1 00:00:17,719 --> 00:00:21,440 We're back with another edition of The Federalist for Radio Hour. I'm Emily Dashinsky, 2 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,399 culture editor here at the Federalist. As always, you can email the 3 00:00:24,399 --> 00:00:28,359 show at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us on ex at fdr 4 00:00:28,519 --> 00:00:32,200 LST. Make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts, and of course 5 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,520 to the premium version of the Federalist dot com as well. Today, I'm 6 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:41,799 so happy to be joined by Corey Deangelist, Doctor Corey d'angelist. He is 7 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,920 the author of the new book The Parent Revolution, Rescuing Your Kids from the 8 00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:51,280 Radicals Ruining our Schools. Corey is a Senior Fellow at the American Federation for 9 00:00:51,399 --> 00:00:57,439 Children. He's also a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. So accomplished, 10 00:00:57,479 --> 00:01:00,880 Corey, and you are just despised by all all the right people. 11 00:01:00,119 --> 00:01:03,359 Congrats on the book and thanks for joining the show. Hey, thanks for 12 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:10,120 having me. I'm told Corey that some people want to burn your book. 13 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,040 Yeah, I mean, this is crazy. It just happened the other day, 14 00:01:14,079 --> 00:01:18,000 but it was a teachers union boss. A teacher union executive board member 15 00:01:18,359 --> 00:01:23,040 in Wisconsin tweeted out, great day for a book burning Party in response to 16 00:01:23,519 --> 00:01:26,879 my announcement of the book coming out. So, I mean, it's just 17 00:01:26,079 --> 00:01:33,519 it's so hypocritical. The same yahoos that cry about conservatives pulling sexually explicit content 18 00:01:33,599 --> 00:01:37,920 off of public school libraries, not banning books, which they like to call 19 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,920 it banning books. It's not banning books because you can still purchase these books 20 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:47,799 online are the same people who are calling to burn my book because they disagree 21 00:01:47,799 --> 00:01:52,359 with it. So, I mean, the left always accuses others of what 22 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,519 they are doing, or at least what they would like to do, so 23 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,920 they would love to burn books that they disagree with. And they revealed themselves 24 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:05,640 the other day on social media. Really backfired though, because it helped the 25 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,080 sales of the book. And if you really want to make you to really 26 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:14,360 want to ruin Randy Winegarten's day and the other teachers Union bosses day, you 27 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:19,240 could go out and purchase The Parent Revolution as well. It's available basically everywhere. 28 00:02:19,759 --> 00:02:23,680 You're making me feel badly for burning it, Corey, then yeah, 29 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:30,360 And the launch event is actually on May fifteenth at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, 30 00:02:30,439 --> 00:02:32,479 d C. So if anybody's in the area, you can go check 31 00:02:32,479 --> 00:02:36,439 it out. I'll do a book signing there as well, May fifteenth at 32 00:02:36,439 --> 00:02:40,520 noon at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, d C. And if the teachers 33 00:02:40,599 --> 00:02:45,759 unions want to protest right outside and they want to burn the books, well, 34 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,400 you know what, they have to buy them first, so anything but 35 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,479 that hopefully they don't do that, but you know there might be a side 36 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,439 benefit of book sales going up. Well, you know, it's a good 37 00:02:57,439 --> 00:03:01,159 place actually to start with this incredible story of the parent Revolution. Again, 38 00:03:01,199 --> 00:03:05,240 that's the title of the book, and the parent Revolution really has been one 39 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,280 of the most incredible stories in American politics and culture over the last decade. 40 00:03:08,479 --> 00:03:12,599 And Corey, you were right in the middle of it. You still are 41 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,639 in the middle of it when people felt like it was probably at its zenith 42 00:03:15,759 --> 00:03:21,400 in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. They were definitely watching a whole lot 43 00:03:21,479 --> 00:03:24,479 of your handiwork play out on the national stage. Because you know, the 44 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:29,479 Heritage Foundation is here in DC. A whole lot of parents in the DC 45 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:34,039 area actually were at the front lines, whether they were in Louding County. 46 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,560 The schools in Fairfax County had so many problems, so I'm sure a lot 47 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,479 of them will We'll come to the Heritage event to see you. Corey. 48 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,199 I know you know a lot of them and you've worked with a lot of 49 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,719 them, but can you just take us back to how you got involved in 50 00:03:47,759 --> 00:03:52,800 the parent revolution and then I want to talk about what happened just in twenty 51 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,360 twenty twenty twenty one. But how did you get involved, Corey? Yeah, 52 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:00,599 I started education policy as a researcher at the University of our I did 53 00:04:00,639 --> 00:04:04,479 my PhD in education policy out there. You mentioned I'm doctor dangelist, but 54 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:09,439 I'm really not a real doctor. I'm more like a Jill Biden doctor have 55 00:04:09,479 --> 00:04:15,960 an education policy degree. But I did studies out there to look at the 56 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:21,399 effects of education choice programs, and my first study actually linked the Milwaukee private 57 00:04:21,399 --> 00:04:28,079 school choice program that started in nineteen ninety to long term outcomes like criminal activity 58 00:04:28,439 --> 00:04:35,399 reduction and reductions and paternity disputes. So I was really interested in non academic 59 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:41,360 effects of parents getting more of a say in their kids' education and choosing schools, 60 00:04:41,639 --> 00:04:45,360 because schools don't just shape test scores. They do a whole lot and 61 00:04:45,439 --> 00:04:47,959 parents are choosing schools for a whole lot of different reasons, and I think 62 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:53,759 that's also why we've seen so much momentum over the past few years. It 63 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:58,839 wasn't really based on the usual arguments for school choice, where you know kids, 64 00:04:58,879 --> 00:05:03,720 some kids are stuck in objectively failing government schools based on academics, but 65 00:05:03,879 --> 00:05:10,120 the families who thought that their schools were okay started to see there's another dimension 66 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,160 of school quality that's arguably even more important than test scores, which is whether 67 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:19,319 the school's curriculum aligns with families' values. So I've really been researching this stuff 68 00:05:19,319 --> 00:05:25,639 for a long time, looking at things like the benefits of the benefits of 69 00:05:25,639 --> 00:05:30,480 school choice translating to being in a safer environment, being in an environment that 70 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,560 focuses on character development as well, which could lead to reductions in crime later 71 00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:40,079 on in life. I also had some experiences with school choice growing up. 72 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,399 I grew up in San Antonio, Texas. I live here now as again 73 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,360 after a short stint in Washington, d C. But I went to government 74 00:05:49,399 --> 00:05:54,360 schools all K through twelve education, But in high school I had the opportunity 75 00:05:54,399 --> 00:05:58,000 to go to something called a magnet school. It's still run by the district, 76 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:03,319 but you're not assigned to magnet schools like you are with traditional public schools 77 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:09,199 and that was a great opportunity for me. It was much better than the 78 00:06:09,199 --> 00:06:12,360 school that I was assigned to that was run by the government. And I 79 00:06:12,399 --> 00:06:15,680 think other families should have more opportunities for their kids to get a better education 80 00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:18,439 too. But it shouldn't be limited to schools that are run by the government. 81 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,959 You should be able to choose private schools, charter schools, and home 82 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,519 based education options. And the money should follow the student. You should that 83 00:06:26,639 --> 00:06:30,839 money is meant for educating the child. It's your taxpayer dollars. It should 84 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:35,439 follow the kid to wherever they're getting the best education. And then since then 85 00:06:35,519 --> 00:06:41,519 after Arkansas, I've been at think tanks up at the Cato Institute first and 86 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,360 then I went off to Reason Foundation. Now I'm at the American Federation for 87 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:50,319 Children and I have those previous think tanks still listed as affiliations. But I've 88 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:56,800 really moved towards advocacy, and I talk a lot about that in the book 89 00:06:56,879 --> 00:07:00,839 The Parent Revolution, and really document what happened over the past few years. 90 00:07:00,879 --> 00:07:05,399 And look, we've been pushing for school choice reform where the money follows to 91 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:10,480 student for decades. I mean, if you really want to go back the 92 00:07:10,519 --> 00:07:15,439 first school choice initiatives in the country started in the late eighteen hundreds in states 93 00:07:15,439 --> 00:07:20,120 like Maine in Vermont, we were just getting real incremental reform, maybe for 94 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:26,800 students from certain categories, just special needs students for example in some states, 95 00:07:26,879 --> 00:07:30,600 or maybe just very low income families in places like Washington, DC that actually 96 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:36,800 does have a private school boucher program today that is wildly popular and always has 97 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,439 students on the wait list to try to take their kids dollars to a private 98 00:07:41,439 --> 00:07:45,680 school. In DC, for example, it's only the government school spend about 99 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:50,480 thirty thousand dollars per kid. The average scholarship is around ten thousand dollars per 100 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:54,680 kid, around a third of what they spend in the government schools. Yet 101 00:07:54,720 --> 00:08:00,399 you still have families flocking to these opportunities because it's not about money, it's 102 00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:05,279 about incentives, and it's about choosing the school that works best for you. 103 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,199 That might be the public school. But the one size fits all system is 104 00:08:09,319 --> 00:08:16,040 never going to meet the needs of various parents who have diverse and different views 105 00:08:16,079 --> 00:08:20,759 about how they want to raise their kids. And again, we really got 106 00:08:20,759 --> 00:08:24,600 to thank Brandy Weingarten and the teacher genies, however, for this monumental support 107 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:30,920 that we've had in the past few years where conservative parents in red states have 108 00:08:31,079 --> 00:08:37,480 held politicians accountable and really turned the GOP the Republican Party into the parents' party. 109 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:43,320 And it all started near Washington, d C. Where it's translated to 110 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:50,000 political victories for people like Glenn Youngkin in Virginia. Now take us to the 111 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,120 start of this kind of recent chapter that you know, Corey. I remember 112 00:08:54,120 --> 00:09:05,080 at the Federalist we were publishing reporting and covering of some of the smoldering fire 113 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,519 of what would become a total volcanic eruption in Loudon County. I think starting 114 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:15,440 around like twenty nineteen somewhere around there. It was before COVID because there was 115 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,759 a racial training. And you can correct my memory on this, but there's 116 00:09:18,799 --> 00:09:22,159 a racial training that parents were really upset about, and I think that predated 117 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,879 COVID. But then COVID hit. And you can explain much better than I 118 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:31,600 can how that confluence of variables. You know, kids at school, parents 119 00:09:31,639 --> 00:09:37,600 overseeing zoom, the political correctness, the woke ideological indoctrination that came in after 120 00:09:37,879 --> 00:09:43,600 the death of George Floyd. So where do you see the where do you 121 00:09:43,639 --> 00:09:46,039 kind of pinpoint the beginning, and can you just take this back to you 122 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:50,320 know, from your vantage point as somebody in the advocacy space, what it 123 00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:54,240 was like watching all of this kick off, right. I believe that a 124 00:09:54,240 --> 00:10:00,840 lot of people think that the woke indoctrination, the far left influence in the 125 00:10:00,879 --> 00:10:03,840 government school system just started with COVID, But I don't think that's the case. 126 00:10:05,039 --> 00:10:09,159 I believe the far left had infiltrated the government's school system for a very 127 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:15,279 long time, and COVID just revealed the rot that already existed in the government 128 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,080 school system. And look, a lot of families thought that their kids weren't 129 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:22,360 a good place. They saw the A rating from the state that was assigned 130 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,480 to their school, they saw standardized test scores that were doing really well. 131 00:10:26,519 --> 00:10:33,639 They saw the blue ribbon schools here in Texas. They saw they saw that 132 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:37,720 their children were coming home with their report cards that had all a's or being 133 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,039 on the honor roll, and they thought things were fine. But the thing 134 00:10:41,159 --> 00:10:46,399 is, when the teachers unions held children's education hostage during the COVID era, 135 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,679 And there's been a lot of studies on this, I was the first one 136 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,480 to do so, and I wrote it write about this study in the book. 137 00:10:54,559 --> 00:11:00,279 There's been at least six studies now linking places with stronger teachers union is 138 00:11:00,519 --> 00:11:07,360 all lsequel after controlling for even the COVID incidents in the area, the political 139 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,279 persuasions of voters in the area, the race and income of people living in 140 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:16,080 the area, population density, and so on and so forth. The stronger 141 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:20,480 the teachers union in those areas, the less likely the schools were to open, 142 00:11:20,639 --> 00:11:26,360 or the more likely the schools were to remain closed for longer periods of 143 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:31,080 time. And I published this study in Social Science orderly with my co author, 144 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,960 and several others had replicated the results, all finding the same thing. 145 00:11:35,639 --> 00:11:39,840 And the thing is, look, the private schools were open from the get 146 00:11:39,879 --> 00:11:43,000 go. The New York Times was even writing about this, and we also 147 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,559 knew all along that the science showed that the schools were some of the first 148 00:11:46,799 --> 00:11:52,360 things that should have opened and the last things to close. Even Anthony Fauci 149 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,519 went on national television saying just that that the schools should be the last things 150 00:11:56,519 --> 00:12:01,559 to close, and the first things to open. Had bars open. Everything 151 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:05,320 else was open. Teachers were going to the grocery store and had no fear 152 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,679 of doing that, but when it came to going back to work, it 153 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,799 was a huge problem. And I don't blame the employees or the teachers themselves. 154 00:12:15,159 --> 00:12:18,799 I blame the union bosses and the incentives that are baked into the system 155 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,039 where the public school system gets your money regardless of whether they even open their 156 00:12:24,039 --> 00:12:26,679 doors for business. And it was actually worse than that. During the COVID 157 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:31,240 era, the teachers' unions were able to lobby the CDC to make it more 158 00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:35,919 difficult to reopen schools. We have evidence of this from the NEA and the 159 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:41,639 AFT, the two national largest teachers unions in the country, because they knew 160 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:46,399 that they could leverage those school closures for more money from the federal government, 161 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,639 and that's exactly what happened. They received about one hundred and ninety billion dollars 162 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:56,559 and so called COVID relief since March of twenty twenty. But their plan quickly 163 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:03,320 backfired because families got to see through remote learning, which let's be real, 164 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,759 we should have just called it remotely learning because not a lot of learning was 165 00:13:05,799 --> 00:13:09,799 going on. Families one got to see that the system didn't care all that 166 00:13:09,919 --> 00:13:15,600 much about them while they were frantically trying to search for other options, trying 167 00:13:15,639 --> 00:13:20,519 to figure out this government school at home, and also trying to figure out 168 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,519 how to pay for private school tuition and fees when those schools were open and 169 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,840 the government schools turned their backs on them. Well, through the Zoom school 170 00:13:30,279 --> 00:13:33,200 families got to see a little bit of what was happening in the classroom, 171 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,360 and some parents were upset about critical race theory. Some parents were also upset 172 00:13:37,399 --> 00:13:43,480 about gender ideology and sexually explicit content into the classroom the schools. To put 173 00:13:43,519 --> 00:13:50,759 it short, we're focusing on indoctrination from a left wing bias as opposed to 174 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,159 education, and parents weren't happy about that. That's more likely to mobilize parents 175 00:13:54,399 --> 00:13:58,360 than just about anything else. So parents started to push back at school board 176 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:03,960 meetings, and in Louding County you actually had one of those school board parents 177 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:11,600 cited in a letter sent to the Biden administration's Department of Justice to try to 178 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:20,399 use the Patriot Act to investigate parents for quote unquote domestic terrorism for fighting back 179 00:14:20,639 --> 00:14:24,960 at school board meetings and making their voices heard. The government school system, 180 00:14:26,639 --> 00:14:30,480 without school choice and without families having much of us say, they just see 181 00:14:30,519 --> 00:14:33,679 parents as a nuisance. They don't see them as a customer, they don't 182 00:14:33,679 --> 00:14:39,679 see them as partners, so they tried to bully and silence their opponents into 183 00:14:39,679 --> 00:14:45,879 submission. They also have been cutting off the mics of parents reading books at 184 00:14:45,919 --> 00:14:52,840 school board meetings because the parents think that the content is sexually not age appropriates. 185 00:14:52,879 --> 00:14:56,480 It's sexually explicit content, and they don't think it should be in schools. 186 00:14:56,519 --> 00:15:00,480 But for some reason, the school boards are cutting off mike's of the 187 00:15:00,519 --> 00:15:03,399 parents while also supporting those books in the schools when the parents aren't around. 188 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:09,480 It just really goes to show you the hypocrisy and inconsistency when it comes to 189 00:15:09,519 --> 00:15:18,200 the radical lefts members who control the school system. But the good news is 190 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:24,720 their plan to silence parents only embolden families to push back even harder. So 191 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:30,600 parents have pushed for school choice as well, but they've also been holding politicians 192 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:35,480 accountable. Look at what happened in Virginia right after all of that fiasco unraveled 193 00:15:35,799 --> 00:15:41,639 in a state that closed schools just about as much as California did. Not 194 00:15:41,679 --> 00:15:43,799 a lot of people know this, Virginia was one of the worst school states 195 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:50,000 for reopening schools, and Terry mccauliffe, who was running for governor in twenty 196 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:54,200 twenty one. He said on the final debate stage, quote, I don't 197 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,600 think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. End quote. The 198 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,399 Republican Glenn Yunk and turned that into a campaign ad. That was a good 199 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,440 move by him, put it on repeat. And Terry mccauliffe had basically an 200 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,200 incumbent advantage. He was in a blue state, Virginia that went ten points 201 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:17,399 to Biden the year before, and he was up in the polls until that 202 00:16:17,519 --> 00:16:22,480 final debate, and Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, ended up winning with education 203 00:16:22,639 --> 00:16:26,559 voters by six points according to exit polling, and that was the number two 204 00:16:26,759 --> 00:16:32,679 issue in the election that basically never happens. Education is usually at the bottom 205 00:16:32,679 --> 00:16:37,440 of the list. And what also never happens or historically hasn't been the case, 206 00:16:37,559 --> 00:16:41,360 was before COVID, the Democrats had double digit advantages on the issue of 207 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:47,240 education. So for Glenn Youngkin to pick up the football, become the Parents' 208 00:16:47,279 --> 00:16:52,720 party and to win in a state like Virginia really just laid out a blueprint 209 00:16:52,759 --> 00:16:59,519 for success for Republicans going forward. They can reveal the communists on the left 210 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,000 for what they are, who believe that the kids belonged to the government schools. 211 00:17:03,839 --> 00:17:10,119 Most people in society do not believe that. They rightly believe that parents 212 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,440 are the primary decision makers for their own kid. That is their responsibility and 213 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,799 not the government's responsibility. And hey, that money meant for educating those children, 214 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:22,240 that's your taxpayer dollars, not the governments. And it's meant for educating 215 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:26,279 the child. It should follow them to the school that works best for them. 216 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,160 Fast forward to twenty twenty two. A lot of people were talking about 217 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,680 the red wave right before the midterms. Well that didn't really happen. There 218 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,519 wasn't a blue wave either, but there was a school choice wave. Seventy 219 00:17:37,559 --> 00:17:41,799 six percent of the candidates supported by my organization, the American Federation for Children, 220 00:17:41,839 --> 00:17:45,440 and our state affiliates won their races in twenty twenty two. And we 221 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,039 didn't just play in the easy ones. We targeted sixty nine incumbents, which 222 00:17:48,079 --> 00:17:52,680 is the hardest thing to do in politics to take out a city legislature legislator, 223 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,359 and we took out forty of them. That translates to about a fifty 224 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:03,160 seven to fifty eight percent win rate against incumbents, which historically incumbents basically win 225 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,480 their reelection ninety five percent of the time. That wasn't just a blip in 226 00:18:07,519 --> 00:18:11,920 twenty twenty two either. Fast forward to Texas this year in twenty twenty four, 227 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:18,400 in the primaries on Super Tuesday, well, thirteen of the candidates that 228 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:23,839 we targeted by school Choice Super pac AFC Victory fund thirteen of the incumbents who 229 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:30,400 voted against school choice. Ten of those thirteen either lost their races out right 230 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,839 on Super Tuesday or they were forced into runoffs, most of them in second 231 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:40,039 place, which means they're probably going to lose. On May twenty eighth as 232 00:18:40,079 --> 00:18:44,599 well. And twenty twenty two in Tennessee, for example, ten of the 233 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,880 teachers to ten of the Republicans or so called Republicans in the House that were 234 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:55,759 running in the primaries either were funded or endorsed by the teachers Union. Well, 235 00:18:55,960 --> 00:19:00,480 nine of those ten lost their primaries. The teachers union endorsement post COVID 236 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:07,079 has basically become the political kiss of debt for Republicans in primaries. So whether 237 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,319 the GOP likes it or not, they're going to become the parents Party because 238 00:19:11,799 --> 00:19:18,400 families are holding them to it. To the Moniker of the parents party at 239 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,240 the ballot box. And that's good news for families. It's a political winner 240 00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:30,440 for Republicans too. And in twenty twenty two we have seen actually some Democrats 241 00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:34,759 start to shift on the issue, which is more good news that school choice 242 00:19:34,759 --> 00:19:41,319 is becoming even more bipartisan, even though it's been hyperpartisan in the short run, 243 00:19:41,519 --> 00:19:45,680 with Republicans picking up the football first. Some Democrats are starting to defect 244 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:51,519 on the issue. We had sitting legislators in North Carolina by the name of 245 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:56,279 Tricia Cotham and Georgia by the name of Misha Maynor. They flipped from the 246 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:00,599 Democrat Party to the GOP on the issue of school choice. So Democrats are 247 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:06,480 losing the voters on the issue of education freedom, but even more importantly, 248 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:11,680 they're even losing sitting legislators on the issue. And in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, 249 00:20:11,759 --> 00:20:14,720 he's now the governor, he was the attorney general at the time. 250 00:20:14,759 --> 00:20:19,359 In twenty twenty two, he quietly changed his education platform right before the election 251 00:20:19,799 --> 00:20:26,000 to include private school choice in the form of a specific type called Lifeline Scholarships, 252 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,319 a bill that was passed by their House earlier that year, a bill 253 00:20:30,319 --> 00:20:34,680 that was run by a Republican. It was a Republican bill, and he 254 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,680 even went on Fox News Josh Shapiro did last year in twenty twenty three, 255 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,599 promoting private school choice. He ultimately ended up caving to the teachers unions, 256 00:20:44,799 --> 00:20:48,599 who gave him over seven hundred thousand dollars in that election in twenty twenty two. 257 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:52,559 But my point is, I talk about this in the book that for 258 00:20:52,960 --> 00:21:00,440 a high profile Democrat to feel compelled to signal support publicly for school choice so 259 00:21:00,519 --> 00:21:03,599 much that he's willing to go on Fox News to do so, that is 260 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,240 good news for parents. In the end. It doesn't matter what the reason 261 00:21:06,319 --> 00:21:08,839 is. It doesn't matter whether it was a true change of heart or whether 262 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:15,079 it was because he was reading the tea leaves. That the political winds are 263 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,240 shifting towards school choice and not away from it. That's good news, and 264 00:21:18,279 --> 00:21:22,480 I think it's going to lead to more bipartisan support in the long run. 265 00:21:22,799 --> 00:21:26,839 And we did see this actually this year in Louisiana. Louisiana's House just passed 266 00:21:27,039 --> 00:21:32,519 universal school choice, which means everybody's eligible, no picking winners and losers, 267 00:21:32,839 --> 00:21:37,000 all families can take their money where they want. They pass it by a 268 00:21:37,079 --> 00:21:41,960 super majority vote of seventy two to thirty two, and twenty percent of their 269 00:21:41,039 --> 00:21:45,319 House Democrats voted for it. Now, don't get me wrong, there's only 270 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:52,839 six Democrats in Louisiana, but that is still a substantial chunk of the caucus 271 00:21:52,839 --> 00:21:59,160 of Democrats in Louisiana to not just vote for a low income means tested program. 272 00:21:59,519 --> 00:22:03,880 This was Democrats voting for universal bull thrown in school choice. So louis 273 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:08,160 Ana looks like it's going to become the twelfth state to pass universal school choice, 274 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:15,880 and they're going to do it this year. Don't let what you've built 275 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:19,440 up over decades simply vanish. The watched Out on Wall Street podcast with Chris 276 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,680 Markowski. Every day Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and 277 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:29,559 how it affects your wallet. Frauds teams have cost the elderly three billion dollars, 278 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,119 and what's worse, some Americans are just too embarrassed to report it when 279 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,920 it's happened to them, meaning that number could be much higher. Whether it's 280 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:38,920 happening in DC or down on Wall Street, it's affecting you financially. Be 281 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,559 informed. Check out the Watchout on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski on Apple, 282 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:51,960 Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, that's actually really interesting 283 00:22:52,039 --> 00:22:56,680 too, because one of my big questions for you, Qurey, is where 284 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:02,279 people think of, you know, the politics of that time almost as something 285 00:23:02,319 --> 00:23:04,480 that's in the rear view mirror right now. And maybe that's because the much 286 00:23:04,559 --> 00:23:10,039 hyped red wave where we'd have you know, Glenn Youngkins fanning out across America, 287 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:15,720 just an army of them, failed to materialize. But this is absolutely 288 00:23:15,759 --> 00:23:21,480 still happening. The Shapiro point is a great one. So what stage of 289 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,559 the parental revolution would you say we're in right now, Corey. Yeah, 290 00:23:25,559 --> 00:23:29,279 as I mentioned, we've had eleven states already past universal school choice, meaning 291 00:23:29,319 --> 00:23:33,039 everybody can take their money where they want public, private, or home based 292 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,440 education options. And that's you know, you might say that's only a fifth 293 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,480 of all the states, but that's a fifth of all the states in just 294 00:23:40,559 --> 00:23:44,119 a few years. This is one of the hardest policies to pass because the 295 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:51,759 teachers' unions they basically can extort taxpayer money through the government school system and use 296 00:23:51,799 --> 00:23:55,680 it to one give a lot of money to politicians, but then also they 297 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,799 have a lot of foot soldiers because they've basically turned the school system into a 298 00:24:00,039 --> 00:24:03,519 jobs program for adults as opposed to an education initiative for kids. This is 299 00:24:03,559 --> 00:24:07,680 why you see them when they get more money, they don't push for higher 300 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,119 teacher salaries. They don't push for putting the money into the classroom. They 301 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,720 push for putting more and more people into the buildings because that gives them more 302 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,079 political leverage to have a stronger voting block. And oh, by the way, 303 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,799 it means more dues paying members for the union bosses like Randy Weingarten, 304 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,839 who make over five hundred thousand dollars a year. They don't really benefit the 305 00:24:26,839 --> 00:24:32,319 teachers in the system. But look they're they're definitely not in it for the 306 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,880 kids. And ninety nine point nine percent of the campaign contributions coming from the 307 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:44,160 American Federation of Teachers went to Democrats the most recent election cycle. This is 308 00:24:44,519 --> 00:24:48,279 an elaborate money laundering scheme and it ought to be illegal. But the thing 309 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,200 is, there are more parents than employees in the system. They are the 310 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,519 stronger union. The kids union is going to be the one that prevails in 311 00:24:56,559 --> 00:25:02,759 the end, and politicians should listen to them. So Corey, that point 312 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,039 I actually am fascinated. I've asked so many people this question, but I'm 313 00:25:07,039 --> 00:25:12,920 fascinated based on this book as to where you fall down on how parents what 314 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,480 it is that is most animating for parents to get off the sidelines. So, 315 00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:22,200 for example, at the Federals, so we did a whole documentary before 316 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,240 the Louden County elections had really even kicked off, just talking to parents, 317 00:25:26,799 --> 00:25:30,359 and we were talking to people who had been animated by so many different things. 318 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,519 For some of them it was COVID, you know, people that had 319 00:25:33,559 --> 00:25:37,799 voted for Obama, but because of the mandates over COVID suddenly started to rethink 320 00:25:37,839 --> 00:25:41,960 their entire worldviews. For some of them, they were on minorities, they 321 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,640 were immigrants, and they were furious with the critical race theory. What I 322 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,000 hear from most people is that it's kind of a mix of all of these 323 00:25:48,039 --> 00:25:52,240 different things that animated parents around the country at the same time, because it 324 00:25:52,279 --> 00:25:56,519 was all kind of coming to a head. But from your perspective, what 325 00:25:56,599 --> 00:25:59,799 is it, what do you think is the most the biggest motivator for parents 326 00:25:59,839 --> 00:26:03,839 to get off the sidelines and to become part of this revolution. Yeah, 327 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,119 it's really hard to point PenPoint, but only I think you're right that it 328 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,039 is a mix of factors. It can't just be COVID in the school closures, 329 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:15,720 because well, the schools are open and the momentums continuing. I mean, 330 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,839 if you think about it, we had the most momentum for school choice 331 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:22,680 in twenty twenty three. The schools were opened by twenty twenty three, and 332 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,559 we had eight states, the vast majority of the states that are universal now 333 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:32,759 passed a private school choice initiatives for all families in twenty twenty three, dubbing 334 00:26:32,799 --> 00:26:36,759 it the Year of Universal school Choice. And then this year we're having We 335 00:26:36,839 --> 00:26:41,839 had Wyoming past the new school choice initiative their first education savings account. Georgia 336 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,640 passed their first education savings account. Missouri has momentum right now, they already 337 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,839 pass it through their Senate. South Carolina had one chamber past universal school choice 338 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,640 already, Louisiana's already had one chamber pass. And we're still in the middle 339 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,519 of this, right So a lot of this movement is still happening, and 340 00:26:57,559 --> 00:27:02,559 we're in twenty twenty four. But if you had to ask me, look, 341 00:27:03,039 --> 00:27:08,200 we always knew that the academics were garbage in some of the government run 342 00:27:08,279 --> 00:27:14,519 schools, and we didn't have a lot of the same kind of motivation to 343 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,559 get up and fight for change when it was all about low test scores. 344 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:26,839 And I think that's because the low test scores disproportionately impact the least advantage in 345 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,240 society, and that's a tragedy. It's still a good reason to argue for 346 00:27:30,319 --> 00:27:34,680 school choice, but it tends to be the groups of Americans who tend to 347 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:40,880 be less politically active, so they have less political influence to actually change things. 348 00:27:41,279 --> 00:27:45,519 I think they still can be a driving force and they should be part 349 00:27:45,519 --> 00:27:52,039 of the equation that low income families should should work their heart their butts off 350 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:56,519 to to get politicians to listen. But what I think what we've seen change 351 00:27:56,559 --> 00:28:00,160 in the past few years is that you now have a lot of different groups. 352 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,640 It's not just low income families upset with the public schools. You now 353 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:10,440 also have politically advantaged families who are assigned to schools with higher test scores starting 354 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,640 to see, look, this is not the end all be all of education. 355 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,119 Test scores aren't everything, and the one size fits all system isn't meeting 356 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:25,279 my needs in XYZ or other words, And I think that mostly has to 357 00:28:25,319 --> 00:28:32,160 do with the radical left seeing the school system as a way to mold the 358 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:37,759 minds of other people's children, and COVID really revealing through the school closures that 359 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,359 the schools weren't all about the basics. They weren't just teaching math, reading 360 00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:45,400 and writing what parents actually want. They were teaching critical race theory, gender 361 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:55,119 ideology, and even incorporating some of that type of leftward bias into math problems 362 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,799 and stuff that you would normally think of as being the basics. The basics 363 00:28:57,799 --> 00:29:03,119 weren't even the basics anymore more, and parents were really upset about that. 364 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,440 They still are, and that's something that parents aren't just going to forget, 365 00:29:06,559 --> 00:29:11,400 right. This is a really important moment in the lives of young children. 366 00:29:11,799 --> 00:29:18,200 A lot of people talk about how Hollywood has an undue influence from the left 367 00:29:18,319 --> 00:29:23,839 on the rest of society and our culture, but the school system is arguably 368 00:29:25,079 --> 00:29:30,519 more powerful, because, look, you're molding the minds of impressionable young children 369 00:29:33,119 --> 00:29:37,720 for thirteen years of their lives, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and then 370 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:45,319 that doesn't even count college For young adults learning from these lunatics at the universities, 371 00:29:45,559 --> 00:29:51,039 it's hard to beat that as conservatives, the left doesn't even really have 372 00:29:51,079 --> 00:29:53,759 to have kids anymore. If they can control all of these other institutions, 373 00:29:55,319 --> 00:29:59,720 they can shape culture in a way that aligns with their values and raise other 374 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,160 people's children in their own values using the school system. And that has pissed 375 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:10,640 off a lot of conservative parents, and they've woken up there never going back 376 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:15,359 to sleep because this is their children we're talking about. And the more that 377 00:30:15,519 --> 00:30:19,319 social media has allowed us to expose a lot of the rot in the public 378 00:30:19,359 --> 00:30:25,319 school system, the more we're going to see more victories when it comes to 379 00:30:25,759 --> 00:30:29,759 one parents having more of a say in their children's education with the public schools, 380 00:30:30,039 --> 00:30:33,319 but also being able to take their money with them, which by the 381 00:30:33,359 --> 00:30:37,359 way, has the side benefit of the public schools actually upping their game in 382 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,119 response to competition. If you can actually take your money with you, they're 383 00:30:41,119 --> 00:30:45,880 going to listen to you, as opposed to cutting off your mic and calling 384 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,720 you a domestic terrorists. Maybe they'll treat you as a customer and do a 385 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,200 better job. And in fact, we've seen all across the country, twenty 386 00:30:52,279 --> 00:30:56,359 nine studies have looked at this, and twenty six of them of the twenty 387 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,920 nine have found positive effects of private school choice competition on the outcomes in the 388 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,359 public schools, but it also should give them an incentive to focus more on 389 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:10,759 the basics as opposed to politically divisive topics, because if you have to operate 390 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,920 in a market environment where you don't want to lose any of your customers, 391 00:31:15,279 --> 00:31:17,640 well, a lot of people are from the left, and there's a lot 392 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:19,440 of customers from the right. I think Michael Jordan said it best. He 393 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:25,839 said he's something along the lines of Republicans still buy shoes too, where he 394 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:30,079 was basically saying he didn't want to upset Republicans. Well, the public schools 395 00:31:30,119 --> 00:31:37,200 would have to operate in that way as well and not include fringe ideologies on 396 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,640 the right or the left in the school system, and so they'd have a 397 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:45,279 strong incentive to just focus on educating the kids what most parents actually want. 398 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,119 So this is a win win solution. Obviously, when you get a choice, 399 00:31:49,279 --> 00:31:52,720 parents can choose the school that's immediately the best fit for their childs. 400 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,759 But it has a side benefit of competition, school choice being a rising tide 401 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:04,640 that lifts all boat. Yes, Corey, are you optimistic? I hope 402 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,640 you're going to say yes. I'm optimistic that you're optimistic, Corey, but 403 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,839 you've watched this transpire over the last several years in ways that you know. 404 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,839 Honestly, I didn't. I figured maybe at some point parents would revolt, 405 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:22,440 But I was so pessimistic after the years and years of these obvious ideological problems 406 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,400 cropping up and then being ignored by the corporate press, barely getting to parents, 407 00:32:25,519 --> 00:32:30,839 parents being apathetic, just assuming that everything was fine, et cetera. 408 00:32:30,319 --> 00:32:35,839 But that was a real I think it was really amazing to see what people 409 00:32:36,039 --> 00:32:39,960 like yourself, activists advocates were able to organize over the last several years. 410 00:32:40,279 --> 00:32:45,200 Are you optimistic that you know things like school choice, that things like parental 411 00:32:45,279 --> 00:32:50,599 oversight? Do you think some of this stuff is really setting students on a 412 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:55,359 better track, because the metrics of where American students are are enormously depressing. 413 00:32:57,599 --> 00:33:00,440 Absolutely. Actually, a pure reviewed meta analysis came out just the other day 414 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:06,079 from one of the reason I know about it is because it was my advisor, 415 00:33:06,119 --> 00:33:09,599 Patrick Wolfe at the University of Arkansas. He's a professor there. He 416 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,799 is one of the co authors on the study. But they found that when 417 00:33:13,839 --> 00:33:21,480 you take the meta analytic average of all the effects of studies linking school choice 418 00:33:21,559 --> 00:33:29,079 to civic outcomes like political tolerance of others and and and volunteerism and other civic 419 00:33:29,119 --> 00:33:32,240 outcomes, those kinds of things that you would think about political participation, school 420 00:33:32,359 --> 00:33:37,559 choice is actually associated with a five and a half percent of a standard deviation 421 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:43,839 improvement in civic outcomes. And this is this is this is a great result. 422 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,960 There's tons of studies on the on the on the is on the issue, 423 00:33:47,279 --> 00:33:51,039 and we've kind of been able to count the studies before and say, 424 00:33:51,079 --> 00:33:52,400 hey, look, there's you know, one hundred or so studies. The 425 00:33:52,519 --> 00:33:57,880 majority of them are positive. There's a couple of them that are nakedive out 426 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:02,400 of the one hundred, and this meta analysis allows us to pool all those 427 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:08,239 effects sizes together and they found positive effects of school choice on civic outcomes, 428 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:14,480 which is the opposite of what the public school defenders will say. These defenders 429 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,000 of the status quo will say that, oh, we need public schools because 430 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:22,320 they're the bedrock of democracy. And my first response to that is, do 431 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:30,440 you think we're in a politically tolerant, non polarized society today. No? 432 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:34,000 And guess what, we have ninety percent of kids going through the government school 433 00:34:34,039 --> 00:34:40,159 system today, it hasn't led to this politically tolerant and non divisive society that 434 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:49,360 is theorized by those who defend the traditional system that they basically have this fairy 435 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,280 tale model of how the public school should work. But that's not actually how 436 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:57,159 the public education system works today. And in fact, if you're not teaching 437 00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:02,599 kids the basics and you're teaching them to pit themselves against each other based on 438 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:12,519 immutable characteristics, you're going to only divide society even more so competition and allowing 439 00:35:12,519 --> 00:35:17,199 families to go to schools that teach the basics, that teach kids to think 440 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:22,480 logically, as opposed to I think in so many schools if they're not teaching 441 00:35:22,519 --> 00:35:28,159 logic correctly, you're going to be more likely to go through society assuming that 442 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:32,480 everybody you disagree with must just be an evil an evil person. But if 443 00:35:32,519 --> 00:35:37,719 you're learning logic, you're going to see that that's a logical fallacy, and 444 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:43,679 you'll be more likely to be able to disagree with someone based on the merits 445 00:35:43,679 --> 00:35:49,159 of their arguments as opposed to attacking them and their character. And so that's 446 00:35:49,159 --> 00:35:54,880 what this study actually found. I'm optimistic that the revolution is going to continue 447 00:35:55,719 --> 00:36:00,639 because it's not just the right thing to do, it's also a political winner. 448 00:36:00,039 --> 00:36:04,880 It's leading to better outcomes. And it's not just outcomes that are measured 449 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,440 by test scores. I mean these there's so many studies finding that school choice 450 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:14,480 leads to more safety for students. I've actually done a peer reviewed study recently 451 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,480 that the Wall Street Journal editorial board actually covered. They called it. Their 452 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,880 headline was school choice better than Prozac. And what we found in that study 453 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:29,320 was yeah, I mean I didn't pick the headline, but look we found 454 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:34,360 it, right, Yeah, yeah, we found an improvement in mental health 455 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,639 too, So I mean that wasn't a surprising result to me, but as 456 00:36:37,679 --> 00:36:40,239 it was a rigorous study, peer reviewed in a top journal, and we 457 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:46,000 found that going to a private school all l sql led to better mental health 458 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:52,440 outcomes, even though even after we controlled for a baseline measure of mental health 459 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:57,440 when students started their schooling experience. So we were able to net out, 460 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,239 make it and make apples to apples compare, and look, if you're going 461 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:06,079 to a safer place, you're probably and you're not being bullied, you're probably 462 00:37:06,079 --> 00:37:08,800 going to have less mental health issues. And we followed these students until they 463 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:15,400 were into it, far into adulthood. I don't remember the actual age of 464 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,760 the average person in the sample when they reported the long term outcome. But 465 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:27,119 it's not that shocking of a finding when look, people choose schools again for 466 00:37:27,159 --> 00:37:31,559 a lot of reasons, partially academics, but partially Look, it's Maslow's hierarchy 467 00:37:31,599 --> 00:37:36,079 of needs, and a lot of families are choosing schools just to get the 468 00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:37,559 bare minimum. They want their kid in a safe environment. They don't want 469 00:37:37,559 --> 00:37:43,280 their kid doing drugs, they don't want their kid getting involved with the criminal 470 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,159 justice system. And so a lot of my research has shown there are these 471 00:37:46,199 --> 00:37:51,760 long term benefits of school choice that aren't measured by test scores. But we 472 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,920 also do have some evidence to suggest that there are competitive effects the public school 473 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:00,760 test scores go up. We saw this in Florida. In Florida, they've 474 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:07,599 been incrementally increasing school choice for decades. They went universal last year, making 475 00:38:07,599 --> 00:38:09,800 everybody eligible, but even before then, they already had about eighty percent of 476 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:15,559 the population in Florida eligible for a private school choice initiative. But as they've 477 00:38:15,599 --> 00:38:20,519 expanded it over time, their nation's report card scores went from the middle of 478 00:38:20,559 --> 00:38:27,800 the pack to the top after controlling for different student demographics across states according to 479 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,440 the Urban Institute's America's Grade Book looking at the nation's report card scores. So 480 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:37,920 this has a lot of different benefits, and it also is a way to 481 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:43,960 save our country if the public schools are teaching kids not to like each other 482 00:38:44,039 --> 00:38:50,559 based on immutable characteristics, or they're pitting students against each other with critical theory. 483 00:38:52,559 --> 00:38:55,440 It also student surprised us that one civic outcomes could improve, which is 484 00:38:55,440 --> 00:39:00,360 what the meta analysis that was peer view just found. So it should. 485 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:06,639 It should allow families to choose a school that's aligned with their own values and 486 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,480 raise the kids how they want. I think that's a really important piece of 487 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:15,000 this that has been missed in the conversation pre covid. This is a way 488 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:16,320 to raise your kids. I mean, whether you like it or not, 489 00:39:17,039 --> 00:39:23,480 schooling is a way to outsource some bit of raising your child for seven hours 490 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:28,039 a day for thirteen years of their lives. I think homeschooling is one way 491 00:39:28,119 --> 00:39:35,800 to make the decision as easy as possible when it comes to raising your kids 492 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,760 in the way that's aligned with your values. But if you should at least 493 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:45,679 be able to choose the community that your child is surrounded with. And maybe 494 00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:50,480 the public school does reflect your values, but maybe it doesn't. And maybe 495 00:39:50,519 --> 00:39:53,280 you want to choose a private school, maybe a smaller, maybe even a 496 00:39:53,280 --> 00:40:00,280 micro school, where you're much more likely to find a a teacher or a 497 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:07,960 guide or a tutor who shares the values that you shared. They're not actively 498 00:40:07,039 --> 00:40:14,760 working against you throughout the day. For thirteen years in the classroom, Corey 499 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:21,559 DeAngelis is the author of the new book The Parent and Revolution, Rescuing Your 500 00:40:21,639 --> 00:40:25,639 Kids from the Radicals Ruining our Schools. That book is out on May fourteenth. 501 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:30,119 Corey is also a Senior Fellow at the American Federation for Children, where 502 00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:31,760 they do so much great work. Corey, thank you for joining us. 503 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,199 Hey, thank you so much. You've been listening to another edition of The 504 00:40:36,199 --> 00:40:38,559 Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Emily Jashitski, culture editor here at The Federalist. 505 00:40:38,639 --> 00:40:43,360 We will be back soon with more. Until Ben, the Lovers of Freedom 506 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:44,639 and Anxious for the Frame