Major Foundation Gets Set to Open a Charter School

One of the nation’s largest private foundations has been authorized to run its own charter school, which it plans to open in fall 2011.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has announced it will open a charter school in its home base of Kansas City, Mo., with an initial class of 75 students in 5th grade and add a grade each year through 12th grade.

While other major philanthropies, such as the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville, Ark., have given millions of dollars to charter schools, it is believed that the Kauffman Foundation is the largest and most prominent private foundation to have decided to run its own charter school. And though other organizations with “foundation” in their names have started charter schools, staff members from national charter school organizations and philanthropic organizations couldn’t point to any that are grantmaking foundations, as...