Dive Brief:

• The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday revealed a plan to partner with the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation to help bolster education opportunities at the state's high-priority, low-income schools.  
• The board will work with the two foundations to develop a comprehensive plan on how to address the struggling schools.  
• The plan is expected to be completed by next summer, but more details on the initiative will be released this fall.  

Dive Insight:

Foundations have money and brains behind them, which is a plus for a state board struggling to appropriately support its struggling schools. What foundations lack, however, is public accountability. Some are wary of the overarching implications of private foundations, who are not elected by the public, swooping in and working so closely with the state. Critics believe this can lead to the overstepping of power — as money (which foundations have) amounts to power and the ability to sway policy. On the flip side, collaborations between the state board and foundations also means less of a chance of unintentionally repeating failed efforts.