This is a shocking story, by Max Brantley, one of the leading journalists in Arkansas and an outspoken critic of the Waltons, who use their billions to dominate the state and the University of Arkansas.
Get this: the State Board of Education just renewed a charter school that has failed to meet standards for nine years in a row. But the state board refuses to relinquish its takeover of the Little Rock School District, which lost control because only six of its 48 schools were not meeting standards.
You have to read the whole thing to see the powerful tentacles of the Walton Family at work.
“Faced with a solid recommendation by a panel of state employees to revoke the charter of Covenant Keepers charter school in Southwest Little Rock, the state Board of Education voted again last week to forgive the school’s poor academic and financial record.
“Again, the state Board of Education accepted excuses it won’t tolerate from the Little Rock School District.
“The board took over the Little Rock School District two years ago and won’t let go, though 45 of its 48 schools exceed the performance of Covenant Keepers and the others are easily in its league academically.
“Covenant Keepers, 9 years old this August, has NEVER met proficiency standards. The grade 6-8 school showed about 28 percent of its students meeting the standard in reading and 20 percent in math in the most recent tests. It’s also been in a persistent financial mess.
“The school had a huge negative fund balance, in part because it was in arrears to the state for taking money in excess of its 160-student enrollment. (You wouldn’t think counting to 160 is high-order math.) Proper tax forms weren’t in evidence for employees and contractors. It failed to provide requested documentation for credit card charges, including out-of-state trips. Its director, Valerie Tatum, is paid a whopping $135,000, or better than $800 per student to run a 160-student school. No comparable school leader in Arkansas comes close.
“What’s the rub? Covenant Keepers has powerful friends. The Walton Family Foundation provided cash infusion to fix its red-ink-bathed books. The money was passed through an opaque, unaccountable charter management corporation. Jess Askew, a tall-tower Little Rock lawyer who lawyers for Walton-supported school “choice” initiatives, pled the case for Covenant Keepers. The head of the Office of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas — a charter school-promoting operation that owes its existence and pay subsidies to the Waltons — testified that Covenant Keepers was, well, doing a bit better and used the Little Rock School District as a whipping boy. She said Covenant Keepers in the most recent year of testing did as well as some nearby Little Rock district schools. Valerie Tatum said she’s getting valuable support from the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, another charter school advocate underwritten by, yes, the Walton Family Foundation.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The money was passed through an opaque, unaccountable charter management corporation.”
That’s what people have to start looking at- the contracts that come after the charter.
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Betsy DeVos is the “featured speaker” at the national charter schools conference.
When DeVos speaks to public school audiences she spends the entire time promoting charter and private schools.
Let’s see if she promotes public schools at the charter school conference. We all know that won’t happen.
How great is it that we have entire federal agency division devoted to promoting and expanding 10% of schools? One would think they could cut the staff since they aren’t serving 90% of children- the 90% who happen to attend the unfashionable and much-maligned “public school sector”.
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I started listening to NPR again recently, and was disappointed to hear the Walton Family shilling this nonsense on that network.
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When DeVos speaks at the charter schools conference will she focus on citing examples of charter school students who failed?
That’s what she does when she speaks of public schools- all we hear are horror stories about public schools contrasted with heart-warming tales of students who attended charters or private schools. I live in Ohio- there are plenty of “failing” charter schools. Why doesn’t DeVos ever mention that?
I don’t mind that she’s an advocate for students who attend charter and private schools. I mind that she pretends she’s also an advocate for children who attend public schools.
No, she’s not. Public school students are barely mentioned and if they are mentioned it’s only to use them as unfavorable comparisons to promote the schools she prefers. This is blatantly biased and she shouldn’t be on a government payroll when she’s lobbying FOR certain schools and AGAINST other schools. The voucher and charter lobby can pay for this- the public shouldn’t have to.
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DeVos will be the keynote speaker at the ALEC annual conference in Denver. As soon as I learn the date, I will post about it.
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Once the profiteers take hold, and local citizens have lost their local control rights, they will have a hard time getting their democratic public schools back. Local communities need to understand that when corporations move in, they are unwilling to move out, even when they fail. They will pay representatives to keep the money flowing into corporate pockets. Local tax dollars and self determination leave their local community to pay for inflated top level salaries for a few, but the actual people that teach are paid less and are often a lot less experienced and qualified than the public school teachers. How is this better for students?
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Do you think the Walton Family owns the State Board of Education? Seems to me highly probable.
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No, but there are very clear ties to the appointed Commissioner of education, johnnt Key (who does not hold the required education or experience and for whom a new law was passed to allow him to hold the position) and the governor, AND multiple members of the legislature.
Arvest (where all Walmart employees must have their pay checks deposited – at least in AR), Murphey Oil, Sams Club, Walmart — plus other family members in the Walton line – one need not look far to follow the money.
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This is easy. They do not want the black/struggling Covenant Keepers students at the nearby new white charter school, estem, (on UALR’s campus), or at the new white middle school in West Little Rock. It’s astonishing how racist and classist people are here.
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