With a search for a new Boston Superintendent of Schools, a renewed review by the state of Boston Public Schools possibly leading to receivership, a new governor on the horizon, and the radical right promoting turmoil in public education, Massachusetts elites and philanthropic interest groups want to know one thing: what does the Walton family of Arkansas want?
The best way to get at that is to look at where the WalMart heirs are spending their interest group money in Massachusetts. (Remember, wealthy philanthropists often fund “charities” that operate as interest groups). I did this before with The Walton Family’s Political Team, 2019 but that was a poor choice of title. I wrote it in 2019 but it covered the Arkansas oligarchs spending only in 2017-2018. Because of our nation’s willingness to allow oligarchs to hide their investments in politics the most recent data is only up to date through 2020. Sources are Walton Family Foundation Grant List and Form 990s (because some investments mysteriously disappear from the online grants list. Naughty, naughty Waltons).
The selected groups all have some political purpose and all are funded by the Waltons. By political purpose I don’t mean anything that would jeopardize a non-profit’s IRS status. But there are things that can be done like advocacy, issuing reports, community outreach, rallies, etc. that can have a political impact.
| Donee | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Total |
| Latinos for Education | $200,510 | $267,000 | $601,458 | $350,000 | $1,418,968 |
| Latina Circle | $150,000 | $100,000 | $250,000 | ||
| Massachusetts Parents United | $366,000 | $500,000 | $500,000 | $850,000* | $2,216,000 |
| Pioneer Institute | $160,375 | $164,625 | $325,000 | ||
| Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education | $200,000 | $150,000 | $217,500 | $432,500 | 1,000,000 |
| Massachusetts Charter Public School Assoc. | $300,000 | $874,500 | $600,000 | $700,000 | $2,474,500 |
| Total | $1,226,885 | $2,106,125 | $2,018,958 | 2,332,500 | $7,684,468 |
*Note that $400,000 of this amount seems to be targeted for MPU to use to get the National Parents Union up and running.
The Waltons invested at least $7.6 million into Massachusetts politics in 2017-2018. That number is low because WFF also funds Education Reform Now, the sugar daddy of Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts. ERN is a multi-state operation with no spending breakout by state available. But from 2017-2020 WFF loaded up ERN with $14,180,000 and it’s fair to assume some of that made it into Massachusetts. (There’s a whole chapter on DFER in my book). It’s the same story with Educators for Excellence, the wealthy privatizers attempt to create a teachers union they can control. E4E took in $4,795,000 from WFF from 2017-2020, and some of that likely was siphoned over to the Massachusetts branch of E4E (which also happens to be a darling of Boston oligarchs, including Strategic Grant Partners and Joanna Jacobson).
Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education got no money from the Waltons from 2008-2016. But after the privatization ballot question 2016 loss, the money started flowing, $1,000,000 in four years. Latinos for Public Education is a pipeline for LatinX to get in education leadership positions, a key strategy for education privatizers, and it is a Teach for America offshoot. Latina Circle has already spun off a political group named Amplify LatinX. Both are recently formed with Walton money. Pioneer is an advocacy organization and regular recipient of Walton bucks. Massachusetts Charter Public School Association has an advocacy function too.
These figures are only current through 2020. We don’t really know what the Waltons are spending now or on what; we don’t even know anything about 2021.
Then there’s Massachusetts Parents United, founded in 2017 and the immediate recipient of $366,000 from the sons and daughters of Wal-Mart. (All but $20,000 of the 2017 amount was funneled through Education Reform Now). It is an AstroTurf front and a direct agent of the Waltons. In four years the Waltons showered over $2,216,000 on MPU.
But of that total, in 2020 MPU got a separate grant of $400,000 “To support the launch of a new membership organization that will empower local activists and organizations through skills building, direct organizational infrastructure support, and messaging and advocacy trainings.” That operation is National Parents Union.
For MPU and NPU the Waltons installed as president Massachusetts own Keri Rodrigues, the former state director of Families for Excellent Schools Inc., which along with its sister Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy ran afoul of Massachusetts campaign finance laws in 2016. FESA was shut down and FESI limped along under restrictions, abandoning the state and soon collapsing in corruption. But Ms. Rodrigues emerged unscathed as the head of the Waltons’ MPU. She has 20+ years of professional experience in communications and her own political consulting firm.
NPU commenced functioning in 2020 with Ms. Rodrigues as president. We learned from the 2020 Form 990s of MPU and NPU that she and the COO of both organizations “are engaged.” Their combined incomes from MPU (and the related Massachusetts Parent Action) and NPU amounted to $626,677.
To read news outlets you’d think there are a number of local do-gooder operations advocating for privatization. Following the money tells a more complicated story. The money trail leads back to America’s richest family, the privatizing Waltons of Arkansas.
Money Never Sleeps. Follow the Money. And fight for our imperiled democracy.
[Full disclosure: as a (now retired) educator in the UMass system, I am a union member. I write about dark money, democracy, and oligarchy. I am the author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization.]
