Dom speaks with Matt Brouillette, Founder, President and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Cha…

Welcome to Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano, a podcast devoted to preserving your parental rights, including the right to choose the best school for your child. This podcast is dedicated to gaining the option of school choice for every parent in America.

Here's your host, educator and noted talk media commentator, Dom Giordano.

Hey, everyone. Welcome into old school, new school, next school. Dom Giordano with you.

And someone in whose name I have mispronounced maybe 50 to 70 times over the years is good enough to still come on with us from Commonwealth Partners, Matt Briette.

That was pretty close, wasn't it?

You got it, Dom.

It only took 70 tries.

Now, Matt, formerly we talked years ago, Commonwealth Foundation, which is still going strong, but Commonwealth Partners is what you are mainly involved with now. What is your role? What does Commonwealth Partners, Commonwealth Foundation do? Yeah, so Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs is an association of entrepreneurs and philanthropists that are really most interested in improving Pennsylvania's business climate and educational opportunities for kids.

I left Commonwealth Foundation in 2016 to form Commonwealth Partners

because we had good policy ideas.

We just don't have good politicians to get those policy ideas across the goal line.

So that's why I left the foundation to start Partners.

So, Matt, I had the opportunity twice now to talk with Ryan Boyer,

who, for listeners, runs a major union operation.

He is the guy in Pennsylvania.

His building trades, I believe, men and women, 40,000 people. When he came on with the initial interview, he pretty much followed the line of some things that he had written before, and the word urgency came up a lot when it comes to school choice. He is very direct about the fact that Speakeasy was involved from his grandmother to help him pay, and how he's okay with people even talking about changing addresses. Urgency was the word.

He likened it to Shapiro fixing I-95. When I got him on just recently, though, because of something I had written about, you may have had this joust before. It was news to me, the latest Shapiro defense, which I think has national implications. And what Ryan Boyer told me, the defense seemed to be Josh Shapiro, two things. One, is still involved with school choice, but only for schools that are a bit of a

Fismally Fismally Failing, no metric given. And then the second part is he didn't have the ability to force lowly Democrats to be in the House to do what he wanted originally when he pitched school choice and actually was putting it into action. So let's sort all this out. You're probably the best guy that I know of that I could get at of what's going on here. And I'll even ask you this. I'm interested to pick your brain. What would you have asked as a follow?

up because I was a little bit hard to believe that Boyer was going to say this abysmal thing based upon the first interview. Yeah, so look, Governor Shapiro, to his credit, campaigned on what we have called Lifeline Scholarships. And these are scholarships for kids that are trapped in the bottom 15% of schools. So we're talking about schools where you have, in some cases, 0% proficiency in reading and in math.

And so we were glad to hear Governor Shapiro run as a candidate in support of Lifeline scholarships. He had the opportunity in his very first budget to sign a budget that included these scholarships for kids that are trapped in our worst performing schools. Many times they're the violent schools on top of just academic underperformance. Unfortunately, Governor Shapiro line item vetoed the very program that he said he supports.

and said, look, he was in national television talking about every child is a child of God and that they deserve the opportunity to escape these schools that aren't working for them. So it's great disappointment that he has not fulfilled that promise and that, frankly, you know, that Ryan Boyer is not holding him accountable for that because I think Ryan certainly understands the urgency, the crisis from these kids that are trapped in schools that aren't working for him.

So this defense, though, let's take that part of it, that he is for the failing schools part of this. And then it moves toward this juggernaut called the House Democrats that he can't peel off by all of his powers. He's a national figure. And it brings us to this guy. And I wanted to drill down public enemy number one, who used to come on my radio show, Matt Bradford, out in the suburbs, a white guy.

And I'm saying that because of the tension around this. A lot of these low-performing schools are in the inner city, black and Hispanic students. Ryan Boyer is African-American. Everybody in the world, including Josh Shapiro. I've had people live in the air. Stacey Garrity, the president of the Senate now. Kim Ward. She's the first that said it. Well, he'll have to call Matt Bradford up. Yeah. I am stunned by that. See, we're not in Harrisburg. We're in Philadelphia. We don't know the day-to-day politics.

How does this guy wield that sort of power, Matt? Yeah, well, let me start first of all with Governor Shapiro. Yes. You know his mantra, right? GSD. I don't know if we can say what he- Yeah, you can here, sure. Yeah. So, I mean, he is the get shit done governor, at least as he claims using millions of dollars of taxpayer money, 26 employees constantly pushing the narrative in social media that he gets shit done. Well, frankly, Dom, he ain't got shit done.

on one of the most important things for our kids in Pennsylvania.

And really what it's shown me is that he's not the real governor.

The governor is Governor Matt Bradford.

Because Josh Shapiro can't even get a single Democrat to join with the 101 Republicans to throw these kids that lifeline scholarship.

And I understand why Matt Bradford doesn't want this to see the light of day and has been stymieing Governor Shapiro.

But I think it just shows you that the governor doesn't have weight, doesn't have juice with the House Democrats because he can't get this campaign promise across the goal line. But Matt Bradford, of course, man, he's taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the teachers unions. He moonlights as a lawyer with a firm that contracts with school districts in Pennsylvania. He has every incentive to protect the monopoly of public education and not let these kids get into better performing schools.

And so we're not surprised that Matt Bradford is kind of, you know, as George Wallace blocked the school doors from kids getting in, that Matt is standing there blocking school doors for kids getting out of these failing schools. It's because it's all about the money. It's about the campaign dollars that he gets. PSEA is the largest campaign donor, single donor to Matt Bradford. And of course, then he makes money on the side as a lawyer with school districts that pay him to stop these kinds of things.

things that help kids. So Matt Bradford has all the incentive, but I think it just goes to show you that Governor Shapiro, I mean, can you name any of the big things he's done? He hasn't done anything big.

No. And again, we know when the will is there with this guy, I'll give credit toward that, which makes it even more of a disgrace. When he wanted 95 to be fixed, they came up with a creative solution. They put the building of it up there. I give a lot of credit to that. He knows how to brand and do that. Wanted to go back on the, yeah, that's the only thing I can

I wanted to go back for a moment though I'll say this the media is complicit maybe myself

because I'm not knowledgeable other than doing this school choice show and probing people at your level and some of these elected officials that story of Matt Bradford is not out there the Philadelphia Inquirer's got a hundred people probably covering this do they not I guess they just don't want to go with this is the trade-off that Shapiro will let this guy essentially yes or no he's focused on

Iowa, and that's where it is? Or is it that this guy just has this, I've been told how big now, I had him on two or three times. I thought it was a brawl, but it wasn't. I wasn't. This guy is like, you know, you think of Joe McCarthy or some figure. I'm reading a book about him now. Man, a force of nature. I'm thinking this, again, is a guy from the suburbs who's white, standing in the schoolhouse door. Why would African-American legislators not have

the given inherent ability to stand up to him. Senator Anthony Williams has been a big school

choice guy, and there would be benefit to them from Shapiro and donors and others, and I know some of them personally, they are for school choice.

Yeah, look, privately, when I talk to Democrats in the inner city, they understand the crisis, and they understand that kids need options that we're talking about here, Dom.

The problem is that the teacher unions are the single largest special interest that can either make sure that they stay as a representative or remove them and find somebody else who has. Because, look, they've gone after Tony Williams because of his position on school choice. And they have tamped down others. Amen Brown used to be a vocal supporter. Well, you don't hear anything from him. He could help get this across the goal line. All of them fear the power of the teachers unions.

And so that cudgel that they wield politically, legislatively, keeps them in line.

And that's the unfortunate thing is that they are more interested in keeping their jobs, which frequently are the best paying jobs in their district, than they are in helping the kids stuck in crummy schools in their districts.

But Matt, too, when I talk with him about the big, beautiful bill and how some governors have already said, yes, they're going to accept it.

It does not impact the public schools other than there's provisions in there for computers and other things that the public schools can apply for. It was beyond deflection after deflection of trying to get an answer. Can you at least say, yes, Governor Shapiro, he basically said he hadn't read it. Now, this is a very smart on top of it guy. There's no way he doesn't know this national debate right now that the governor will make that decision.

And Pennsylvania will lose out because a lot of people in Pennsylvania will then contribute to West Virginia or Timbuktu because they want that federal tax credit. They want to do good. This is a no-brainer. A sense of what you think Shapiro will do, the national implications, etc. Or do I have to go to Matt Bradford's house to get the answer? Well, yeah, this, you know, Governor Shapiro likes to talk about how he was cut from his Division III basketball team.

This is even a layup he could have made despite being cut.

The layup of, as you noted, look, Pennsylvanians are going to be able to take this tax credit.

It's a question of whether kids in Pennsylvania will benefit from it.

It takes not a single dollar out of the state coffers.

This is all federal dollars.

Does not impact the budget.

He should have easily said, yes, we will participate.

But I think it just shows you how truly committed he is to school choice.

Look, he himself is the beneficiary of school choice. He had the benefit of private education. His kids do as well. So I think just, you know, I'll give him credit for not being a hypocrite. At least he's giving lip service to school choice. But it comes to the actions. He vetoed the bill. He won't opt into the federal school choice program. I think it's just showing that he's really fearful of the power of the teacher unions as he continues to think more about Pennsylvania Avenue than actually Pennsylvania.

when it comes to these policy issues.

So this idea, let's play it out big time. And I wanted to ask on a positive note to end the roadmap as you see it to getting it done in Pennsylvania as it is in what I would say are similar states. Your sense nationally then is you can't be the Democrat nominee if you actually have done something along the lines of school choice. We look at Newsom. You cannot do it is what you would maintain.

Look, Cory Booker was a strong school choice proponent for a long time. I mean, he was on the stage with Betsy DeVos, you know, Trump's education secretary, pushing for school choice until Cory wanted to be president. And then he completely flip-flopped. You can talk about Elizabeth Warren. Read her book. She supported vouchers. She talked about vouchers. Yes. Anytime these folks want to pursue the highest office in the land,

they end up having to toe the line of the teacher unions. I think Josh had enough hubris to think, well, I will tell them what's going to happen. I'll get more money for the public schools and you're going to give me this little school choice program. Well, I think we know what the teacher union said to him about that. And that's why he vetoed the very campaign promise that he made back in 2022. So I think he is having to rebuild those, you know, relationships because he does want to be president.

President of the United States. Everybody knows that. And that's every motivation or every action that he's taking is in that direction. So you're involved with a lot of people that are trying to make this happen. And that's what this podcast is about. It's about national, but it's also about Pennsylvania. It would be the crown jewel. What's the roadmap then? Is it just that Stacey Garrity has to beat Josh Shapiro? Frankly, I think if we were able to take back the House right now, it's 102, 101 Democrat.

put that on the governor's desk and actually force him to fulfill that commitment.

I think he has continued to try to move the goalposts so he doesn't actually have to do it, so that he can appease his teacher union special interests.

But I think at the end of the day, what we have found is that because of the power of the teacher unions and the Democratic Party,

that has become a very difficult thing to get Democrats to embrace the very thing that they exercise for their own kids

that they recognize is necessary for kids in the worst performing schools. We've thrown more and more money at these schools. They haven't improved. We continue to fail them. And giving them that lifeline is really the only way we can get them out. And frankly, I don't see any Democrats leading on that front. In fact, they cower as they continue to try to climb to the next political office. So parting area, Corey DeAngelis, who I'm friendly with, comes both on the radio and podcast,

has then centered in and I wanted to tap your organizational way. What's the best way to defeat the teachers unions? I'm not going to throw the word enemy around, even though at times, Randy Weingarten, as we're speaking, is still going forward with her book about fascism. Becky Pringle, who, if you can imagine, was scheduled to be on my radio show. So they found out like 10 minutes before they Googled me. And suddenly she had some kind of illness from, you know, doctors.

We're rushing into a 10, Matt. It's like me saying I have to wash my hair. I'm sorry. I can't. So they backed out of that, just the simple back and forth on this, because they've said the same thing. Fascism taking on fascism. That is the goal. Not improvement despite COVID. Not even a window dressing. So what's the language or the methodology to take on the teachers' unions to lessen this power?

Well, look, this is happening in states where Republicans have control. We're seeing that states are embracing school choice. And frankly, I don't care about the teachers unions. I care about the kids. And if the teacher unions actually perform the services for their teachers, let them exist. To me, it's about how we rescue these kids. And it's just a purely political fight where Republicans recognize that choice and competition,

is the only way that you're going to improve quality, lower costs for taxpayers. And so frankly, it's just a political, we got to win this, Dom. We got to, you know, defeat those Democrats that will just tow the teacher union line and keep screwing the kids, you know, to be blunt. And that's why I'm doing what I do. And why, in fact, goes back to why I left the Commonwealth Foundation is because I recognize that we have to play the political game because that's what the teacher unions do. So we're trying to go up against them.

win these political fights so that we can help more kids in Pennsylvania.

But the hopeful sign here, short of beating Josh Shapiro, which the first thing to do is admit that he's beatable.

This isn't a pipe dream that Stacey Garrity has a lot of elements that could beat him.

He's not this juggernaut.

You know, I won't put you in this, but Doug Mastriano, my God.

Oh, yeah. Awful.

It's awful.

I mean, that's who Josh would wish.

I mean, Josh was the biggest campaign contributor to Doug Mastriano. He contributed over $3 million in the primary so that he could face Doug. And the reality is, Dom, is that Josh Shapiro hasn't faced a real challenger. I would argue that he may very well have a glass jaw. And we know that he's very thin-skinned because it doesn't take much to get under it. And I believe that Stacey Garrity could be the one to get in the ring to show us that Josh is not as tough as he likes to talk.

And I hope that for the sake of the kids, just on this one policy issue, that we will get a governor that's strong on this, that actually means what he says, and will do what he said on the campaign trail. And I know Stacey Garrity would do that very thing. Parting, where do we find Commonwealth Partners? Where do we go? Yes, go to thecommonwealthpartners.com is the best place to find me. Well, Matt, thank you. It's been educational. I hope the phone call you have with a guy with a rooster,

that this was a little bit more intelligible. Thank you for joining us today. But I do take away for listeners the fact if we can win the statehouse, the house side, you think there's a possibility there'd be enough pressure to turn that even with Shapiro or beat Josh Shapiro. I'm just picturing the glass jaw as we speak. Indeed. Thanks so much, Dom. Thank you, Matt. To be continued. All right. There is our guest, Matt Briette, here from Commonwealth Partners on

Old School, New School, Next School. Join us next week as we continue with some great guests and hopefully some hopeful guests, particularly here in Pennsylvania. If you want to send me an email, it's easy, domshow, D-O-M-S-H-O-W, at AOL.com, domshow at AOL.com. Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano is a presentation of Giordano Productions, LLC. Copyright 2025.

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