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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My child is starting at a charter school in the fall, and the website does not have info regarding supporters or donors. Would it sound aggressive if I emailed the principal and asked for this info? After the Walmart article I'd really like to know who is paying for my kid's education. It should be public, right?[/quote]

Not sure why this post rubs me the wrong way.  I guess because OP is going to waltz right into a functional charter school with no clue how much work it takes to get it up and running, scrapping together grant funds from foundations, and hard work.

[/quote]

Ok, OP here (finally got back online) and first, the school is not Creative Minds, don't know why someone said that. Second, I totally disagree with this poster and the others who say that private funders have no bearing on how schools are run. As a person who works for a foundation myself (and who knows quite well what it takes to put together grant funding) I see EVERY DAY how the money I grant to organizations changes them, and we are a very lax funder with very little political agenda--but the truth is there are power dynamics at play, and due to funding constraints, mission creep is a real thing. So to the PP who said that absolutely the Walton foundation and Gates Foundation can affect a school's environment, this is why I am asking this question. Not to "get mad" at the school, or "waltz in" like an idiot, but to better understand whether, for instance, a focus on high-stakes testing or data-driven analysis is based on what the school thinks is good practice, or more a response to donor demands to get funding. These are funders with very strong and clear agendas--their GOAL is to get schools to implement high stakes testing and support privatization--and if I were writing a grant for a charter school I would do my best to respond to their criteria by, for instance, talking about how data informs classroom decisions.

Ultimately what I am trying to understand is the "true" educational philosophy of my child's school, and whether I can have honest conversations with teachers and administrators about their choices. I probably visited 15 schools during open houses, and at least 10 of these talked about their data-driven approaches, multiple assessments for pk, etc. I work in education policy and I don't really believe in all those things, but I am also a pragmatist who is open to hearing why they might be good in some cases. So this is why I asked the question.

And for all you PPs who think I am obnoxious, pushy or overreacting, you are completely naive. [/quote]

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