How Did the Gates Foundation Allocate $150 Million to Common Core?

by Henry W. Burke

Stop Common Core in Texas ~ Stop CSCOPEThe Washington Post published the following article on 5.12.13 by Valerie Strauss about the Gates Foundation Grants – “Gates Gives $150 Million in Grants for Common Core Standards”

Excerpts from this article:

For an initiative billed as being publicly driven, the Common Core States Initiative has benefited enormously from the generosity of the private philanthropy of Bill and Melinda Gates. How much? About $150 million worth.

Take a look at this list of grants, obtained from their foundation’s Web site. Note not only the amounts but the wide range of organizations receiving money. Universities. Unions. State education departments. Nonprofits. Think tanks. The grants were given for a range of reasons, including developing materials aligned to the standards and building support for the standards.

You can see how invested the Gates Foundation is in the success of the Common Core.  What kind of Core support do these grants buy from the organizations that receive them?

[The Washington Post article includes a detailed listing of the Gates Foundation grants directed to the Common Core.]

===================

In Donna Garner’s 5.13.13 article on this subject, she wisely stated:  As you read through these grants that Bill Gates gave to “Universities. Unions. State education departments. Nonprofits. Think tanks,” remember which corporation stands to gain the most financially if Common Core Standards (CCS) are implemented throughout the United States – Microsoft Corporation. 

In other words, a corporation that stands to gain billions from CCS is owned by the private philanthropist who has been driving education policy.  This is called “a direct conflict of interest” by a vendor who is working alongside the Obama administration to create education policy to federalize standards, curriculum, assessments, teacher evaluations, and a national database of intrusive personal information.

 The end result would be billions for Microsoft and the indoctrination of our nation’s school children into Obama’s social justice agenda.  

As someone who has followed the grim progression of Common Core Standards which is the Obama administration’s takeover of the public schools by the federal government, I thought it would be interesting to provide a breakdown of the roughly $150 million ($146.6 million) in grants for the Common Core Standards.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) is clearly the major sponsor of the Common Core Standards Initiative (CCSI).

The largest category by far is “Think Tanks,” which garnered about $67 million or 46 % of the $147 million total.  State Departments of Education received $22 million or 15 % of the total.  The other categories obtained 3 – 12 % of the total.

 

Summary of Gates Foundation Grants

(All Amounts in Millions of Dollars)

Category

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

Percentage

of

Total

Think Tanks     66.758     46 %
State Departments of Education     22.288     15 %
National Associations     17.629     12 %
Universities     12.293       8 %
Common Core “Project Leaders”     11.500       8 %
Institutes     11.193       8 %
Local School Districts       4.946       3 %
    Total   146.607   100 %

 

The lion’s share of the Gates Foundation Common Core grants were directed to Think Tanks.  The Gates Foundation spent major dollars on Think Tank organizations that are advocating CCS and developing Common Core materials.  As a group, Think Tanks obtained about $67 million (46 % of the Gates Common Core $146.6 million total).  Clearly, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is utilizing Think Tanks to promote the Common Core agenda.

Because the Think Tanks played a huge role in shaping education policy, it should not surprise us that they received much of the Gates Foundation funding.  By driving education policy, the Gates Foundation will control what happens in the local classrooms.

 

 

Grants to Think Tanks

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

WestEd 2013     0.030
LearnZillion, Inc. 2013     0.966
National Paideia Center, Inc. 2013     0.660
The Achievement Network 2012     3.002
BetterLesson, Inc. 2012     3.527
JUMP Math 2012     0.699
Center for Curriculum Redesign, Inc. 2012     0.198
State Education Technology 2012     0.500
Student Achievement Partners, Inc. 2012     4.043
The College-Ready Promise 2011     0.300
Scholastic, Inc. 2011     4.464
New Venture Fund 2011     0.378
Learning Forward 2011     1.000
Americas Promise-Alliance for Youth 2011     0.500
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc. 2011     4.619
Khan Academy, Inc. 2010     1.465
Khan Academy, Inc. 2011     4.079
National Writing Project 2011     3.096
Creative Commons Corp. 2011     0.813
Reasoning Mind, Inc. 2011     0.743
MetaMetrics, Inc. 2010     3.468
New Visions for Public Schools, Inc. 2010     8.150
Center for Teaching Quality, Inc. 2010     0.396
Alliance for Excellent Education, Inc. 2009     0.551
Alliance for Excellent Education, Inc. 2010     3.200
Cristo Rey Network 2010     0.556
Research for Action, Inc. 2010     1.309
Common Core, Inc. 2009     0.551
Colorado Legacy Foundation  2011     9.707
Colorado Legacy Foundation  2012     1.748
The Education Trust 2009     2.040
  Subtotal — Think Tanks     66.758

The Gates Foundation issued about $22 million in grants to the State Departments of Education.  Gates singled out the Kentucky DOE for $12.028 million (54 % of the State DOE total).  The Louisiana DOE received around $7 million (33 % of the State DOE total).

 

 

Grants to State Departments of Education

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

Delaware 2013     0.400
Georgia 2010     1.981
Kentucky 2010     1.000
Kentucky 2011     9.125
Kentucky 2012     1.903
Louisiana 2011     7.352
Pennsylvania 2010     0.527
  Subtotal — State DOEs     22.288

An assortment of National Associations obtained mostly small grants from the Gates Foundation.  Together, they received $17.6 million (12 % of the total).  The two major teachers’ unions (NEA and AFT) grabbed 31 % of the National Association total.

 

 

Grants to National Associations

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

National Education Assoc. Found. (NEA) 2012     0.100
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) 2011     1.000
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) 2012     4.400
National Indian Education Assoc. 2011     0.500
Office of Supt. of Public Instr. (Tribal) 2011     0.075
Council of State Governments 2010     0.400
Council of State Governments 2011     0.370
National Association of SBOEs 2009     0.451
National Association of SBOEs 2011     1.078
Council of Great City Schools 2010     0.100
Council of Great City Schools 2011     4.911
Education Commission of the States 2010     0.799
Military Child Education Coalition 2009     0.270
Military Child Education Coalition 2011     0.150
Assoc. for Supervision and Curr. Develop. 2011     3.025
  Subtotal — National Associations     17.629

Seven universities obtained grants totaling $12 million from the Gates Foundation.  The largest recipient was the University of Arizona at $3.4 million.

 

 

Grants to Universities

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

University of Kentucky 2013     1.000
University of Arizona 2012     3.417
University of Michigan 2012     2.000
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT) 2011     2.889
University of State of New York 2010     0.893
University of State of New York 2011     0.600
Purdue University 2010     1.454
New York University 2010     0.040
  Subtotal — Universities     12.293

The Common Core Standards Initiative has been led by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association.  Not surprisingly, the Gates Foundation provided $11.5 million in funding to these organizations.

 

 

Grants to Common Core “Project Leaders”

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

Council of Chief State School Officers 2011     9.389
Council of Chief State School Officers 2012     0.475
National Governors Association 2011     1.598
National Governors Association 2012     0.038
  Subtotal — CCS  “Project Leaders”     11.500

Gates gave grants to four Institutes, with the largest amount ($5.5 million) going to the James B. Hunt Institute; $3.6 million went to the Aspen Institute.  Common Core supporter Thomas B. Fordham Institute received almost $1 million.

 

 

Grants to Institutes

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

The Aspen Institute 2013     3.616
American Enterprise Institute 2012     1.069
James B. Hunt Institute 2009     5.549
Thomas B. Fordham Institute 2009     0.959
  Subtotal — Institutes     11.193

The Gates Foundation sent about $5 million in funds to local school districts and local/state organizations.

 

 

Grants to Local School Districts

Organization Year

Grant

Amount

($ Millions)

Albuquerque Public Schools  (NM) 2010     0.500
School District of Philadelphia  (PA) 2010     0.500
Cleveland Metro School District  (OH) 2010     0.498
Forsyth County Schools  (GA) 2010     0.151
Fund for Public Schools  (NY) 2012     1.816
Baton Rouge Area Foundation  (LA) 2012     0.500
Nellie Mae Educ. Fdn.  (New England) 2011     0.350
Pennsylvania Business Roundtable  (PA) 2012     0.257
Hillsborough County Council  (FL) 2011     0.025
Massachusetts Business Alliance  (MA) 2010     0.151
Pritchard Committee for Acad. Exc.  (KY) 2011     0.198
  Subtotal — Local School Districts       4.946

 

CONCLUSION

What did $150 million in grants to the Common Core do for Bill Gates?  For one thing, these grants bought a great deal of control over education policy in this country.  This means that a man who owns a private corporation is directing public policy that will control what is taught to millions of students in their local classrooms.

Gates believes in the ideology enshrined in Common Core, and he knows money talks.  With many organizations clamoring for Bill Gates’ grant funds, they are more than willing to promote whatever he wants; and he likes the Common Core agenda.

The Common Core Standards will require huge commitments to technology.  According to the Pioneer Institute, the 46 CCS states will need to spend $6.9 billion for Technology to implement CCS.  Of course, not all of that money will be for computer hardware and software, but the computer portion will be substantial.

As the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, William “Bill” Gates has strong ties to the corporation.  He is the former CEO and is its current Chairman.  Bill Gates is the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft, with 6.4 % of the common shares.  Under the Common Core computer demands, Microsoft stands to gain immensely.

It seems obvious that Bill Gates is involved in a classic conflict of interest situation.  Through the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates is actively supporting and promoting the Common Core.  Microsoft will greatly benefit from the huge increase in technology spending required by the Common Core.  Do we need to say more?

Henry W. Burke

E-mail: hwburke@cox.net  

“Common Core Standards with Henry W. Burke on Dr. Laurie Roth Show” – gives state-specific costs for implementation of Common Core Standards — audio clip – listen to interview —

 

This entry was posted in Blog, Texas Issues and tagged , , , by Alice. Bookmark the permalink.

About Alice

Alice Linahan is a Politically-Active Texas Mom who has worked hard in the trenches of the Grassroots Movement. As an established leader in New Media with Voices Empower and as Vice President of Women on the Wall, Alice brings audiences a servant’s voice with a heartfelt, funny tone and when the truth needs to be told in a bold, fresh manner Alice can deliver. She brings alive the stories from the trenches of the movement of parents asking… #CANiSEE what you are teaching my child that is taking America by storm. Alice is a radio talk show host of the Women On the Wall Radio Show in addition to being the Author of the upcoming “A parents journey from #CANiSEE™© to I Can SEE” study on the Common Core. Alice Linahan is a winner of the 2014 UPTON SINCLAIR AWARD with EducationViews.org for her work as an Advocate for Securing the Best of Education Policies for the next generation of American children. Alice has been described as “Passionate in everything she does and she is proof that one person can make a difference.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.