The Gimmick Behind a Walton-Featured, 100-Percent-College-Acceptance Charter School
In April 2018, the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) announced that it formed two new nonprofits for the purpose of loaning money to charter schools “to make it easier and more affordable for public charter schools to find, secure and renovate facilities.”
One particular point about the above press release caught my attention. But first, a splash of Walton ed reform history:
The Walton effort to advance school choice is nothing new. When it comes to promoting vouchers and charters, Walton money is scattered nationwide. For example, the Arkansas-based, billionaire Walton family pours millions into school choice, including its charter startup grants and even elections in other states, such as the November 2016 Massachusetts charter-expansion ballot initiative and Louisiana’s state board of education elections in 2011 and 2015. Also in 2015, WFF published its five-year plan to establish “choice ecosystems.”
The Walton effort to advance school choice is nothing new. When it comes to promoting vouchers and charters, Walton money is scattered nationwide. For example, the Arkansas-based, billionaire Walton family pours millions into school choice, including its charter startup grants and even elections in other states, such as the November 2016 Massachusetts charter-expansion ballot initiative and Louisiana’s state board of education elections in 2011 and 2015. Also in 2015, WFF published its five-year plan to establish “choice ecosystems.”
In Arkansas, the Waltons purchased a “department of education reform” at the University of Arkansas (more about that here), which runs the “school choice demonstration project,” which is “devoted to the rigorous and unbiased evaluation of school choice programs and other school improvement efforts across the country.”
There is much more. (For a notable dose of that “much more,” peruse my Walton category of blog postings.)
Now, let us return to that WFF April 2018 press release on two new nonprofits formed to loan money to charter schools for facilities:
What caught my attention was the opening attraction– the featured, stellar, CONTINUE READING: The Gimmick Behind a Walton-Featured, 100-Percent-College-Acceptance Charter School | deutsch29