Darin Jolly, Ed.D.

Abbott's proposal even went so far as to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate school property taxes, the source of most public school funding in the state and the largest chunk of most tax bills. houstonchronicle.com/politic…

Communities Foundation of Texas is the largest Donor Advised Fund (DAF) in Texas. These foundations are vehicles allowing donors to secure immediate tax breaks while warehousing assets. CFT put another $100 million into their fund balance, so now they have over $1 billion in assets under management. They get around $6 million from TEA which is a pass through of federal funds that should be separately audited. Remember, it was the Dallas donor class who secured Morath’s appointment by Abbott. Annually, CFT devotes big bucks to @EducateTexas which is not charitable, as it is a lobbying organization and outpost of Commit funded by Bill Gates. CFT holds big investments in hedge funds, real estate and private equity, too. While they fund charities, they give mostly small amounts (under $100k) to hundreds of organizations. Look at those charities where they give over $100k versus how they fund more than 42 for-profit consulting businesses over $100k...very telling. They also claim they don't lobby, but that's where their funding of Commit and CPAL comes in. They are now paying education consultants big money. CoSpero’s Harold Hogue is getting over $400k from CFT. Hogue is a Teach for America change agent who left the classroom like most of them do. projects.propublica.org/nonp…