Walton Family Foundation Eclipses $300 Million In Charter School Investments

The Walton Family Foundation said it has surpassed $300 million in investments in charter schools in the U.S.

The Bentonville-based non-profit said it has helped create 1,437 charter schools since 1997 when it began making contributions to the education endeavor. In 2012, the foundation said it spent $29 million to support 111 new schools.

“High-performing public charter schools are growing rapidly to meet the demands of families across the United States,” said Ed Kirby, deputy director of the foundation’s K-12 Education Reform Focus Area.

“The charter school movement is a dramatic example of how we can redefine American public education as a choice-based system in which parents are directly empowered to choose from a growing field of new, high-quality school options. Much like publicly funded vouchers, digital learning options and traditional school system choice programs, charter schools are helping set the standard for choice-based education reform,” Kirby said.

The foundation invests directly in both the Charter School Growth Fund and KIPP to help their affiliated charter management organizations replicate schools.

In 2012, the investment site with the largest amount of startup funding was Chicago, where 13 new schools received more than $3.8 million from the Walton Foundation to open in the coming years. Historically, charter schools have garnered the most foundation support in Los Angeles, as 135 schools have received nearly $31 million to serve families in the region.