Last week the Boston Globe’s Opinion page announced the principle that the funders of interest groups should be identified to the public! I almost swooned! But I recovered fast when I saw that it meant only union funded interests and not the Globe’s corporate allies. Boy Scout helpful as I always am I posted Boston Globe and Corporate Elites Prop Up Their MCAS to follow the Globe’s new policy to reveal some of the wealthy patrons of Voices for Academic Equity. Most prominent among them were the Walton Family Foundation of the Boston suburb of Arkansas and the Barr Foundation of Boston.
But then I got to thinking, just how “financially dependent” (the Globe’s words) are the members of Voices for Academic Equity on WFF and Barr? “Financially dependent” isn’t defined by the Globe and I’m not going to attempt it here. But I put together a little information on that topic, not for all the Voices members but certainly some of the most prominent.
So here are some of the groups “financially dependent” on the Walton Family Foundation. CAVEAT: These figures are for contributions to the national organizations, except for Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. WFF does not usually break contributions out into state units and where they do I have omitted those funds.
| Voices | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2017-2021 |
| Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education | $200,000 | $150,000 | $217,500 | $432,500 | $250,000 | $1,250,000 |
| Educators for Excellence | $1,050,000 | $1,495,000 | $1,200,000 | $800,000 | $700,000 | $5,245,000 |
| DFER (Education Reform Now Inc) | $1,606,775 | $2,660,000 | $5,040,000 | $150,000 | $4,000,000 | $13,456,775 |
| National Parents Union | NA | NA | NA | $750,000 | $1,200,000 | $1,950,000 |
| $20,651,775 |
More explanation. For 2020 WFF does not record any donation to National Parents Union, but it does list $400,000 to Massachusetts Parents United (also a Walton operation, under same roof, same leadership) “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.” The new membership organization is the National Parents Union. Then the Waltons formed a joint venture called Vela Education Fund with the Charles Koch Institute, the same Charles Koch who is famous for all he has done for the climate change denial industry. Now he is bringing that expertise to K-12 education. Vela gave NPU $700,000 so I assigned half of that to the Waltons. ERN and DFER are under the same roof. For more on DFER’s funding (including from famous Democrat Rupert Murdoch) see Democrats for Education Reform: Let’s Meet the Funders.
Here are Barr contributions to “financially dependent” parts of Voices for Academic Equity:
| Voices | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2017-2021 |
| Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education | $100,000 | $100,000 | $190,000 | $350,000 | $350,000 | $1,090,000 |
| Educators for Excellence | $175,000 | $200,000 | $250,000 | $250,000 | $250,000 | $1,125,000 |
| DFER (Education Reform Now Inc) | $0 | $0 | $125,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 | $425,000 |
| Boston Schools Fund | $0 | $0 | $0 | $650,000 | $650,000 | $1,300,000 |
| The Teachers Lounge | NA | NA | NA | NA | $210,000 | $210,000 |
| $4,150,000 |
I assumed Barr donations were directed in-state but excluded any Barr donations I could determine were sent out of Massachusetts, e.g. donations to Connecticut branch of ERN.
Let’s take another look at all this—how “financially dependent” as a percentage raised over the years 2017-2022 is each organization on Barr and Walton? For all but The Teachers’ Lounge this will cover 2017-2021. The Teachers Voice fiscal year ends June 30 and we have its Form 990 for FY 2022. It’s likely that Barr’s 2021 contribution of $210,000 occurred during The Teachers Lounge’s FY 2022. The column “2017-2022 Contributions” lists total contributions and grants reported by the organization on its Form 990 tax returns.
| Voice | 2017-2022 Contributions | Walton | Walton % | Barr | Barr % |
| Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education | $3,614,932 | $1,250,000 | 34% | $1,090,000 | 30% |
| Educators for Excellence | $66,642,878 | $5,245,000 | 8% | $1,125,000 | 2% |
| DFER (Education Reform Now Inc) | $54,954,632 | $13,456,775 | 24% | $425,000 | 1% |
| Boston Schools Fund | $15,111,587 | $0 | 0% | $1,300,000 | 9% |
| The Teachers Lounge | $706,330 | $0 | 0% | $210,000 | 30% |
| National Parents Union | $5,613,385 | $1,950,000 | 35% | $0 | 0% |
MBAE is just below two-thirds funding from Walton and Barr combined. Educators for Excellence nationally is eight percent Walton and don’t forget the entire $1,125,000 from Barr is most likely focused in Massachusetts. DFER/ERN nationally is just under a quarter Walton money, and Barr $425,000 in-state. Boston Schools Fund is Barr at nine percent funding. The Teachers Lounge is new, with significant support from Barr. National Parents Union is a Walton start-up that has gained huge amounts of funding from oligarchic foundations that push privatization including Gates, Arnold, the City Fund, Broad, etc. but still Walton probably has the biggest stake at thirty-five percent.
WalMart heirs Jim and Alice Walton gave a combined $2,585,000 to the privatization effort of 2016’s charter school ballot campaign. The Barr Foundation’s benefactor Amos Hostetter donated $2,000,000 in dark money to the same campaign, thus hiding his participation from voters who had every right to know who was behind the ballot proposal.
Barr also helps to underwrite the Globe’s education coverage as I wrote in 2019 in The Boston Globe-Barr Foundation Marriage and the Rise of Philanthro-Interest Group Journalism. According to Barr’s form 990 tax returns it has donated $300,000 in 2019, $300,000 in 2020, and $400,000 in 2021, the last available 990. In January 2023 the Globe announced a $750,000 grant from Barr for coverage of Boston’s racial wealth gap. In announcing both the education and racial wealth grants the Globe stated that it maintained editorial independence. There’s no reason to doubt that. Philanthro-interests like Barr or Walton often invest in operations they see as already in harmony with their approach.
Money never sleeps. Follow the money.
“Why wait for popular opinion to catch up when you could portray as ‘reform’ what was really slow-motion demolition through privatization?” – Professor Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Plan for America.
[Full disclosure: as a (now retired) educator in the UMass system, I am a union member. I write about dark money, democracy, and oligarchy. My book, Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization, is in print.]