Education Reform Now (ERN)

ERN has received millions of dollars in grants from the left-of-center Walton Family Foundation, including $3,772,250 in 2022, $4,000,000 in 2021, $150,000 in 2020, and $4,730,000 in 2019. ⁴

Background

Education Reform Now (ERN) was founded in 2006 ⁵ and received nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) later that year. ⁶

Jorge Elorza is the chief executive officer of Education Reform Now. Elorza has supported the critical race theory-influenced concept of education equity. He is also the CEO of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), an affiliated political action committee (PAC) ⁵ of ERN that supports Democratic Party-affiliated candidates and policies. ^{7 8}

Prior to joining ERN, Elorza was the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, where he pursued an agenda guided by the far-left concept of racial justice. He is a co-founder of the Latino Policy Institute. ⁷

Activities

Education Reform Now (ERN) is a left-of-center education activist organization. ERN is committed to the far-left concept of anti-racism and diversity, ² supports race-based admissions standards for colleges and universities, opposed the Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action, and claims that the critical race theory-influenced concept of structural racism is “ingrained in the fibers of every institution” in the United Sates. ³

ERN has state chapters in Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington, D.C. ⁹ It also has a national board overseeing state affiliates, 501(c)(3) and 401(c)(4) structures, and a political action committee (PAC) called Democrats for Education Reform (DEFR), with a separate board but shared staff with its related organizations. ⁵

ERN works to ensure the critical race theory-influenced concept of equity drives all education policy ¹⁰ and supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. The organization has also attempted to link what it calls the “progressive idealism” of BLM and LGBT social movements to education policy ¹ and supported Biden administration efforts to use the federal government to cancel student loans. ¹¹

ERN claims that American public schools have been rooted in the far-left concept of “inequity” since their inception. ¹² The organization is committed to the critical race theory-influenced concept of anti-racism, believes the far-left concept of systemic racism is entrenched across the American education system, and focuses its policy and research efforts on the far-left concept of educational justice. ¹²

ERN has used the term “Latinx” to refer to Hispanic Americans and supports the Obama administration-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy, which grants temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. ¹³ The organization opposes school district maps, calling school-district borders similar to redlining and saying that working class and minority families are often boxed out of the best educational opportunities. ¹⁴

Grantmaking

In 2021, ERN spent $6,436,076 on programming to build a “durable network of progressive champions in the educational policymaking arena.” That same year, ERN gave its affiliated Education Reform Now Advocacy organization $4,367,252 and gave $10,000 grants to Collective Future Fund, Strive Prep, and Unite Inc. ¹⁵

Funding

Education Reform Now receives its funding from individual donations and grants. ¹⁶ In 2021, ERN reported revenue of $9,742,321 and expenses of $8,168,050. The organization reported revenue of $8,769,665 and expenses of $7,216,324. ¹⁷

ERN has received millions of dollars of grants from the left-of-center Walton Family Foundation since its launch. This includes grants of $3,772,250 in 2022, $4,000,000 in 2021, $150,000 in 2020, and $4,730,000 in 2019. ⁴ The left-of-center Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given ERN at least $1,650,000 since 2017, including grants worth of $700,000 in 2021, $800,000 in 2019, and $150,000 in 2017. ¹⁸

ERN received $275,000 from the PCLB Foundation in 2023 for its Connecticut operations. ¹⁹ In 2022, ERN received $490,000 from Education Forward DC and $400,000 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. ²⁰ ERN also received $1,000,000 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2017 and grants worth $250,000 in both 2016 and 2014. ^{21 22 23}

The Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego gave ERN $40,000 in 2019. ²⁴ In 2018, ERN received  $155,000 from the New Schools Venture Fund ²⁵ and $60,000 from the Boston Foundation. ²⁶