FISH OR CUT BAIT: THE DEMOCRATS WHO SOLD PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER
A withering, and thoroughly documented exposé of the Democrats who cashed the privatizer's check — and the Founding Father who warned them not to.
🏛️ John Adams Called It — 240 Years Ago
Let's start with a man who never took a dime from the Walton family, mostly because Walmart hadn't been invented yet. In 1785, John Adams wrote to John Jebb with the kind of clarity that makes modern politicians look like they're reading from a hedge fund's wish list:
"The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people, and must be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual but maintained at the expense of the People themselves."
Adams wasn't just waxing poetic over his quill pen. He was laying down the foundational architecture of American democracy — the radical idea that an educated citizenry, funded by the public, for the public, is the only thing standing between a republic and an aristocracy.
He even warned about "adoring their servants, their Generals, Admirals, Bishops and Statesmen." In 2026, we might update that list to include billionaires, hedge fund managers, and the occasional Walmart heir. The man was practically prophetic.
So the question isn't whether public education matters. John Adams settled that in 1785. The question is: why are some Democrats collecting checks from the very people trying to dismantle it?
💰 The Privatizer's Playbook: DeVos, Waltons & Koch
Here's how the billionaire privatization machine works — and it is, in fact, a machine, with very well-oiled parts.
The Senate HELP Committee's own majority staff report documented what they called a "coordinated effort by billionaires to dismantle the American public school system" — not a conspiracy theory, not a bumper sticker, but a formal congressional finding.
The Guardian put it plainly: "The Koch brothers and DeVos are trying to do everything they can to divert money that should go to the public-school system, where 90%-plus of students are educated."
And Truthout reported that billionaires Jeff Yass and Betsy DeVos have been spending tens of millions on state elections to pass charter and private school voucher bills — systematically draining public funding away from the schools that serve the overwhelming majority of American children.
The pipeline works like this:
| Billionaire Network | Vehicle | Democratic Target | Policy Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walton Family | DFER / Education Reform Now | Booker, Bennet, Warner | Charter school expansion |
| Betsy DeVos | American Federation for Children | Pro-voucher Democrats | Private school vouchers |
| Koch / Stand Together | AFP Action / issue ads | Manchin, Sinema (former D) | Deregulation, anti-union |
| Walmart Corporate PAC | Direct PAC contributions | Cantwell, Wyden, Cortez Masto | Trade, labor, tax access |
The genius — and the gall — of this system is its layered anonymity. A Walton heir writes a check to a 501(c)(4) dark money nonprofit. That nonprofit passes it to a super PAC. The super PAC runs ads praising Senator So-and-So for their "bold education leadership." By the time the money surfaces in an FEC filing, it's wearing three overcoats and a fake mustache.
🐘🐴 Wait — Aren't Democrats Supposed to Support Public Schools?
Ah yes. The $64,000 question. Or more accurately, the $354 million question — which is what Senate Majority PAC raised in the 2026 cycle, much of it from teachers' unions who genuinely believe in public education.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: the Democratic Party is not monolithic on education, and the billionaire privatizers know it. They have spent decades — and hundreds of millions of dollars — cultivating a specific species of Democrat: the "education reform" Democrat who talks about equity and opportunity while quietly supporting policies that siphon public funds into private and charter school systems that can cherry-pick their students and send the rest back to an underfunded public school.
Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is the primary vehicle for this ideological colonization of the Democratic Party. Funded by Walton family members, hedge fund managers, and Silicon Valley billionaires, DFER operates a sophisticated political operation:
- A 501(c)(4) dark money arm (Education Reform Now) that lobbies, researches, and runs issue ads without disclosing donors
- A 527 PAC and Independent Expenditure Committee that intervenes in Democratic primaries — specifically to protect pro-charter incumbents from union-backed challengers
- A philanthropic pipeline that funds "research" supporting charter expansion and frames public school advocates as defenders of a broken status quo
The Democrats who have historically ridden this gravy train include names you know:
- Cory Booker (D-NJ) — received significant Walton-aligned and DFER support for his Newark charter school advocacy
- Michael Bennet (D-CO) — former Denver superintendent backed by Walton-aligned education reform groups
- Kyrsten Sinema & Joe Manchin (both now Independents, formerly Democrats) — received Walmart PAC money, Koch network praise ads, and corporate crossover support for blocking progressive education and tax priorities
🎯 The "Fish or Cut Bait" Moment
Let's be crystal clear about what is actually happening when a Democrat takes Walton, DeVos, or Koch education money:
They are not funding "school choice." They are funding a systematic defunding of public schools — the institutions that serve 90% of American children, disproportionately children of color, children with disabilities, children in rural communities, and children in poverty.
Private schools that receive voucher money can:
- ✅ Reject students with disabilities
- ✅ Reject students based on religion
- ✅ Reject students based on academic performance
- ✅ Pay teachers without union protections or certified credentials
- ❌ NOT be held to the same accountability standards as public schools
As the Sanders HELP Committee report concluded, the billionaire privatization agenda isn't about helping kids — it's about breaking the public institution that John Adams correctly identified as the foundation of democratic self-governance.
📣 The Verdict: Name Names, Follow the Money, Demand Accountability
The communities that depend on public education — parents, teachers, students, and taxpayers — deserve Democrats who will fully fund public schools rather than drain resources toward systems designed to exclude the most vulnerable kids.
The ask is not complicated:
- Stop taking DFER, Walton, DeVos, and Koch education money — full stop
- Support full federal funding for public schools, not scholarship tax credits that subsidize private school tuition
- Let private schools operate on their own dime — if the Waltons want to fund private academies, they can do it without a public subsidy
- Listen to the communities — teachers, parents, and students — not the billionaires who have never set foot in the schools they're trying to privatize
John Adams said the people must be taught "to reverence themselves instead of adoring their servants."
In 2026, that means Democratic voters need to look their senators in the eye and ask one simple question: whose side are you on?
The Waltons have a net worth north of $200 billion. They can afford to fund their own schools. The kids in underfunded public school districts cannot afford for their Democratic representatives to keep cashing the privatizer's check.
Fish. Or cut bait.
Sources: Senate HELP Committee Majority Staff Report on Billionaire School Privatization | Common Dreams / Sanders Report on Right-Wing Billionaires and Public Education | The Guardian: Koch Brothers and DeVos vs. Public Schools | Truthout: Yass and DeVos Crusade Against Public Schools | National Archives / Founders.gov: John Adams to John Jebb, September 10, 1785
Master Source List: Public Schools, Privatization & Democratic Accountability
🏛️ I. Founding Vision — John Adams & Public Education
1. John Adams to John Jebb, September 10, 1785 The original primary source — Adams lays out his full vision for publicly funded universal education. 🔗 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-17-02-0232
2. "Quote of the Moment: John Adams, Nation Must Have Public Schools Paid by the People" Timpanogos Blog — A readable breakdown of the Adams quote in modern context. 🔗 https://timpanogos.blog/2015/09/10/quote-of-the-moment-john-adams-nation-must-have-public-schools-paid-by-the-people/
🏦 II. The Billionaire Privatization Machine
3. "The Coordinated Attacks on Public Education in the United States" U.S. Senate HELP Committee Majority Staff Report (Bernie Sanders, Chair), June 2024 The definitive congressional investigation into billionaire-funded school privatization. A must-read. 🔗 https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/06.24.24-Education-Privatization-Report.pdf
4. Senate HELP Committee Press Release on the Privatization Report U.S. Senate HELP Committee, 2024 The official press release summarizing the report's key findings. 🔗 https://www.help.senate.gov/dem/newsroom/press/news-new-report-on-the-coordinated-effort-by-billionaires-to-dismantle-the-american-public-school-system
5. "Billionaires Pave the Way for Trump's Federal Vouchers in the School Privatization Movement" Network for Public Education Documents how DeVos, Koch, and Walton networks — including through DFER — are driving the federal voucher agenda. 🔗 https://networkforpubliceducation.org/billionaires-pave-the-way-for-trumps-federal-vouchers-in-the-school-privatization-movement/
6. "Republicans Want to Kill the Dept. of Ed and Privatize Education — Billionaires Are Helping Them" Maine Morning Star, July 2024 Connects Project 2025, the Koch network, and DeVos to the coordinated effort to defund public education. 🔗 https://mainemorningstar.com/2024/07/10/republicans-want-to-kill-the-dept-of-ed-and-privatize-education-billionaires-are-helping-them/
🎓 III. Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) & Walton Funding
7. "What Now for Democrats for Education Reform?" The Progressive, March 2025 A sharp post-2024 analysis of DFER's origins among New York hedge fund managers and its future within the Democratic Party. 🔗 https://progressive.org/public-schools-advocate/what-now-for-democrats-for-education-reform-cunningham-20250303/
8. "DFER, a Campaign Finance Bundler, Scores Op-Ed in Boston Globe" Mass Politics Profs, February 2023 Documents that the Walton family funds 30–33% of Education Reform Now's national budget and exposes DFER's bundling operation. 🔗 https://www.masspoliticsprofs.org/2023/02/06/dfer-a-campaign-finance-bundler-scores-op-ed-in-boston-globe/
9. "Dark Money and the Charter Campaign" Progressive Massachusetts, 2016 Tracks how Alice and Jim Walton funneled millions through dark money committees in Massachusetts charter school ballot fights. 🔗 https://www.progressivemass.com/darkmoneyandcharters2016/
10. "Massachusetts Parents United: Old Wine in an Empty Bottle" WGBH / ACLU Massachusetts Exposes $1.8 million in Walton money funneled through ballot committees to influence Massachusetts charter school policy. 🔗 https://www.massclu.org/wgbh-massachusetts-parents-united-old-wine-in-an-empty-bottle/
💸 IV. Betsy DeVos & the American Federation for Children
11. "Betsy DeVos-Backed Group Helps Fuel Expansion of Private School Vouchers" NBC News Documents the American Federation for Children's $9 million annual spending to back "school choice" candidates across both parties. 🔗 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/betsy-devos-american-federation-children-private-school-rcna76307
12. "Millions of Campaign Dollars Aimed at Tilting School Voucher Battle Are Flowing Into State Races" WPLN Nashville Public Radio Tracks how AFC PAC money flows into state legislative races to build pro-voucher majorities. 🔗 https://wpln.org/post/millions-of-campaign-dollars-aimed-at-tilting-school-voucher-battle-are-flowing-into-state-races/
13. "The Education Wars: The Blue State Voucher Express" National Education Policy Center (NEPC) Examines how the pro-voucher wing of the Democratic Party is pressing blue-state governors to embrace Trump's signature education policy. 🔗 https://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/blue-state
🧾 V. Tax Policy & the Voucher Funding Mechanism
14. "Shelter Skelter: How the Educational Choice for Children Act Uses Tax Avoidance" Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), 2025 A forensic breakdown of how the 2025 ECCA uses the federal tax code to funnel public money into private school vouchers — and who benefits. 🔗 https://itep.org/educational-choice-for-children-act-tax-avoidance-private-school-vouchers/
15. Public Funds for Public Schools Research Hub PFPS.org A continuously updated research library on the fiscal and equity impacts of diverting public school funding to voucher programs, including a 2024 Kentucky Center for Economic Policy study. 🔗 https://pfps.org/research/
🔍 VI. Campaign Finance Tools — Follow the Money Yourself
16. OpenSecrets.org — Senator Profiles & PAC Tracker Search any senator's name to see their top corporate PAC donors, outside spending, and dark money connections by cycle. 🔗 https://www.opensecrets.org
17. FEC.gov — Independent Expenditure Search Search independent expenditures by committee name (e.g., "Americans for Prosperity Action," "American Federation for Children PAC") to see exactly which candidates they supported or opposed. 🔗 https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/
18. InfluenceWatch.org — DFER & Education Reform Now Profiles Detailed profiles of DFER, Education Reform Now, and their donor networks. 🔗 https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/democrats-for-education-reform/
📰 VII. Broader Context & Investigative Reading
19. "A High-Ranking Republican Tried to Curb the Unchecked Growth of West Virginia's Voucher Program" ProPublica Documents how Koch family and Jeffrey Yass mega-donations drive voucher program expansion with little accountability. 🔗 https://www.facebook.com/propublica/posts/new-a-high-ranking-republican-tried-to-curb-the-unchecked-growth-of-west-virgini/1461806529142134/
20. "Betsy DeVos, Two Others Spent Big on Nebraska Legislative Races" Nebraska Examiner, February 2023 A granular, state-level case study of how DeVos money targets individual legislative races to flip school choice votes. 🔗 https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/02/27/betsy-devos-two-others-spent-big-on-nebraska-legislative-races/
This reading list covers primary sources, investigative journalism, academic policy research, and live campaign finance databases — everything needed to trace the money, understand the policy, and hold elected officials accountable. John Adams would approve. 📜
