Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/18/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

The Art of Deception: Friedrich vs. CTA - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association: The Art of Deception:  Friedrich vs. CTAHistory is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these sim

by mike simpson / 1h 

New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity

New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity: New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosingThe racist history of vouchers is very clear and apparent. What was the origin of the school voucher movement? The Daily Kos wrote in the piece Jim Crow and school vouchersThe Richmond News-Leader wrote at the time: “To acknowledge the Court’s authority [in Brown v Board] does not me

by mike simpson / 1h 

Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed

Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed: Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA TimesThe Los Angeles Times today took the wraps off Education Matters, an initiative to cover K-12 education more aggressively. The effort is timed to today's start of the fall semester for most LA Unified students. The Times is "rededicating itself to coverage of teaching

by mike simpson / 2h 

Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step DownBuddy Philpot will step down as executive director of the Walton Family Foundation, the philanthropy started by Sam Walton, the Walmart founder, and his wife, Helen.Mr. Philpot has served in that post for 15 years. In a letter, board members and family heirs Alice, Jim, and R

by mike simpson / 3h 

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood | Johnathan Chase | LinkedIn

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood | Johnathan Chase | LinkedIn: Don't Let Me Be MisunderstoodThe Common Core English Language Arts standards emphasize text-based instruction and call for "shifts" that state;"...The reading standards focus on students’ ability to read carefullyand grasp information, arguments, ideas, and details based on evidence in the text... Students should be able to

by mike simpson / 6h 

Austin Beutner: A renewed emphasis on education at The Times - LA Times

Austin Beutner: A renewed emphasis on education at The Times - LA Times: Austin Beutner: A renewed emphasis on education at The TimesDear Reader,Today is the first day of school for hundreds of thousands of children throughout Los Angeles, and for students, teachers and parents, the occasion is cause for both excitement and trepidation.Education, it has been said, is the soul of society, and few i

by mike simpson / 6h 

CURMUDGUCATION: What Failing Schools?

CURMUDGUCATION: What Failing Schools?: What Failing Schools?Education Next is trotting out its Big Fat Survey of Educational Stuff for 2015, and for eduwonks it's twenty-three pages of interesting stuff. I'm sure many of us will be parsing, mining and massaging the results, as well as discussing how much the reform-loving sponsors of the survey can be trusted. But as I poked through it, two result

by mike simpson / 7h 

Arne Duncan: Where California schools need to put their money - LA Times

Arne Duncan: Where California schools need to put their money - LA Times: Arne Duncan: Where California schools need to put their money On the Westside of Los Angeles, there's a school where eighth-graders code and build websites, develop entrepreneurial ventures and use gaming software to design solutions for saving local endangered species. At the Incubator School, teachers leverage technology t

by mike simpson / 7h 

How Whiteness tells the Story of Katrina 10 Years Later | Decolonizing educational research

How Whiteness tells the Story of Katrina 10 Years Later | Decolonizing educational research: How Whiteness tells the Story of Katrina 10 Years LaterMalcolm Gladwell’s essay on New Orleans ten years after Hurricane Katrina is but one of the many narratives that center whiteness as the protagonist of the city during and after Katrina. The purchase this essay has by virtue of its publication in a nat

by mike simpson / 7h 

Teachers For Social Justice: Support the Hunger Strike for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School

Teachers For Social Justice: Support the Hunger Strike for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School: Support the Hunger Strike for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School12 Parents, grandparents, community members and supporters from around the city started a hunger strike on August, 17th. Their demand is simple. Rahm Emanuel and his appointed school board

by mike simpson / 7h 

Efforts to attract new teachers stall in state Legislature | EdSource

Efforts to attract new teachers stall in state Legislature | EdSource: Efforts to attract new teachers stall in state LegislatureEfforts to reinstate state support to attract new teachers to the profession have stalled in the state Legislature, despite a shrinking supply of teachers that is spreading beyond traditionally high-needs areas such as special education, math and science, and bilingual e

by mike simpson / 7h 

Blaming Teachers Gets Us All Off the Hook | janresseger

Blaming Teachers Gets Us All Off the Hook | janresseger: Blaming Teachers Gets Us All Off the HookIt is important to read stories like Joe Mozingo’s piece, San Bernardino: Broken City, or listen to the NPR broadcast based on Mozingo’s reporting.  The subject is desperation and family homelessness among the destitute in a faded California city where many children reside in cheap motels.  I watched

by mike simpson / 7h 

Data Shows Opt-Out Students Are More Numerous But Not So Diverse - US News

Data Shows Opt-Out Students Are More Numerous But Not So Diverse - US News: Who's Out?Proponents and opponents are both right about who is opting out of standardized tests.Speculating about how many and what kind of students were opting out of standardized tests was a fun education parlor game this spring. Highly energized proponents claimed the opt-out movement was a diverse cross-section of publ

by mike simpson / 8h 

Five steps Cerf can take today to prove he supports local control and public education | Bob Braun's Ledger

Five steps Cerf can take today to prove he supports local control and public education | Bob Braun's Ledger: Five steps Cerf can take today to prove he supports local control and public educationThe Newark school board has scheduled its regular business meeting at 5:30 pm today. It will be the first meeting the newly-imposed state superintendent of Newark schools, Christopher Cerf, will likely att

by mike simpson / 8h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Dyett hunger strikers keeping the PUBLIC in public schools

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Dyett hunger strikers keeping the PUBLIC in public schools: Dyett hunger strikers keeping the PUBLIC in public schoolsA SmallTalk Salute goes out to the 12 Dyett hunger strikers who are putting their bodies on the line to keep the public in public education. The community-based movement to put a real public, neighborhood school back into Dyett has drawn support from

by mike simpson / 8h 

NYC Educator: The Accountability Scam

NYC Educator: The Accountability Scam: The Accountability ScamSean Crowley, my brother blogger from Buffalo, has a great column about how educational leaders are popped into place with no public input. A secondary point he makes is about accountability. This is the word we invariably hear when insane systems are initiated. Why should teachers be judged by test scores? Accountability. Why must ever

by mike simpson / 8h 

Think It Up - STUDENT POWERED. TEACHER LED. CROWD FUNDED.™

Think It Up: STUDENT POWERED. TEACHER LED. CROWD FUNDED.™Think It Up:Think It Up:

by mike simpson / 8h 

State commissioner recommends candidate for Buffalo school superintendent - City & Region - The Buffalo News

State commissioner recommends candidate for Buffalo school superintendent - City & Region - The Buffalo News: State commissioner recommends candidate for Buffalo school superintendentBoard to interview former Memphis chiefAfter the Buffalo School Board spent more than a year on failed efforts to recruit a superintendent, state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has stepped in to find a new

by mike simpson / 8h 

Teacher: ‘ We know that what we are doing to children is wrong’ - The Washington Post

Teacher: ‘ We know that what we are doing to children is wrong’ - The Washington Post: Teacher: ‘ We know that what we are doing to children is wrong’Some teachers in Florida are speaking out about their concerns that students this year will face way too many standardized assessments — even after the governor, Rick Scott (R), has admitted children are being over-tested.This video from Fox 35 in Or

by mike simpson / 9h 

Dyett Activists Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Decision on Reopening School - Hyde Park - DNAinfo.com Chicago

Dyett Activists Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Decision on Reopening School - Hyde Park - DNAinfo.com Chicago: Dyett Activists Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Decision on Reopening SchoolGRAND BOULEVARD — Twelve school activists started a hunger strike Monday morning, demanding Chicago Public Schools halt delays on determining the future of Dyett High School.The 12 people who have vowed to subsist

by mike simpson / 9h 

What Poverty Does To Your Brain | PopularResistance.Org

What Poverty Does To Your Brain | PopularResistance.Org: What Poverty Does To Your BrainRecent research suggests that poverty may have a profound effect on the brain. Imaging studies show that the conditions that go hand-in-hand with poverty — a combination of environmental factors and emotional stressors — can actually slow the development of crucial parts of the brain involved in regulating beha

by mike simpson / 9h 

Poll finds for the first time that majority of teachers shun Common Core - The Hechinger Report

Poll finds for the first time that majority of teachers shun Common Core - The Hechinger Report: Poll finds for the first time that majority of teachers shun Common CoreJust a week after the New York State Education Department confirmed that the proportion of students refusing to take annual state tests had quadrupled from five percent last year to 20 percent this year, the results of a new poll r

by mike simpson / 9h 

Election 2016: GOP candidates to to be pressed on education reform at summit - CBS News

Election 2016: GOP candidates to to be pressed on education reform at summit - CBS News: Election 2016: GOP candidates to to be pressed on education reform at summitSix Republican presidential hopefuls head to New Hampshire this week to take part in an education summit where they will be expected to dive deep into their visions for education reform. Wednesday's event will also be a test for candid

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Real Failure Of Common Core | Ted Dintersmith

The Real Failure Of Common Core | Ted Dintersmith: The Real Failure Of Common CoreThe Common Core State Standards were developed in 2009 in an effort to create more rigorous K-12 curriculum standards in math and literacy. To date, 44 states have adopted the standards. But even with such widespread adoption, the Common Core State Standards are among the most hotly contested pieces of legislation in

by mike simpson / 9h 

States Gaining a Say on School Accountability - Education Week

States Gaining a Say on School Accountability - Education Week: States Gaining a Say on School AccountabilityWhether a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act makes it over the finish line this year, the federally driven accountability system at the heart of the law seems destined to go the way of the Blockbuster video.The Obama administration has already opened the door to major flexibility by is

by mike simpson / 9h 

John Kasich’s Biggest Joke: Ohio Charter Schools

John Kasich’s Biggest Joke: Ohio Charter Schools: John Kasich’s Biggest Joke: Ohio Charter SchoolsJohn Kasich is a master of making jokes at other people’s expense. His reputation of delivering snide, snarky comments, after nearly 40 years as a performance politician, is legend.One joke making news Monday is the expectation that Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley will endorse Gov. Kasich for president. T

by mike simpson / 10h 

We Are All on the Lunatic Fringe – The Centerless Battle Against Corporate Education Reform | gadflyonthewallblog

We Are All on the Lunatic Fringe – The Centerless Battle Against Corporate Education Reform | gadflyonthewallblog: We Are All on the Lunatic Fringe – The Centerless Battle Against Corporate Education ReformIt was one of the strangest meetings I’ve ever had with a state legislator.Why?First of all, we were all teachers.Even the legislator. Even his Aide!Pennsylvania State Rep. Dan Miller (D-Mt. Leb

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Chicago Tribune Editor Kristen McQueary’s Romanticized View of Paul Vallas’ Role in Post-Katrina New Orleans | deutsch29

Chicago Tribune Editor Kristen McQueary’s Romanticized View of Paul Vallas’ Role in Post-Katrina New Orleans | deutsch29: Chicago Tribune Editor Kristen McQueary’s Romanticized View of Paul Vallas’ Role in Post-Katrina New OrleansOn August 13, 2015, Chicago Tribune editor Kristen McQueary published an editorial in which she wished a “Hurricane Katrina” upon the city of Chicago.A Katrina would forc

by mike simpson / 19h 

Alexandra Miletta: It’s All About the Bell Curve: Sheri Lederman’s Day in Court

Alexandra Miletta: It’s All About the Bell Curve: Sheri Lederman’s Day in Court: It’s All About the Bell Curve: Sheri Lederman’s Day in CourtI traveled up to Albany this morning to hear the oral arguments in the Lederman v. King case presented to Acting Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough by Bruce Lederman, and Colleen Galligan representing the State Education Department. This is the first time

by mike simpson / 21h 

The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail? | Bob Braun's Ledger

The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail? | Bob Braun's Ledger: The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail?The latest round of state-mandated school “reforms” imposed on the children, parents, and employees in the Newark public schools has created a bizarre situation in which virtually the entire staffs of so-called “turnaround” s

by mike simpson / 21h 

Standardized Test Refusals Ripple Through Statewide Results | KPLU Seattle

Standardized Test Refusals Ripple Through Statewide Results | KPLU News for Seattle and the Northwest: Standardized Test Refusals Ripple Through Statewide ResultsListenListening...1:24New statewide test scores released Monday largely confirm what a sneak peek suggested earlier this summer: Pass rates on the new, tougher assessments have dropped, though by less than many feared. But those results c

by mike simpson / 21h 

from a loyal teachers union member – Dear NEA Retired: HOW DARE YOU! | Reclaim Reform

from a loyal teachers union member – Dear NEA Retired: HOW DARE YOU! | Reclaim Reform: from a loyal teachers union member – Dear NEA Retired: HOW DARE YOU!Today, August 17, I received the new Summer 2015 issue of neaTODAY: for NEA-Retired Members with the following cover article:NO PLANS TO RETIRE! ~ 87-year-old school counselor’s high-touch, personal approach boosts student success.NEA President

by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/17/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMShould You Opt Out - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial VoiceShould You Opt Out - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice: Should You Opt Out Opting out of state tests means: You are using an effective tool to fight the unethical use of standardized testing that has, for decades, hindered real progress in providing equal access to quality education in America.United Opt Ou

by mike simpson / 1d 

The Art of Deception: Friedrich vs. CTA - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

The Art of Deception:  Friedrich vs. CTA

History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.   ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

History will remember.
Let Dr. King's words lift our spirits in a time when unions are under attack.

Friedrichs vs. CTA will be heard in the Supreme Court this coming year.  As research  into this case is done, a disturbing sense of unease grows.

Here are the Plaintiffs

REBECCA FRIEDRICHS

SCOTT WILFORD

JELENA FIGUEROA

GEORGE W. WHITE, JR.

KEVIN ROUGHTON

 PEGGY SEARCY

 JOSE MANSO

HARLAN ELRICH

 KAREN CUEN

 IRENE ZAVALA

All of these folks are represented by The Center for Individual Rights.  (More on them later)

 Also listed in the lawsuit is the CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL, more on them later as well.

Here is the screen shot of the cover sheet of the petition:

The issue at hand from the SCOTUS blog  is whether Abood v. Detroit Board  should be over turned and public-sector “agency shop” arrangements (a.k.a. mandatory union dues) should be invalidated under the First Amendment; and (2) whether it violates the First Amendment to require that public employees affirmatively object to subsidizing nonchargeable speech by public-sector unions, rather than requiring that employees affirmatively consent to subsidizing such speech.”

In plain English, the case will challenge whether Abood, which, according to Cornell Law, was established  by a “Michigan statute authorizing union representation of local governmental employees permits an "agency shop" arrangement, whereby every employee represented by a union, even though not a union member, must pay to the union, as a condition of employment, a service charge equal in amount to union dues.”
Keep in mind that the plaintiffs in this case can, and Friedrichs did,  opt out of paying full dues (non Badass Teachers Association:

New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity

New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity:

New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing

The racist history of vouchers is very clear and apparent. What was the origin of the school voucher movement? The Daily Kos wrote in the piece Jim Crow and school vouchers

The Richmond News-Leader wrote at the time: “To acknowledge the Court’s authority [in Brown v Board] does not mean the South is helpless. It is not to abandon hope. Rather, it is to enter into a long course of lawful resistance … let us pledge ourselves to litigate this thing for fifty years. If one remedial law is ruled invalid, then let us try another; and if the second is ruled invalid, then let us enact a third.”

The voucher ethos was thus born. Public school funding must now be privatized. If we submit a bill calling such a scheme “vouchers,” and that bill fails, re-submit the same bill and call the scheme “taxpayer savings grant programs.”

Tom P. Brady, Circuit Judge of the 14th Judicial District from 1950 to 1963, and later a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court, wrote, “We have already, by Constitutional amendment, authorized our legislature as other Southern states will do, to abolish the public schools if the Negro and white children are ever integrated therein. Make no mistake about it, we will abolish our public school system and establish private schools for our white children…” (“Segregation and the South” [1957])

Herman Talmadge, Georgia governor from 1948 to 1955 and Senator from 1957 to 1981, had this to say: “Lawyers thought (the Brown decision) was a judicial rape of the Constitution, and I concur … they couldn’t send enough bayonets down to compel the people to send their children to school with Nigras.

“I sponsored a constitutional amendment to enable the General Assembly to close the schools at its discretion and to pay a subsidy to children, both white and Negro, out of state funds to enable them to go to private schools … there is no requirement for a public school system — we changed that in November, 1954. Furthermore, if a court ordered a Georgia county to integrate, the state would withhold funds from that entity. Then we would be required to proceed with the private school system.” (as quoted in John Barlow Martin, The Deep South Says Never (1957)]

So, yeah. Vouchers are a direct product of the Old Confederacy’s reaction to Brown. That’s pretty 

New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity:

Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed

Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed:

Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times

The Los Angeles Times today took the wraps off Education Matters, an initiative to cover K-12 education more aggressively. The effort is timed to today's start of the fall semester for most LA Unified students. The Times is "rededicating itself to coverage of teaching and learning," publisher Austin Beutner said in theannouncement in the paper. "Our goal is to provide an ongoing, wide-ranging report card on K-12 education in Los Angeles, California and the nation."

With an expanded team of reporters, we will take a fresh approach to our news and analysis starting with today’s stories about the unique challenges facing LAUSD and the last year-round school in Los Angeles. Our editorial pages feature a guest column by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on the need for more investment in math and science education. You will find our reports at latimes.com/schools in English and Spanish.

In the coming months, we will convene public forums to address topics such as educational education policy, saving for college and talking to your child’s teacher. We intend these conversations to be both thoughtful and practical.

A team has been rushing to get this "vertical" done by today and, per a source in the newsroom, included at least one weekend gathering for staffers at the home of managing editor for editorial strategy S. Mitra Kalita. The announcement was low-key in this morning's print paper, just Beutner's note tucked on page two, but has a higher profile on the website and in the LAT's morning newsletters. An internal memo from Beutner, Kalita and editor Davan Maharaj announces some hires.

Today the Los Angeles Times launches a new initiative in education journalism. This marks the first of several planned verticals to better organize our work around communities of interest. We will write, photograph, film and tweet accessibly and authoritatively, from locker-lined hallways of schools to the corridors of Sacramento to parent forums in coffee shops.

Education Matters lives at latimes.com/schools and, in coming days, will roll out interactive features and databases on topics including test scores and vaccination rates. Much of our work will be translated into Spanish, posted on our site and printed in our sister publication, Hoy.

Over the years, education editor Beth Shuster and our team of schools reporters have broken news, held teachers and elected officials accountable, and told stories in creative ways. Now they will work in collaboration with new and existing Times journalists to strengthen our efforts online and bolster coverage.

Among the new faces is editor/reporter Joy Resmovits, formerly a senior education writer for the Huffington Post. Joy has broken news on charter schools, former Washington, D.C., chancellor Michelle Rhee, teachers unions, special education and school segregation. She just completed the Spencer Fellowship at Columbia University and has worked at the Jewish Daily Forward and the Wall Street Journal. She graduated from Barnard.

Sonali Kohli also joins us as an education reporter. She previously worked at Quartz covering education and diversity, and is known for her data-driven reporting and creativity on topics such as AP scores, the achievement gap and coloring books. She was raised in Diamond Bar and graduated from UCLA.

Daniela Gerson is our new community engagement manager, with primary responsibility for HS Insider and the user-generated content opportunities it represents for the vertical and across The Times. Daniela previously directed the civic engagement and journalism initiative at USC’s Annenberg. She has partnered with youth across the region from Alhambra to Watts to tell their stories, and also worked at the New York Sun. She graduated from Brown University and lives in Echo Park.

Please join us in celebrating this new chapter and welcoming our new colleagues.

Best,

Austin, Davan and Mitra

Kalita was a senior editor at Quartz before coming to the Times earlier this year. Kohli also was recently a reporter trainee at the Orange County Register.

The Times has rededicated itself to education coverage and good deeds before, most notably with the Reading By Nine program in the 1990s. But this time looks different in a couple of key ways. First, Beutner has been involved as a community leader in education reform since well before he became publisher and it's a personal focus for him — and now for the paper he runs with a more active hand than most previous publishers. (See below his Facebook note bringing longtime Democratic Party figure Mickey Kantor into one of his philanthropic projects.) And second, this LA Times news effort is funded at least in part by grants from a bunch of outside non-profits — all community players the Times also covers or should be covering, by the way.

From Beutner's announcement:

A child’s success in the classroom depends on the participation and support of everyone in the community, a view shared by the California Endowment, the Wasserman Foundation and the Baxter Family Foundation, which are providing funds to support Education Matters. The California Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles have also supported this effort with grants from the The Broad Foundation. These institutions, like The Times, are dedicated to independent journalism that engages and informs its readers.

The Times has used grants from non-profits to fund some reporting slots in recent years, as have some other big news media outlets, most notably locally KPCC.

Earlier this week on his Facebook page, Beutner announced a new role for Mickey Kantor, the veteran Los Angeles lawyer, City Hall advocate and Democratic Party macher. Beutner is behind Vision to Learn, a program that helps low-income youngsters with vision problems and is apparently a big success.

Vision To Learn started three short years ago with little more than an old, rehabilitated mobile clinic and the desire to help children in low-income communities. We have come far in a short time. Vision To Learn is now operating in three states, with more on the horizon. We have helped almost 40,000 kids at more than 1,500 schools and community organizations, and given each child a better chance to succeed in school and in life. We have shown there is an unmet need not only in Los Angeles but across California and the nation, and that glasses have a significant and positive impact on a child’s academic performance and life.

As Vision To Learn continues to work to give children across the nation a chance to succeed, we are expanding our leadership team to help fulfill this goal. Thankfully, Mickey Kantor has agreed to serve with me as Co-Chair of Vision To Learn. Mickey’s vast experience, keen insights, and fierce focus on getting the job done have been put to work on behalf of the U.S. Government, his clients around the world, 

Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed:

Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down

Buddy Philpot will step down as executive director of the Walton Family Foundation, the philanthropy started by Sam Walton, the Walmart founder, and his wife, Helen.

Mr. Philpot has served in that post for 15 years. In a letter, board members and family heirs Alice, Jim, and Rob Walton said Mr. Philpot "has committed to stay on at the foundation as long as necessary to help ensure a smooth transition as we conduct a national search for a new executive director."

Under Mr. Philpot’s watch, the foundation grew from making about $40 million in grants annually to $374 million in 2014. This year, it expects to make about $400 million in grants to improve schools, to mitigate environmental damage, and to raise the quality of life in the Arkansas Ozarks and Mississippi Delta region.

The foundation is a leader in the charter-school movement and has pursued environmental strategies that seek to find common ground among conservation and business interests.

The organization has built more than 300 miles of trails in its Northwest Arkansas backyard and has helped draw more than 2 million visitors to the area to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which was started with an $800 million endowment from the Walton family.

Mr. Philpot is a longtime business associate of the Walton family, having previously served as president of Arvest Bank, which is led by Jim Walton. He plans to continue working at Walton Enterprises, a holding company, after he leaves the foundation.

The foundation has assets of about $2.5 billion, ranking it 24th in the nation, according data compiled by The Chronicle.Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: