Walton Family Foundation Invests $159 Million in K-12 Education Reform in 2011

The Walton Family Foundation continues to do incredible work funding critical education reform efforts all over the country.  It just announced its 2011 annual report: the web site is: http://waltonfamilyfoundation.org/mediacenter/walton-family-foundation-invests-$159-million-in-k12-education-reform-in-2011 and the press release is here: http://wff.cotcdn.rockfishhosting.com/documents/065f36d2-ab19-4e81-af9d-ebb6982b0728.pdf

Walton Family Foundation Invests $159 Million
in K-12 Education Reform in 2011

The foundation invested more than $159 million in education reform initiatives in 2011, marking the largest single-year investment in education reform initiatives. Grants were made to organizations and programs that empower parents, particularly in low-income communities, to choose among quality, publicly funded schools for their children. The foundation invests to expand the right of all parents to have access to quality schools, regardless of type, with the goal of ultimately increasing student achievement.

·         View the news release or see the full list of 2011 K-12 Education Reform grantees.

Key Investments

In 2011, the foundation announced large, multi-year strategic investments in each of its three education reform initiatives:

Shaping Public Policy
California Charter Schools Association - $15 million
The foundation's investment is expected to allow 100,000 additional children the ability to attend a high-quality public charter school over the next three years. Learn More »

Creating Quality Schools
KIPP Foundation - $25.5 million
The foundation's investment will double the number of students who attend KIPP schools over the next five years. Learn More »

Improving Existing Schools
Teach For America - $49.5 million
The foundation's investment will allow Teach For America to double the size of its teaching corps over the next three years. Learn More »

All three initiatives are designed to work together and support one another. Shaping public policy serves to accelerate the creation of new good schools. Students and families in the new schools then help to shape public policy. And, similarly, reformers learn from the practices in these new, quality schools and can apply those findings to existing schools.

 

"When all parents have the ability to choose quality schools for their children, a competitive dynamic emerges that can inspire the broader school system to improve, helping transform public education in our nation."
– Buddy D. Philpot, Executive Director,
Walton Family Foundation

 

About The Walton Family Foundation and K-12 Education Reform

Driven by the urgent need to dramatically raise student achievement, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, the Walton Family Foundation has invested more than $1 billion to date in initiatives that expand parental choice and equal opportunity in education. Empowering parents to choose quality schools, regardless of type - traditional public, private or public charter school - will help spur the bold transformation of our national K-12 system of public education. Our nation's children will only reach their potential in today's global economy by having access to a high-quality, publicly funded education.