High Ratings for The Waltons

No, not Mama, Daddy, John-Boy, Mary-Ellen and the rest of the brood. We're talking Helen, Alice, Jim, John and Rob-- heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. USA Today reports:

Wal-Mart's founders transformed U.S. business. Now they are taking on a very different subject: the nation's public schools. The Waltons -- the USA's richest family -- have quietly become top philanthropists in education reform, including controversial charter-school and school-voucher causes.

. . . [T]he Waltons' giving could soar to as much as $1 billion a year as they shift more riches to charity. How much more? John Walton, one of founder Sam Walton's four children, says the family expects to donate as much as 20% of its $100 billion in Wal-Mart stock.

The shift could spur far-reaching education reform, say experts on philanthropy and education. "That could totally transform public education in this country. It's a mighty thumb on the scale," says Chuck Collins, co-founder of Responsible Wealth, a group critical of the influence of the megarich.

. . . Allies say the family's giving is injecting competition between public and private schools that will produce better-educated children, and so reduce unemployment, crime and other social ills. . . .

The education oligarchy's apparatchiks are in agony over this of course:

Critics say the Waltons could . . . weaken public schools by encouraging the flow of tax dollars to less-regulated charter schools and to religious and other private schools through vouchers. The prospect of the Walton billions is "alarming," says Marc Egan, head of anti-voucher efforts at the National School Boards Association.

Critics, such as People for the American Way, say charter schools are sometimes weaker than public schools because they are less regulated in areas such as student testing and teacher certification.

. . . [John] Walton says critics of vouchers and other "school-choice" programs aren't paying enough attention to dropout rates among inner-city high school students.

"They're choosing the streets over a school that apparently doesn't work for them," Walton says. "If choice destroys the public system, then why are we so sanguine about the choices those kids make?"

To express your appreciation for his family's efforts to bring free-market competition to the scandal that is the public schools system, contact John T. Walton at this address:

John T. Walton, Director
c/oWal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

I used the opportunity to also put in a good word for charitable giving in support of home schooling, which growing evidence indicates is the best environment for educating happy and successful citizens.

Update: And here's a new article with some of that evidence.

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