
“On balance, however, it is clear that most charter schools have a positive impact on student learning, and that most urban charter schools, serving students who otherwise would not have access to great schools, are helping students beat the odds and showing the way for other schools to do the same.”
The foundation acknowledges that its position on “choice” has evolved over the years: “Choice is necessary, but schools of choice cannot stimulate systematic transformation and large-scale improvements on their own.”
The foundation will step in with help creating enrollment platforms, more equitable access to transportation and ways for parents to find the information they need to make those education choices.
The goal is not to create charter schools where none exist, like Montana, but to build on infrastructure that’s already in place. Thirteen cities will get support, including Atlanta, Boston and Camden, N.J. Another 13 states, from Arizona to Wisconsin, will get aid for their state-level policy work.
Among the charter school operators and reform organizations getting help are the Kipp Foundation and the American Federation for Children.
The strategies include:
Advocating for favorable policies for expanding opportunities;
Supporting leading national reform organizations;
Investing in communications to build awareness and support for high-quality choice, and
Supporting organizations that are helping schools of choice to find the facilities they need to serve students
“While we understand the need for patience,” the foundation concludes, “we also recognize the need for urgency. We cannot and will not stand by while the extraordinary talents of children are squandered and the quintessential American dream of opportunity goes unfulfilled.”
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