Max Brantley, a fearless blogger in Arkansas (and former editor of the Arkansas Times), wrote an analysis of the Arkansas State Board of Education’s decision to takeover the Little Rock School Board. “The Billionaires Boys Club and its allies at the chamber of commerce won a hard-won and well-orchestrated battle,” he wrote.
Look who is on the state board:
The votes for takeover included Diane Zook, wife of Randy Zook, head of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and aunt of Gary Newton, who heads several organizations financed by the Walton Family Foundation and advocates establishment of charter schools. Others included Vicki Saviers of Little Rock, who’s served on the board of the pro-charter-school Arkansans for Education Reform, a lobby financed by the Waltons and other wealthy Arkansans. She also helped found the eStem charter school in Little Rock, another beneficiary of Walton money. Another takeover vote was Kim Davis of Fayetteville, director of external relations for the Northwest Arkansas Council, a private development group whose key backers are the Walton Family Foundation, Sam’s Club and Tyson Foods. The other vote for takeover, besides Ledbetter, was Toyce Newton of Crossett, who heads Phoenix Youth and Family Services. She has served on the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, which has been partnering with the Walton Family Foundation on an education improvement project. Saviers is on the Rockefeller Foundation board as well. The Rockefeller Foundation is a financial contributor to Newton’s nonprofit.
You know what will happen next, right? You remember that Carrie Walton Penner told Forbes that her vision for “fixing” education in America was charter schools, vouchers, and a free market in schooling.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Max Brantley, as a defender of right against wrong, is a credit to his profession. Speaking out against injustice, is a noble calling.
The Waltons have no nobility of character. They are users.
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Yikes! Philanthropy gone awry. Sad.
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Good to see that your “billionaire’s boys club” has taken root, but there are also females Among the super- rich who are looking at the prospect of privatizing more than schools…all “government funded” social services and infrastructure. The Rockefeller Foundation as well as the Obama administration is promoting this overarching policy. One of the means, known as social impact bonds, or pay for success contracts, is likely in play with the social service agency mentioned in this article.
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Walton money strikes again! I am only surprised public ed in Arkansas hasn’t been gobbled up by that greedy clan a long time ago.
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OY! Remember this is THE state that implemented standards and testing when Clinton was governor of Arkansas. Hillary oversaw this program. And then when the Billaries got elected, states were forced to write state standards and then tests. I REFUSED to participate in such SCAMS.
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I am a teacher in the LRSD. I taught at one of the distressed schools for four years (McClellan High School). Jim Ross is right on all accounts. Look at the plan Suggs is suggesting in the Democrat Gazette today… Why are we losing the only voice for our students?
If I’m not mistaken, Toyce Newton also worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at some point (according to her Facebook page). The students are organizing across the district and demanding that the ADE Board allow their voices to be heard. There will be more information forthcoming. The students of our district were given hope the by ADE Board only to have it taken away, and they are devastated that they no longer have a democratically elected board that fights for them. If anyone has questions or suggestions as to how facilitate this process, please contact me, and I will pass your information to the student leaders organizing the movement. My e-mail address is erica.ivy@icloud.com.
Teachers across the district must stand behind these students. If we do not stand behind them, we stand for nothing.
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see the newest. Timing is ironic, to be sure…
http://m.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/01/30/walton-foundation-sets-meeting-in-little-rock-schools
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When did we all agree to let the billionaire boys club decide how public good should be defined and delivered? Did I miss the demise of the republic of the United States of America? Do we now let the oligarchs run a puppet government that mocks democracy?
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At a time in which teachers were directed by the state to implement Common Core and will soon administer PARCC for the first time, it has been painful to see first-hand duly elected School Board members be dismissed for modeling exactly what we demand of our students – ask questions, demand complete and thoughtful answers backed by facts. As President of Little Rock Education Association, I keep harkening back to all the Walton led reform we have successfully pushed back during the past twenty years, including those from the so-called U of A Walton financed School of Education Reform. We successfully stopped their push for Merit Pay several times, as well as demonstrated that it did not make a difference when another “reformer” attempted it at a few ” failing” schools for several years. When making cuts, the School Board was provided data that there was no evidence of improved student achievement and it was gone.
We’ve worked with community members and groups to elect fair, inquisitive, demanding School Board members, while they have worked with the Chamber of Commerce to ensure the votes were on the State board when they were unable to get local control. Fifty-seven years ago, narrowed minded people attempted to destroy our schools but people of good-will banned together for the greater good. LREA members stand united with our students, parents, and community as we forge ahead during this troubling time.
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