By Project Milk Carton | The Constitutional Republic
Over the last five parts of this investigation, we have followed:
the organizations
the funding
the curriculum systems
the political connections
and the rapid expansion of Social-Emotional Learning across America
But now we arrive at the most important part of the entire series:
Putting the full map together.
Because when each piece is viewed separately, it can feel confusing.
One organization here.
One foundation there.
One curriculum company somewhere else.
But once the connections are placed side-by-side, a much larger system becomes visible.
According to the documents reviewed in this investigation, Social-Emotional Learning did not spread randomly.
It spread through a carefully layered pipeline involving:
billionaire-funded foundations
nonprofit pass-through systems
standards organizations
curriculum publishers
federal funding
and classroom distribution networks
And by the time most parents noticed the system, it was already deeply embedded inside schools nationwide.
This article maps that entire structure from top to bottom.
From billionaire money…
all the way to your child’s classroom.
The Six-Tier Pipeline
According to the report, the SEL influence system operates through six major tiers.
Those tiers are:
Tier 1 — Billionaire Donors
The money origin point.
Tier 2 — Foundation Pass-Throughs
The nonprofit routing infrastructure.
Tier 3 — Standard-Setting Organizations
The groups defining what SEL means.
Tier 4 — Curriculum Publishers
The companies creating classroom products.
Tier 5 — Government Funding
The taxpayer-funded acceleration mechanism.
Tier 6 — Your Child’s Classroom
The final delivery point.
The report argues that each tier reinforces the others in what it calls:
“institutional design.”
That means the system is not dependent on one organization alone.
If one node weakens, the others continue operating.
That is how durable institutional systems are built.
TIER 1 — BILLIONAIRE DONORS
At the very top of the pipeline sit the funding organizations.
This is where the money begins.
According to the report, several billionaire-connected foundations played major roles in financing the SEL ecosystem.
The NoVo Foundation — Buffett Money
One of the most important organizations is:
The NoVo Foundation.
Founded by:
Peter Buffett
and Jennifer Buffett
Peter Buffett is the son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
According to the report:
NoVo controls approximately:
$937.8 million in assets.
The investigation describes NoVo as:
“the primary philanthropic vehicle for progressive causes” connected to this network.
And according to the report:
NoVo invested more than:
$114 million
into SEL-related systems since 2007.
That included:
district implementation
CASEL initiatives
embedded consultants
and institutional partnerships
The report argues:
NoVo acted as one of the central financial engines driving national SEL expansion.
Gates Foundation — Scaling the Infrastructure
Then comes:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
According to the report:
the Gates Foundation funded:
CASEL
Committee for Children
Yale’s RULER SEL program
and broader education transformation projects
Specific grants included:
$550,000 to CASEL in 2018
$1 million to CASEL in 2023
nearly $1 million to Committee for Children for Second Step improvements in 2021
The report also notes:
the Gates Foundation announced:
$1.7 billion in K–12 commitments in 2017 alone.
Again, this demonstrates the scale of institutional influence operating behind modern education systems.
George Soros and Open Society Foundations
The report also identifies funding flows involving:
George Soros and Open Society Foundations.
According to the investigation:
Open Society Foundations routed money primarily through:
The Tides Foundation.
The report documents:
approximately:
$43.6 million
flowing from Open Society into Tides-related systems between 2020–2023.
The report states this structure makes tracing final funding destinations difficult because much of the money moves through donor-advised fund systems.
Anonymous Donors — The Invisible Layer
Then we arrive at one of the most controversial parts of the investigation:
Anonymous donor-advised funds.
According to the report:
The Tides Foundation controls:
$1.4 billion+
in donor-advised fund assets.
And according to the investigation:
Tides distributed:
$690 million
in grants during 2023 alone.
The report explains how donor-advised funds work:
wealthy donors contribute money
receive tax benefits
and distribute grants later through intermediary organizations
But often:
the original donor identity is hidden from public view.
Critics call this:
“dark money.”
Supporters argue donor privacy is legal and legitimate.
But either way:
the public often cannot trace where the original money came from.
And that creates major transparency concerns when education systems are involved.
TIER 2 — FOUNDATION PASS-THROUGHS
Now we move into the second layer:
the pass-through network.
This is where money gets routed, distributed, and strategically directed.
NoVo → CASEL
According to the report:
NoVo directly funded CASEL’s:
Collaborating Districts Initiative.
This initiative embedded SEL into:
20 major school districts
using:
planning grants
implementation grants
and embedded CASEL consultants
The report estimates:
NoVo invested:
$30–50 million
into district implementation alone.
That means private philanthropy helped build public school infrastructure.
NoVo → Tides
According to the investigation:
NoVo transferred:
$52.8 million
to the Tides Foundation in a single year.
The report states the transfer supported:
“Advancing Girls Fund” operations involving 150+ organizations.
This demonstrates how massive amounts of philanthropic money move through nonprofit infrastructure systems.
NoVo → New Venture Fund
The report also identifies transfers from NoVo into:
The New Venture Fund.
New Venture Fund is managed by:
Arabella Advisors,
a major nonprofit consulting and pass-through organization.
The report states:
New Venture Fund handled:
$5.7 billion
in revenues between 2006–2023.
Critics argue these systems create:
layers of separation between donors and final political or educational projects.
Tides → SPLC
The investigation also traces funding from:
Tides Foundation → SPLC.
The report documents:
at least:
$137,000
in confirmed direct grants.
But researchers argue the real amount may be far larger because donor-advised structures obscure portions of the funding trail.
TIER 3 — STANDARD-SETTING ORGANIZATIONS
Now we arrive at the organizations defining what SEL actually means.
This is perhaps the most important layer in the entire system.
Because whoever controls the standards controls:
certification
curriculum approval
and purchasing legitimacy
CASEL — The Certification Machine
According to the report:
CASEL became:
the central certification authority for SEL nationwide.
CASEL determines:
which programs qualify as approved SEL
which receive “SELect” certification
and which vendors districts trust
The report calls CASEL:
“the certification machine.”
That certification matters enormously because:
school districts rely heavily on CASEL approval when purchasing curriculum.
Transformative SEL
Then came the ideological shift.
According to the report:
CASEL’s 2020 “Transformative SEL” framework redefined SEL around:
identity
equity
anti-racism
collective action
and systemic analysis
The report highlights CASEL CEO Karen Niemi’s statement:
“SEL must contribute to anti-racism.”
Critics argue this transformed SEL from emotional development into political activism.
Supporters argue it created equity-focused education.
But either way:
the ideological shift is documented.
SPLC / Learning for Justice
Next comes:
SPLC’s Learning for Justice program.
According to the report:
Learning for Justice distributes:
free curriculum materials
to:
450,000+ educators nationwide.
The report states:
SPLC controls:
$786.7 million
in net assets.
That wealth allows SPLC to distribute curriculum materials essentially for free.
And because free resources spread easily into schools, the framework expands rapidly.
The IDJA Framework
According to the report, Learning for Justice organizes instruction around four domains:
Identity
Diversity
Justice
Action
The report argues these domains teach:
group identity frameworks
systemic inequity analysis
social justice activism
and collective action models
This is the same framework directly aligned with Second Step in the 2021 alignment document examined earlier in the series.
ASCA — Counselor Alignment
Then comes:
ASCA,
the American School Counselor Association.
According to the report:
ASCA published an official:
Learning for Justice crosswalk document.
That means counselor standards were formally aligned to:
SPLC’s IDJA framework.
The report states:
ASCA standards influence counselor licensure systems across multiple states.
This matters because counselors often shape:
behavioral interventions
emotional assessments
student support plans
and SEL implementation
TIER 4 — CURRICULUM PUBLISHERS
Now we move to the classroom delivery companies.
Committee for Children
According to the report:
Committee for Children operates:
Second Step,
the dominant SEL curriculum in America.
The report estimates:
Second Step operates in:
45,000+ schools
and reaches:
26.9 million children annually.
That is massive national scale.
The Smoking Gun Document
The report again references the:
2021 Second Step-to-Learning for Justice alignment document.
That document instructed educators to teach:
SPLC materials
“in tandem”
with Second Step curriculum.
That remains one of the most important findings in the entire investigation.
Because it proves the integration was intentional.
Financial Problems
The report also identifies major financial losses at Committee for Children.
According to the investigation:
the organization operated:
$13.6 million in deficits
during FY2023.
At the same time:
CEO compensation exceeded:
$428,000 annually.
Critics argue this demonstrates:
rapid market expansion was prioritized over long-term sustainability.
TIER 5 — GOVERNMENT FUNDING
Now we arrive at the federal acceleration mechanism.
COVID funding.
According to the report:
ESSER I, II, and III distributed:
$189.5–190.5 billion
to K–12 schools nationwide.
And districts were required to spend portions of the money on:
students’
“social, emotional, and mental health needs.”
That created enormous demand for SEL products.
Pennsylvania’s 30% Rule
The report highlights Pennsylvania’s mandate requiring:
30% of certain district allocations
to support:
SEL and mental health programming.
Other states reportedly created:
SEL hubs
CASEL-aligned guidance
and statewide implementation systems
This dramatically accelerated adoption nationwide.
CASEL as the Default
According to the investigation:
because federal guidance required:
“evidence-based” interventions,
districts increasingly defaulted to:
CASEL-certified programs.
That gave CASEL enormous practical power over:
what districts purchased.
The report states:
54.7% of all SEL instructional material purchases during the 2021–2022 school year were ESSER-funded.
That demonstrates how deeply federal COVID money accelerated the SEL market.
TIER 6 — YOUR CHILD’S CLASSROOM
Finally, we arrive at the endpoint.
The classroom itself.
According to the report, the process works like this:
The school purchases:
Second Step
using:
ESSER funding
because it is:
CASEL-certified.
Teachers supplement lessons using:
free Learning for Justice materials.
Counselors operate under:
ASCA standards aligned to LFJ.
And the student receives:
the Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action framework
labeled simply as:
“Social-Emotional Learning.”
That is the full pipeline.
The Parent Question
One sentence in the report may be the most important in the entire investigation:
“Not a single vote was cast by parents to authorize any of it.”
That statement captures the central concern raised throughout this series.
Not necessarily disagreement.
But transparency.
Parents were rarely shown:
the funding networks
the ideological alignment documents
the certification systems
the pass-through organizations
or the political frameworks behind SEL expansion
Most families only saw the classroom product.
And by the time they noticed it, the infrastructure was already nationwide.
The Revolving Door
The report also documents what it describes as:
“the revolving door.”
One example:
Aaliyah Samuel,
who worked inside the Biden Department of Education during ESSER implementation,
later became CASEL CEO during peak SEL expansion.
The report argues this demonstrates:
close overlap between federal implementation systems and private certification organizations.
The Federal Endorsement Problem
Another major finding involves:
NCSSLE —
the federal National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments.
According to the report:
NCSSLE hosted and endorsed CASEL’s Program Guide.
That blurred the line between:
independent nonprofit certification
and federal endorsement.
For districts seeking “approved” programs,
CASEL effectively became the default pathway.
The SPLC Indictment
The report also notes that while Learning for Justice materials continued operating nationwide,
SPLC faced:
an 11-count federal indictment announced April 21, 2026.
The charges reportedly included:
wire fraud
false statements to banks
and conspiracy-related allegations
The case remains ongoing.
But the report argues this raises further public scrutiny questions surrounding organizations deeply embedded into educational systems.
The Bigger Picture
At the end of this investigation, the core argument becomes clear.
The report does not claim one secret conspiracy.
Instead, it documents:
an interconnected institutional ecosystem.
A system where:
foundations fund standards
standards certify curriculum
curriculum aligns with ideological frameworks
federal money accelerates purchasing
counselors reinforce implementation
and classrooms become the final delivery point
Each node strengthens the others.
And according to the report,
very few parents ever saw the entire system mapped together at once.
Until now.
What Comes Next
Part 7 will conclude this investigation.
We will examine:
the long-term implications
the legal questions
the future of SEL
the growing parent backlash
and where the national education debate may go next.
Because once the full network becomes visible,
the question is no longer:
“Is this happening?”
The question becomes:
What happens now that parents can finally see the system?
Because informed communities protect children.
Conclusion
At this point in the investigation, the pattern becomes difficult to ignore.
What many parents believed were isolated classroom programs now appear connected through a much larger institutional pipeline involving:
billionaire foundations
nonprofit pass-through organizations
federal funding systems
certification authorities
curriculum publishers
counselor associations
and ideological framework organizations
Each layer reinforces the others.
The foundations fund the standards.
The standards certify the curriculum.
The curriculum aligns with ideological frameworks.
Government funding accelerates adoption.
Counselor organizations reinforce implementation.
And eventually the final product reaches the classroom — often without parents ever seeing the full system behind it.
That is the central issue raised throughout this series:
Transparency.
Because regardless of political opinion, parents deserve to know:
who funds educational systems
who shapes curriculum standards
how these frameworks spread nationwide
and how deeply private nonprofit influence now reaches into public education
This investigation is not about fear.
It is about understanding systems that most ordinary Americans were never shown.
Because informed communities ask better questions.
And stronger questions create accountability.
In Part 7, we will conclude this series by examining:
the long-term consequences of SEL expansion
the growing national backlash
legal and constitutional concerns
future policy battles
and where the fight over public education is likely headed next
Because now that the full network map is visible, the national conversation is changing rapidly.
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ALL paid subscriptions are tax deductible Project Milk Carton | 501(c)(3) | EIN: 33-1323547
PRIMARY SOURCES — Full Citation List
• NoVo Foundation IRS 990-PF: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (EIN 47-0824753)
• Tides Foundation IRS 990: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (EIN 51-0198509); Capital Research Center (confirms $690.3M in 2023 grants)
• New Venture Fund IRS 990: ProPublica (EIN 20-5806345); InfluenceWatch; NY Times April 2021 (Arabella dark money network)
• CASEL IRS 990: ProPublica (EIN 20-5884201); InfluenceWatch; CASEL.org Board of Directors; CASEL Transformative SEL page
• Committee for Children IRS 990: ProPublica (EIN 91-1188127); CauseIQ
• ASCA IRS 990: ProPublica (EIN 51-0237968); ASCA-LFJ Crosswalk PDF (schoolcounselor.org)
• SPLC 2024 Audited Financial Statements (PDF, SPLC website, filed April 29, 2025)
• Second Step-LFJ Alignment Document (2021): cfccdn.blob.core.windows.net/static/pdf/alignment-charts/second-step-digital-k12-learning-for-justice-alignment.pdf
• Gates Foundation CASEL grant ($550K, 2018): gatesfoundation.org/committed-grants/2018/10/opp1197631
• Gates Foundation CASEL grant ($1M, 2023): gatesfoundation.org/committed-grants/2023/11/inv-060858
• Gates Foundation Committee for Children grant ($998K, 2021): gatesfoundation.org/committed-grants/2021/10/inv034535
• ESSER I/II/III totals: Pandemic Oversight Board (pandemicoversight.gov); Wikipedia; Ballotpedia
• ARP ESSER Section 2001(e)(1): Federal Register April 22, 2021
• Pennsylvania Act 24 of 2021: PA Department of Education ARP ESSER SEL Guidance
• Aaliyah Samuel revolving door: CASEL announcement (casel.org); CASEL applauds Cardona (casel.org)
• Daily Signal, May 12, 2026: "How Did SPLC Get Its Radical Ideas Into 169 School Districts?"
• Defending Education SPLC/LFJ Tracker (defendinged.org)
• CASEL State Bright Spots Brief: casel.org/csi-bright-spots-brief-2/
• GlobeNewswire SEL Market 2022 (confirms 54.7% ESSER and $1.725B market size)
• OSF Grants Database: opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past
• NoVo-CASEL CDI: AIR Research Report; Inside Philanthropy (2017, 2019)
• Tides DAF anonymity: Tides Foundation FAQ (tides.org); InfluenceWatch
• NCSSLE/CASEL endorsement: safesupportivelearning.ed.gov
• CASEL Program Guide: pg.casel.org/review-programs/
• ASCA membership data: schoolcounselor.org; CauseIQ
• City Journal: "Smuggling In Radical Instruction" (city-journal.org)
• FairForAll: "Rights for All — Transformative SEL's Redefinition" (news.fairforall.org)
© 2026 Project Milk Carton | 501(c)(3) | EIN: 33-1323547 | projectmilkcarton.org