Maurice Cunningham is a professor political science at the University of Massachusetts who has developed a unique talent for exposing the workings of Dark Money in education. The usual source of Dark Money is the multi-billionaire Walton Family, but they are not alone. In this post, he reviews the remarkable story told by the media in Rhode Island. A group of ordinary moms got together to demand charter schools. They set up a website and commissioned a poll done by President Biden’s pollster. Where did the money come from? The media forgot to ask that question. The media’s lack of curiosity about the funding behind this group of moms is curious.
On February 25, five “frustrated mothers” organized to raise money for their passion: charter schools.
What we see here is quite common, a front purporting to be parents but actually funded and acting for wealthy privatization interests. In Massachusetts, Massachusetts Parents United claims to have been founded in 2017 by three moms in a library. From 2017-2019 MPU and its allied 501(c)(4) took in over $3.3 million (actually more, for technical reasons I won’t get into) and about half of that came from the Walton Family Foundation. The organization’s “mom-in-chief” paid herself just short of $400,000 in 2018-19. In 2020 the same mom founded the National Parents Union, which is not national, not parents, and not a union. But it is a money pit. Its financial backers include the Waltons, Charles Koch, and a boatload of America’s wealthiest oligarchs.
And you’ll never guess! But advocacy through polling is a major component of National Parents Union’s marketing strategy.
The story Golocalprov fell for is one of scrappy moms facing off against hidebound unions. But the real story is corporate and oligarchic interests masquerading behind parents versus teachers and the very notion of the public good.
Let’s hope that Maurice Cunningham is able to stir the Rhode Island news media to dig deeper and find out whose money is shaping the attack on the public schools of Providence.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A great article…Golocal has become a sensational style website lately…they remind me of the Enquirer magazine one would see at the check out of a supermarket! Like you, I also hope that Maurice Cunningham is able to stir the Rhode Island news media to dig deeper.
Thank you Jo
On Mon, Mar 29, 2021 at 11:01 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: ” Maurice Cunningham is a professor political science > at the University of Massachusetts who has developed a unique talent for > exposing the workings of Dark Money in education. The usual source of Dark > Money is the multi-billionaire Walton Family, but they” >
The “tell” for ed reform echo chamber dominated group is pretty easy to discern.
Look for orgs that claim to be about “public education” but do NOTHING for any student or family who attend a public school.
It never fails. It’s the defining quality of all ed reform orgs- the complete absence of productive or positive work that benefits students who attend the unfashionable public schools they hope to eradicate.
The real shame is when public schools pay them for this stuff. That’s a double negative for public school students. Literally paying the people working to destroy their schools.
and that line could describe so much across the nation: Literally paying the people working to destroy their schools.
Chiara They also CALL themselves “public.” It’s all done in the corrupting code of double-speak. We all have to learn how to read it . . . including parents. CBK
Still waiting for an ed reform contribution to public school students in the pandemic.
So far all we’ve seen has been frantic lobbying to push still more charters and vouchers and a standardized testing mandate.
That’s what public school students get out of this “movement”? The same garbage tests they push every year? Thousands of well-compensated ed reformers and all they offer public school students and families is testing?
Maybe we should start looking elsewhere for consultants on our schools- not sure we’re getting anything out of paying these people. If we want more standardized tests we can just use the testing companies we’re already paying. We can shed the entire consultant class and plow that money back into the schools.
Are these so called “moms” who are pushing for more charter schools any different than the “Step Up for Students” posted on this blog earlier this morning? Still the same old graft. Different name. Different state. Same outcome. Same narrow focus on a very small number of students back by millions of dollars from the oligarchs living in the United States.
This cancer is spreading across the United States like a malignant tumor with the support of the governmental leadership at a levels and there seems to be no cure.
So many of these dark money funded “non-profits” abuse the laws related to non-profit status. These organizations are clearly politically operatives like ALEC, but the federal government continues to grant them non-profit status. We really need to get the money out of politics and get rid of the Citizens United boondoggle. Otherwise, we cannot have a truly functioning democracy.
retired Thank you for saying that.
We could “smell” ALEC and similar organizations in the recent way-too-quick state legislation about voter suppression that showed up just after the election. They are nothing if not organized and well-funded. CBK
Good article on how the Koch family are pushing voter suppression laws right along with vouchers:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-koch-backed-effort-to-block-the-largest-election-reform-bill-in-half-a-century
Strange bedfellows in ed reform circles, I must say.
One can read the National Parents Union website and social media:
National Parents Union
Mar 26
Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid have been dedicated to re-opening, but many schools haven’t determined how to assess learning gaps, let alone close them. Going back to class won’t mean anything if kids’ education will remain permanently disrupted.
They parrot the exact same public school bashing messages the rest of the ed reform echo chamber promote and market, which shouldn’t surprise anyone, since the board is packed with Obama Administration, Gates and Walton employees.
Lockstep. Reading one ed reformer is as good as reading another. You’ll recognize all the slogans- they’ve been the dominant public education policy for the last 20 years.
Public schools suck, we hate unions, private is better than public. Indistinguishable from what the Koch family themselves promote.
I want some of “their” money. I think I should start a group called “Grandparents supporting Quality Education of Children in the Greatest Reformed Charter Schools”
My starting pay will be $1,000,000 for the first month.
I’ll grant you that to you as my deputy once I get my $2.5 million guarantee. With benefits, of course. Travel, expenses (both waaaay above average), insurance, pension, and incidentals included, of course. I might grant you insurance if I feel charitable.
…grant that to you…
Lloyd You’re hired. CBK
Posted at OEN
https://dianeravitch.net/2021/03/29/maurice-cunningham-how-did-ordinary-moms-in-rhode-island-get-the-money-to-pay-for-a-poll-hint-dark-money/
It is truly remarkable how cheaply for which some will sell their souls and integrity (however little it might have been).