ADVISORY: Students, Teachers March From Closing Chicago School to Walmart Site

May 13, 2013 By

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR

Tuesday, May 14th 2013

CONTACT

Nick Sifuentes, 310-866-1692, nick@berlinrosen.com

 

Students, Teachers, Education Advocates March From Closing School to Walmart Site

Marchers to Call Out Walton Family for Undermining Chicago Public School System

Majority of Chicago School Closures In Communities of Color, Low-Income Neighborhoods

Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, May 14th, over a hundred students, teachers, community leaders, education advocates and their supporters will march from Overton Elementary School (221 E. 49th St.) to a nearby construction site for a new Walmart store at 4701 S. Cottage Grove Ave. to protest the Walton family’s efforts to undermine Chicago’s public schools.

Marchers will gather at Overton Elementary School and proceed to the Walmart construction site, where they will hold a rally led by the Chicago Teachers’ Union. There, they will call on the Walton family to stop funding efforts to close Chicago’s public schools.

The Walton family, the richest family in America and heirs to the Walmart fortune, have given millions of dollars to initiatives which strip money from public schools, including nearly half a million dollars in support of Chicago Public Schools’ proposed school closures. Meanwhile, in 2012, the family spent $3.8 million—more money than they spent in any other city—opening new charter schools. The vast majority of the schools closing in Chicago serve low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, leaving many of these areas without local schools.

Walmart has eight stores in Chicago and two more under construction. Walmart workers earn low wages and benefits and often lack access to affordable, quality healthcare. Meanwhile, warehouse workers who supply Walmart goods have called on Walmart to require its contractors to guarantee safe workplaces and fair treatment. In addition, the company is notorious for finding ways to finance its operations on the backs of taxpayers; to help build new stores in Chicago, Walmart is leaning on a tax scheme that diverts money to developers and away from schools and other critical services.

WHO: Students, teachers, community leaders, local residents and education advocates

WHAT: March from Overton Elementary School to Walmart construction site in Bronzeville

WHEN: Overton Elementary: 4:00pm, Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Walmart site: 4:30pm, Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

WHERE: Overton Elementary School, 221 E. 49th St., to a nearby construction site for a new Walmart store at 4701 S. Cottage Grove Ave.

UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

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Filed Under: Distorting Democracy, How Rich are the Waltons?, Undermining Public Education, Updates

How the Waltons could contribute to real improvements in kids’ educations

February 15, 2013 By

In Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, President Obama proposed making universal preschool available to all American children. Implementation of early childhood education programs doesn’t come without some upfront costs, of course, but research demonstrates that it’s a great investment that leads to positive long-term outcomes in children’s lives. In particular, it benefits poor children, helping narrow achievement gaps that often exist between them and their wealthier peers.

The Walton family is big into education reform—you’d think they’d be major supporters of broader access to preschool, particularly since it would especially help the children of Walmart’s low-wage associates, right? Nope. In 2006, Walmart director and Walton family member Greg Penner contributed $250,000 to an effort opposing a universal pre-kindergarten program in California. (It would take the average full-time Walmart worker 14 years to earn as much money as Penner dropped on this one race.) The program would have been funded through an additional income tax on the state’s very wealthiest people—individuals making individuals making more than $400,000 a year, and couples making in excess of $800,000.

Rather than support investments and improvements in education that are supported by evidence, the Waltons base their efforts in education reform around their strong ideological belief in undermining public education. So rather than sacrifice a tiny portion of their wealth to a public preschool program, they instead spend hundreds of millions of dollars funding pro-voucher and pro-charter organizations, politicians, political action committees, and ballot issues.

The Walton family became the richest family in the nation by creating a business built on ruthless cost-cutting and low-wage, low-benefit jobs—the kinds of jobs that keep families and children in poverty. If the Waltons are really, truly serious about improving childrens’ educations and lives, they should set aside their privatization ideology, support early childhood education, and use their influence at Walmart to turn millions of Walmart jobs into good jobs with a living wage and benefits.

Filed Under: Undermining Public Education, Updates

Does Jim Walton think public schools are a Communist plot?

November 2, 2012 By

We recently wrote about a $500 campaign donation that Jim Walton—youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, member of Walmart’s Board of Directors, and Chairman and CEO of the Walton-owned Arvest Bank—sent to Arkansas State Rep. Loy Mauch, and called for Walton to withdraw his donation and publicly reject Mauch’s extremist neo-Confederate views.

The Arkansas Times reported last week that, according to a Walton family consultant, Jim Walton wrote Mauch on October 22, asked for hiWhich of Loy Mauch's extreme views on education attracted Jim Walton's support?s contribution to be returned, and received his money back. “The contribution was made because of your support for education reform in Arkansas,” Walton’s letter reads. “Since making the contribution, however, I have learned about some of your views on other issues[,] with which I disagree.”

Let’s set aside for a moment that Jim Walton (well, or his consultants) must not have done much background research if they were unaware of Mauch’s repugnant opinions about slavery and the Confederacy, which were covered in a November 2010 Arkansas Times profile of Mauch and which he outlined in about 50 letters to the editor to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette between 2000 and 2010. (Summary: slavery must not have been such a terrible thing since the Bible doesn’t specifically say it was terrible,[1] Abraham Lincoln was a terrorist[2] and a war criminal,[3] and secession “is the only cure for this country’s destructive addiction to socialism.”[4])

The fact is that Mauch’s espoused opinions on education are pretty extreme as well. Here’s a sampling:

  • “Public education was forced upon the South during Reconstruction to complete the aim of the radical socialists, which was to destroy Southern conservatism.”[5]
  • “Public education is one of the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto.”[6]
  • Desegregation of American schools “was never about education, but rather the post-American, despotic federal government coercing its will by using the military to execute the whims of a tyrannical judiciary.”[7]

So are these the views on education that Jim Walton meant to support with his campaign contribution to Mauch? He and his family are major funders of efforts to undermine public schools, of course, but these views seem beyond the pale even for corporate-style education reformers.  Jim Walton’s support of Mauch specifically for his “education reform” positions might give us more of a window into the Waltons education agenda than Jim would have liked.

[1] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 15, 2003.

[2] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 13, 2001.

[3] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 14, 2005.

[4] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 18, 2009

[5] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 4, 2006.

[6] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 16, 2006.

[7] Letter to the Editor by Loy Mauch, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 14, 2007.

Filed Under: Distorting Democracy, Undermining Public Education, Updates

Chicago teachers strike against corporate education interests and for better schools for kids. Guess which side the Waltons are on?

September 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
CTU march in Chicago

CTU solidarity march, 9/10/2012 (photo from Chicago Jobs with Justice)

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union are on strike, in a “fight for the soul of public education,” according to a CTU organizer. On one side in this fight are teachers who are advocating not only for themselves but for their students too, calling for smaller class sizes, expanded student support services, and a broad curriculum that includes art and music classes. On the other side are right-wing, anti-teacher education reformers like the Walton family, who, as we’ve seen, have a keen interest in undermining America’s public schools and are one of the largest funders of the right-wing education reform movement nationwide.

Indeed, the Walton Family Foundation has given more than $1 billion to corporate-style education reform initiatives, including millions[1] to the pro-voucher, pro-privatization Alliance for School Choice, where Walmart heir Carrie Penner is also a member of the Board of Directors. In Chicago, in 2011 alone, the family spent more than $3 million funding organizations like Stand for Children, which pushed through state legislation that weakens teachers’ job protections and tried to make it harder for Chicago’s teachers to take a stand for themselves and their students by going on strike.

It’s no surprise that the Waltons are involved in a brand of education reform that is so fiercely anti-teacher—they and their family company are notorious union-busters, and we consider their education efforts a continuation of Walmart’s anti-worker policies. (The family’s foundation has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the anti-union National Right to Work Foundation in the guise of “shaping public policy” in education.[2]) Teachers and their allies understand what the favored policies of the Waltons and their friends in Chicago are about, though, and know what’s at stake: As the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday, many view the corporate reform efforts in their city “as a brazen attempt to shift public resources into private hands, to break the power of teachers unions, and to reduce the teaching profession to test preparation.” That’s not the teachers’ vision for Chicago’s public schools and that’s why they are courageously fighting back.


[1] Nearly $5 million total in just 2009, 2010, and 2011.

[2] More than $300,000 total in just 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Filed Under: Undermining Public Education, Updates

Walmartization of Washington Schools?

July 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Alice Walton becomes 2nd biggest donor to charter school initiative

Yesterday, the Washington Secretary of State’s office certified Initiative 1240 for the state’s November ballot. I-1240 would essentially permit charter schools in Washington, which currently doesn’t accommodate them.  The signature filing deadline was July 6; five days later, Alice Walton—who lives in Texas, not the Pacific Northwest—gave $600,000 to the pro-charter school committee.

If passed, newly created charter schools would be exempt from some of the rules and regulations governing the state’s public schools, while operating within the same budget. In the words of the Washington Education Association, “I-1240 siphons taxpayer funding from existing public school classrooms into a new system of unaccountable, privately managed charter schools.”

This is not the first time an initiative like this has come up in Washington State, and it’s not the first time a Walton has backed it. According to the Secretary of State’s blog, “The concept was narrowly defeated in 2000 and lost by larger majorities in 1996 and 2004.” In 2004, John Walton, Alice’s late brother, contributed over $1 million toward the initiative. Like his sister, John Walton was not a Washington State resident, yet he was the biggest contributor toward the referendum that cycle. So far this year, Alice Walton is the second biggest donor to the charter school initiative, only to be outdone by Bill Gates, who narrowly came in second to John Walton eight years ago. Alice Walton has contributed 18% of the funds raised so far.

In short, the Waltons have a history of spending big to advance their agenda, even in states they have no ties to.

As the Seattle Times points out, the Waltons are influencing education policy in Washington State from more than one angle. If voters pass I-1240, “They agree that Washington charter schools must follow practices developed by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and the Robertson Foundation – some of the very people bankrolling the initiative.” In fact, the political arm of a Walton Family Foundation grantee, Education Reform Now, has also contributed to the initiative campaign.

While Alice Walton and John Walton have spent to support charter schools, their nephew Greg Penner fought against one education initiative that would have raised his taxes. In 2006, Penner contributed $250,000 to a campaign against proposed Proposition 82 in California. The proposition, sponsored by actor and director Rob Reiner, sought to establish a universal preschool system in California for four-year-olds by placing an additional income tax on individuals making more than $400,000 a year, and couples making in excess of $800,000.[1]

Walmart helping to undermine tax base

While the Waltons like to talk about their support of education, Walmart is taking steps at multiple levels to reduce their tax bill and thereby reduce funding to schools. Good Jobs First has documented that Walmart has received more than $1.2 billion in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country.   In Grandview, Washington, Walmart received a $1 million subsidy to open a distribution center in 2004.

A 2011 report found that Walmart aggressively seeks to avoid paying taxes.

For every kind of tax that a retail company would normally pay or remit to support public services, Walmart has engineered an aggressive scheme to pay less and keep more.

The report concludes:

When Walmart avoids paying its fair share of state and local taxes, only two things can happen: either working families and small businesses pay higher taxes or the quality of schools and other public services goes down, or some of both.

Finally, Walmart also strains public budgets in Washington (and many other states) by being the largest employer of workers who use taxpayer-subsidized health coverage.[2]

Millions spent distorting democracy

The Waltons, whose wealth is equivalent to that of the bottom 42% of Americans and mostly comes from Walmart, have spent over $7 million in state-level politics since the 1990 election cycle, according to data compiled from the National Institute on Money in State Politics. About half was spent on ballot initiatives; 44% was spent on Republican politicians and committees; and 4% went to Democrats. At the federal level, the Waltons have spent nearly $5.1 million over the same time period. About 80% of that went to Republican candidates and committees, including nearly $550,000 to newly emerging super PACsassociated with contenders for the Republican Presidential nomination.

[1] Furillo, Andy, “Election law quirk spurs protests; Preschool initiative backers want to know where foes got funds.” Sacramento Bee. 3 May 2006.

[2] Sean Cockerham, “A Ranking Wal-Mart Could Live Without.” Tacoma News Tribune. 1 Dec 2006.

Filed Under: Distorting Democracy, Undermining Public Education, Updates Tagged With: , ,

Money from the Walmart 1 Percent may have cost California politician

June 28, 2012 By

Even as more Los Angeles politicians are pledging to refuse contributions from Walmart, one candidate with Walton family support placed third in the closely-watched June 6th primary for Assembly District 46 in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.

Charter school champion Brian Johnson lost the race despite massive independent expenditures on his behalf by political action committees, including two that are closely tied to Carrie Walton Penner and her husband Greg Penner. Ms. Penner is the daughter of Walmart Chairman Rob Walton and Mr. Penner is a member of the Walmart Board of Directors.

Nazarian Flier

PAC spending was widely expected to carry Johnson into the general election. But in the end it may have hurt more than it helped.

Johnson was put on the defensive by winning candidate Adrin Nazarian’s charge that “right-wing anti-teacher organizations funded by the owners of the Walmart Corporation are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect Brian Johnson to the Assembly.”

Johnson’s campaign issued a response  which implied that Nazarian’s claim was unfounded, but campaign finance records suggest otherwise.

In the first place, Carrie Walton Penner contributed $7,800 directly to Johnson’s campaign, according to reports filed with the California Secretary of State. But this is not the whole story because Johnson’s campaign spent just $367,000, while independent committees backing him reportedly poured another $1.5 million into the race.

There is good reason to believe the Penners contributed to Johnson via these independent committees. In April, Carrie Penner contributed $128,500 to the Edvoice Independent Expenditure Committee, an organization to which she has given more than $600,000 since 2010. During the campaign, Edvoice made more than $166,900 in independent expenditures on Johnson’s behalf.

Another political committee that backed Johnson was Govern for California, established last year by Greg Penner and two associates — multi-millionaire retired banker and former Swarzenegger adviser David Crane and billionaire high-tech investor Ron Conway. Govern for California pumped more than $191,000 into efforts on Johnson’s behalf, according to our analysis of campaign finance reports.

The one-percenters who backed Johnson share a commitment to a narrow vision of education reform and a deep dislike for teachers unions. As Reuters explains, their agenda includes:

Expanding charter schools, which are publicly funded but typically run by private firms; evaluating teachers in large part by their students’ scores on standardized tests; and abolishing the seniority rules that protect veteran teachers from layoffs.

The Penners have played a leading role in the Walton family’s efforts to undermine public education and blame teachers for the problems facing public schools.

Beyond the issue of education, Govern for California’s founders have made it clear that they view public sector workers as “narrow special interests” whose pay and pensions should be cut to solve California’s fiscal crisis (see also here, here, and here).

Johnson was the first candidate publicly supported by Penner’s Govern for California organization. Despite the organization’s PR-efforts, it is clearly a defeat for them that he failed to advance to the general election.

As people around the nation and around the globe increasingly recognize how Walmart hurts our economy and the Walmart 1 Percent distort our democracy, taking money from Walmart or the Walton family may carry an increasing downside for politicians concerned with winning elections.

Filed Under: Distorting Democracy, Undermining Public Education, Updates Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How is the Walmart 1% Undermining Public Education?

March 30, 2012 By

To read a summary, click here.

Filed Under: Undermining Public Education

What do the Waltons’ education schemes really mean for kids?

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bad news for the Waltons: The Walton Family Foundation’s favorite approach to education reform, “school choice,” seems not to be working out too well—at least if you’re looking for actual academic improvement and not just a corporate-style restructuring of America’s public schools.

As journalist David Sirota reported last week, recent studies indicate that charters are performing worse than the traditional public schools that the Waltons are trying to weaken. One study found that just 17 percent of charters reported significantly better results than traditional public schools, while 37 percent reported significantly worse results.

Interestingly, that particular study was conducted by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO)—a pro-charter and pro-school voucher think tank affiliated with the university’s conservative Hoover Institution—and funded in part by the Walton Family Foundation. Even a study funded by the Waltons concludes that the family’s education agenda is falling short.

Are the Waltons really interested in creating schools that work for kids? Or, as Sirota argues, does the Walton family “embrace [charter schools] for their ability to crush teachers unions”?

Filed Under: Undermining Public Education, Updates

Walton Family Foundation grantee backs anti-gay state legislator

March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We’ve argued previously that the Walton Family Foundation’s (WFF) education agenda is about systematically undermining our nation’s public education system.  But, the more research we do, the more we understand that this funding is also tied to other right-wing issues and agendas.

A prime example is the WFF’s $1 million funding in 2011 for StudentsFirst, an organization promoting corporate-style education reform.  In addition to their anti-public school agenda, StudentsFirst spent more than $70,000 to try to prevent the recall of Michigan state Rep. Paul Scott (R – Grand Blanc), a right-wing politician who is an ideological ally of the organization.

Scott also happens to be an ardent opponent of gay rights. In 2008, he criticized an opponent for accepting money from gay rights groups, which he called “far left and radical homosexual groups,” and in 2010, when he unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State, he announced that preventing transgender people from changing the sex listed on their driver’s licenses would be one of his top priorities. That’s right: This was one of Scott’s main priorities, despite the fact that Michigan had an unemployment rate over 14 percent.

Scott was also a consistent ally of Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder and his budget proposals.   Snyder’s final budget included a $300 million aid reduction to schools statewide.

ThinkProgress commented:

It seems odd that an organization that says its goal is to “build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world” would spend so much money to defend a right-wing Republican who loyally helped his right-wing Republican governor take an axe to the statewide school budget.

StudentsFirst was founded by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.   Rhee announced the formation of the organization during an appearance on Oprah in December 2010 less than two months after she left DC.   Kathleen deLaski, StudentsFirst’s Senior Strategy Advisor, is a former Walton Family Foundation staffer.

We encourage readers of the Walmart 1 Percent to do your own research and help spread the word about the agendas of the Waltons and other members of the 1 Percent.

Filed Under: Distorting Democracy, Misplaced Priorities, Undermining Public Education, Updates
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