Walmart is funding Rahm's public hearings on closing Chicago schools: $500 million. [View all]

[HiPointDem]

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/31/walton-funds-school-closing-hearing-in-chicago/

District officials have said they don’t want to link the volatile issue of school closings with the equally volatile issue of charter school openings. But a major pro-charter foundation is providing financial backing for the current crop of school closing meetings taking place around the city this month.

The district is now engaged in a community engagement process intended to provide feedback to the district as it contemplates what schools to close. That process is being underwritten by the Walton Family Foundation (a foundation run by the founders of Wal-Mart). The Walton Foundation has fueled the expansion of charter schools across the country and, in January, announced that CPS was the largest recipient of charter school grants in the country.

http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/2013/01/30/20778/record-walton-foundation-funds-community-engagement#.UQntPuFaWEo.twitter


The scuttlebutt on the net says the hearings are 'managed' by dividing the audience into small groups & paying someone to take their statments. which go into the round file.