Don’t ask me, I don’t know why the Walton family doesn’t like Massachusetts charter school students. Sometimes we hear “we measure what we care about” and the money trail shows that what the Waltons care about is not kids but their political fronts like Massachusetts Parents United.
The Waltons pour money into political operations to increase charter schools so it occurred to me, how much money do the WalMart heirs spend to support students in Massachusetts charter schools? And the answer is, chump change compared to political spending.
Using a list of all charter schools in Massachusetts, I cross checked them at the Walton Family Foundation database of annual amounts paid to grantees. First I thought, let’s see what this looks like for 2017-2019. That’s when the Waltons founded Massachusetts Parents United, Latinos for Education. Latina Circle, and first started pumping dollars into the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. This was in response to the shellacking the Waltons took in the Question 2 ballot initiative in 2016. Here’s what I found:
Table 1. Walton student support spending 2017-2019
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Total |
| $325,000 | $975,000 | $250,000 | $1,550,000 |
And here’s Walton giving for organizations that are political in nature by doing advocacy, public outreach, communications, activity on Beacon Hill, etc.
Table 2. Walton political spending 2017-2019
| WFF Donee | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Total |
| Latinos for Education | $210,500 | $267,000 | $601,458 | $1,078,958 |
| Latina Circle | NA | $100,000 | $150,000 | $250,000 |
| Massachusetts Parents United | $366,000 | $500,000 | $800,000 | $1,666,000 |
| Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education | $0 | $150,000 | $217,500 | $367,500 |
| Massachusetts Charter Public School Association Inc. | $0 | $874,500 | $600,000 | $1,474,500 |
| Pioneer Institute | $0 | $164,625 | $0 | $164,625 |
| $576,500 | $2,056,125 | $2,368,958 | $5,001,583 |
Massachusetts Parents United, which did not exist in 2016, has gotten $116,000 more than charter school students. In 2019 Massachusetts Parents United paid out $730,094 in salaries and its CEO made almost $200,000. Walton contributions in 2019 to MPU were $800,000. Walton contributions to charter schools dropped to $250,000.
What about 2014-2016 when privatization advocates were gearing up for legislation or a ballot question to increase charters? There’s less clarity because there were fewer purely political fronts in Massachusetts. But Pioneer Institute got $411,050 in 2015 and $183,650 in 2016—the $411,050 figure is nearly double any donation from WFF to Pioneer since 2010. Massachusetts Charter Public School Association got $750,000 in 2014, $850,000 in 2015, and $800,000 in 2016, large increases from prior years.
Here’s a tell about the 2014-2016 period. In 2014 the Waltons gave Families for Excellent Schools $5,000,000—ten times more than they had ever given to FES. In 2015, Waltons gave $6,400,000 to FES, and in 2016, $1,800,000, a three year total of $11,580,000. Then WalMart heirs Alice and Jim Walton wrote checks totaling $2,615,000 to the ballot campaign FES was running to increase charter schools in 2016.
And how much did the Waltons contribute to the students of Massachusetts charter schools from 2014-2016?
Table 3. Walton student support spending 2014-2016
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Total |
| $250,000 | $0 | $180,000 | $430,000 |
So next time you hear someone from Pioneer Institute, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, National Parents Union, or Massachusetts Parents United say “it’s all about the students” go ahead and laugh.
It’s not about the students. It’s about destroying public education and privatizing public goods.
We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don’t tell me they don’t turn around and kiss them peoples’ ass
You may call me old-fashioned
But that don’t fit my picture of a true democracy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free—Iris DeMent, Wasteland of the Free
[Full disclosure: as an educator in the UMass system, I am a union member. I write about dark money, democracy, and oligarchy.]
Huh. I guess no one at The Globe realizes that MBAE is a recipient of Walton largess. That must be why, in their post about waiving the 2022 MCAS graduation requirement, Jim Vaznis refers to them as “education activists”.
“But other education advocates said that the tests yield important, useful information that help school districts target tutoring and other support to struggling students. Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education executive director Ed Lambert said schools should still administer the test and follow up on its results to ensure that students learn the information they need to succeed in life before leaving high school, even if it’s not an official graduation requirement.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/20/metro/mass-board-education-waives-mcas-graduation-requirement-class-2022/
oops, should be “education advocates”, not activists!