Private Philanthropic Foundations and K–12 Public Education Policy and Politics

Major private philanthropic foundations play a consequential role in K–12 public education policy and politics in the United States. Although private foundation grantmaking accounts for only a fraction of total revenue to public education, the largest and most prominent foundations have been recognized and critiqued for the power they wield across the range of school reform issue areas, throughout the entire policymaking process, and at all levels of school governance. This chapter reviews empirical and conceptual scholarship addressing the influence of private foundations over K–12 public education. It situates contemporary education philanthropy within its historical context, and it discusses the field’s changing patterns, practices, and consequences in recent decades.

Keywords: philanthropy; foundations; politics of education; educational reform