In response to my post on the Broad Foundation spending millions to force the Los Angeles Unified School District into converting at least 50% of public schools in the district into charter schools, a Seattle teacher posted the following.
All of the information cited can be found online at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Awarded Grants page.
Can you imagine how our public schools could benefit from such a largesse?
From my Facebook page:
Sounds suspiciously like the Gates Foundation spending at least $52,000,000 trying to force charters down our state’s throat in the last three years. I recently looked at Gates grants, and these are the ones directly tied to WA (certainly there is other Gates funding directed at WA, but buried in other grants to national orgs, etc.) Just as in LA, this money goes to building charter infratructure and influencing the legislature and the public.
Summit Schools – to provide support to Summit Schools, CREATE [caps mine] Summit Washington and LAUNCH two charter 9-12s and one charter 6-12 – $8,000,000
Pacific Charter School Development, Inc – to support facility needs of WA charters – $4,000,000
Washington State Charter Assoc.- to support charters in WA – $6,350,000 (2014)
WSCSA – to build capacity for charters $4,200,000 (2013)
Puget Sound Educational Service District – consult on SpEd in charters – $250,000
PSESD – to support the development and implementation of and to provide back office support and operations support services for WA charters – $200,000
Craft3, Ilwaco WA (?!) – to support charter school facility development for low income children – $2,000,000
Washington Charter School Development, Inc, Seattle – to support the facility needs of charters in WA – $19,813,088
Spokane School District – build capacity to serve charters – $525,000
UW Foundation – to provide support for district/charter compacts – $1,900,000
Seneca Family of Agencies WA – to provide SpEd services to charters – $750,000
Seneca Family of Agencies WA – to develop integrated systems of support for at-risk students in WA charter schools – $200,000
Charter Board Partners – support expansion of their work in WA – $750,000
Charter Board Partners – to expand into WA – $500,000
League of Education Voters – to support the formation of an independent [cough] WA charter school organization (2013) – $800,000
LEV – To support a public awareness campaign and create support for WA charters (2011) – $1,800,000
UW Center for Reinventing Public Education – to provide oversight of district/charter collaboration compacts (2011) $600,000
FROM WALTON:
Washington State Charter Assoc. 2014 – $850,000
League of Education Voters 2013 – $250,000
UW Center for Reinventing Public Education 2012 – $750,000
Seattle Education 
BILL GATES SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF. IT WOULD REALLY BE MUCH BETTER IF HE WOULD JUST SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION WITH HIS RESOURCES. BY THIS I DO NOT MEAN STEM SCHOOLS, OR SCHOOLS WITHIN SCHOOLS. I MEAN HELPING TO RESTORE THE ARTS TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVELS, REDUCING PUPIL TEACHER RATIOS, AND PAYING TEACHERS A LIVING WAGE. SO FAR, HIS BILLIONS HAVE SIMPLY GONE “OUT THE WINDOW” OF SCHOOLS WITHIN SCHOOLS AT HIGH SCHOOL LEVELS. THIS APPROACH FAILED QUITE MISERABLY IN THE 1970S. IF HE HAD TAKEN THE TROUBLE TO DISCOVER THE HISTORY OF THIS APPROACH, HE COULD HAVE SAVED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. UNFORTUNATELY, THOSE OF US WHO KNOW SUCH HISTORIES HAVENO WAY TO INPUT TO THE GATES FOUNDATIONS MONOLITHIC AND CLOSED STRUCTURE AND DECISION MAKING PROCESS.
THANK HEAVENS THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND AN ISSUE THAT CAN HELP MANY, MANY CHILDREN; SUPPORT FOR, AND EXPANSION OF, PRE-SCHOOL PROGRAMS FOR ALL CHILDREN. THIS COULD MAKE A REAL AND LASTING DIFFERENCE.
BUT, PLEASE, PLEASE MR. GATES, GET OFF OF THE CHARTER SCHOOL BANDWAGON. THE HARM THIS MOVEMENT CAN DO TO OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM, AND TO OUR NATIONAL FABRIC AND ETHOS, IS ENORMOUS. OLIGARCHIES ARE BAD ENOUGH. FASCIST SOCIETIES ARE OF COURSE WORSE. CHARTER SCHOOLS PUSH OUR SOCIETY IN BOTH OF THESE HORRIFIC DIRECTIONS.
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/education/2015/dec/18/charter-organization-forms-pac/
Dora,
This blog post comes at a perfect time. The Washington State Supreme Court has determined I 1240 unconstitutional.
There will be an attempt to find a charter school “fix’ through legislative action. The League of Education Voters organization has received millions of dollars from Gates to expand charter schools in Washington. The League of Education Voters has begun a campaign called “Fix the Glitch”. We’re looking at more than a “glitch”, we’re looking at, IMO, multiple constitutional issues.
We now see a new PAC which, as expected is targeting Republicans, but also Democrats. I’m disappointed to see the names of Democratic representatives such as Christine Rolfes, Kris Llyton , Judy Clibborn and Mark Mullet on this list. Washington State Democrats oppose privatization of public education. What types of deals are being made?