LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Walmart heir Jim Walton has donated $500,000 to a group dedicated to blocking an Arkansas education amendment, according to a report.
An ethics commission report filed on May 15 says that Walton donated the money on April 9, 2024.
The group Walton donated to reported a total of $636,000 in contributions in a month, the majority of which reportedly came from Walton. Total expenditures reported was $29,803.80, most of which went toward advertising, the report said.
The receiving organization is known as Arkansans for Students and Educators and was formed on April 1, 2024. A statement of organization filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission says that the group was formed "For the disqualification and/or defeat of The Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment of 2024."
The amendment in question was proposed by the group For AR Kids, which is trying to get the amendment on the 2024 ballot and is currently gathering signatures.
The For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee is a coalition comprising the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, the Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, the Arkansas Education Association, the Citizens First Congress, Stand Up Arkansas, and the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association.
According to filings with the office of Attorney General Tim Griffin, the ballot title for the amendment was approved on March 1, 2024.
The amendment seeks to "require identical academic standards and identical standards for accreditation, including assessments of students and schools based on such standards, for any school that receives State or local funds," among other things, including:
- The guarantee of voluntary universal access to pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds, afterschool & summer programming, quality special education, and wrap-around services for children within 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.
- Establish the minimum quality standards ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2002 in its Lakeview decision.
During a press conference on May 21, the group shared that it had reached the halfway point to gathering the necessary 90,000 signatures to get the amendment on the ballot in November and said that they wouldn't let the donation deter them.
"We’ve seen some of the big dollars going into some of the opposition campaigns. We are definitely starting to emphasize fundraising a little bit more," said Bill Kopsky with the AR Public Policy Panel.
"With that big money that we're seeing pouring into our opposition we're starting to see an awful lot of misinformation being spread around the amendment and who we are as a coalition," Kopsky said.
Daronda Elaine Williams with the Concerned Citizens of Prescott group spoke about the donation during the presser.
"We are a grassroots coalition putting common sense education reform on the ballot for Arkansas voters to vote on. We've been attacked by billionaires and millionaires with a big money campaign aimed to dismantle our public schools," Williams said. "[Jim Walton] has been trying to destroy our public schools for years now. He's invested a half million dollars preventing kids from getting the proven education support they need."
"He's invested a half million dollars into leaving the door open so lawmakers can water down our educational standards," Williams continued. "He doesn't have kids in our schools. He doesn't live in our community."
Williams added that Walton and others want to impose an "extremist agenda" on Arkansans until public schools were gone or "just a shell."
Forbes reports that Walton, the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, has a net worth of $83 billion.
Additionally, Forbes reports that Jim and his sister Alice are "spearheading a program that will issue $300 million in bonds to help charter schools invest in facilities."
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