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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 this week's edition of Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano.

And boy, do we have some good stuff this week, some progress in making America smarter again, some progress in school choice, which is a core element of that.

We just this week had another Martin Luther King Day.

And again, you have to be crazy not to salute the great Martin Luther King and his sacrifice. But too often on Martin Luther King Day, you see people that want to talk about the negatives in America, particularly toward minorities, African-Americans, Hispanics, versus a scorecard of the progress of what's happened over the last 20, 25, 30 years or more.

So the New York Post echoed in their editorial page what Dom Giordano is saying here on Old School, New School, Next School.

And they talked about today still some inequities that people of color would face.

They talked about living in neighborhoods where black on black crime because of progressive ideas is allowed to run rampant, the killings, the lack of safety.

But they also hit the sweet spot by talking about on Martin Luther King Day, a giant inequity, bad schools, stinking schools, schools that suck. That's right. And they talked about the fact of these elements, often white people, often teachers who send their kids to private schools and teachers unions. They talked about the idea of the people blocking, freeing people and creating competition with the people.

these public schools that shouldn't exist that are bad. There are some that are fine. There are many that are horrible. And in the middle of this discussion on school choice, I happened to see for my radio show that from Corey DeAngelis, who's been on Old School, New School, Next School several times, the evangelical person who is the best on school choice in the country, that now we have the 18th state,

or were close to the 18th state to have universal statewide school choice.

That would be Mississippi.

Now, Mississippi strikes as pretty conservative.

You would think it would be a layup.

But the debate, it heads to the Senate now in the House, was very close on their school choice bill.

And it was beyond belief, really beyond belief, of the standing in the schoolhouse door by Democrat Representative Jim Hines. This guy, I'm going to play for you, talked about school choice. And one of the downsides, he says, what about these parents who don't know what they're doing or have an unsavory lifestyle? He actually said, well,

What if the mom is on meth? Yeah. And the dad is a pimp. And he went on and on with this until the other side got into it with them. Here's how it sounded with Representative Jim Hines. Let's make him famous here in Mississippi. If Little Johnny's mama is on crystal meth and Little Johnny's daddy is a pimp, can you tell me how they're going to be able to choose that Little Johnny,

is getting the right kind of education service when that ain't even on they plate.

I hope little Johnny's got a good grandmama.

Well, again, and little Johnny's grandmama is undereducated.

Tell me how does little Johnny at a private school or academy or whatever you want to call them, going to have the same right as John over here in a public school where there's a school counselor, where there's a principal, where there are other people in place to ensure that my well-being is at stake.

How does that measure? All right, that's the representative. Does it take your breath away? This attitude? Well, how would the kid fend for himself in a private school? He would have counselors in these public schools. Take a look at the results. Take a look at the violence, the bullying, and the whole thing. So now, in this guy's mind, he's going to stand in the way of school choice because there might be a kid out there with a meth addict mom and a pimp dad. I'm trying to get him on my radio show.

If so, you'll hear it. We'll play it for you, his response. But what he said there is beyond belief. Now, that's Jim Hines, relatively buffoonish, right? Democrat in Mississippi. How about Forbes magazine? During 2025, several times I referenced Forbes magazine, capitalism, Forbes. I have to tell Steve Forbes about this. But they wrote editorial after editorial, and one of their major points was,

Parents listening, you parents or parents out there, they may not be able to make good choices about where to send their kids to school. This is the core of this nonsense. They are hell-bent to protect teachers' unions, rotten schools, and I want to say that America's parents are not equipped to make the best decision for their children. Just think about that.

How have we gotten to the point that you can have a guy like Jim Hines and people vote for this guy? Say what he said. I'd put him on here for a whole half hour. We'll go back and forth with his meth and pimp. But how about Forbes magazine? All right, I got another one for you. We've talked on this podcast with Corey DeAngelis and others about a problem in many of the public schools and the only remedy being school choice. You may like your individual teacher.

Sometimes your child's teacher.

But the teachers union in that school statewide and certainly nationally.

Going to play for you next.

A teacher interviewed in Washington state, which is a very progressive hotbed where they're starting to really fight over school choice.

Talking about what it's like day to day inside a school with the teachers union, a guy who's actually a teacher on record saying this.

Here's what he said.

My name is Travis Reap. I am a teacher in North Thurston Public Schools. I'm an elected official of North Thurston Education Association. We all the time talk about in education how we don't have enough mental health specialists. We don't have enough resources in these areas and yet we with this initiative trying to block this initiative we are setting up even more boundaries where parents and families who might have the opportunity to go and find private counseling or private doctor or private medical care don't have that ability because they don't know they need it.

I think in some of the union leadership they actually see if you do not provide gender-affirming care, if you don't support it and provide it, that is abusive in their mind. It's a losing battle. They're putting themselves against parents. They're saying we know better than parents know their own children. It actually pushed me in a position where I'm not allowed to get a parent to come alongside me in some of these situations. I would be violating school policy or even state law to say,

with this concern, I really think you should be informed about this. I am not making a moral decision on what a family decides to do with their child or how to approach the situation. I'm not advocating that they do gender-affirming care or not do gender-affirming care. What I'm advocating for is that they have the knowledge to make that choice on their own. All right, that's more of an indictment of exactly what I'm talking about. So why do they continue to win? Because the empire of public school education, such as it is,

It's not going to give up easy. And it is one of the causal elements of making America dumb every day. So they're succeeding in their business. America is certainly getting dumber every day. Our mission is to make America smart again. Now, Corey DeAngelis, the guy that is the big proponent of school choice, second to none, on his Twitter, I follow it religiously. He put up his list this week of the states.

that have agreed to statewide school choice. They're going to take the money from the big, beautiful bill. It's $5 billion. It goes to nonprofits that are set up and then parents apply and they can get school choice in their state. I wish it were more. I wish it were $50 billion, $100 billion. It's worth it. Here are the states, and you could notice if your governor, and it comes down to the governor, has signed off.

At the end, you might notice one thing about this. Here are the states. Nebraska, Republican governor. Tennessee, Republican governor. South Dakota, Republican governor. Colorado, Democrat governor. Louisiana, Republican governor. Iowa, recently Republican governor. Virginia, Republican governor.

Now, that's Yunkin, who left office, and I'm not sure the new governor, if she can, she's going to put a stop to that. Missouri, Republican governor. Arkansas, Republican governor. Alabama, Republican governor. Idaho, Republican governor. South Carolina, Republican governor. Mississippi, Republican governor. And Georgia, Kemp, just signed off on this just in the last couple of days of this podcast. So you see, and I commend him for it,

Polis in Colorado is the one Democrat on record. Look, Polis is much as said it. The information's out there. Are you going to do it or not do it? Stop the stalling. The media should be on these people. They don't want to do it. Give us your defense of why in the world you don't want to take free money. By free, meaning coming from the taxpayers, not going to take away from the public schools with a big, beautiful bill. So in Pennsylvania, where I am, Governor Josh Shapiro,

who's a major candidate to be the Democrat nominee. I put him in the top three in

2028. He got information this week from the Education Committee members asking him to

opt into this new federal tax credit program, big, beautiful bill. And if he won't, to tell us why he won't, to tell us yay or nay.

Where's the media on this? Always telling us about inequality in America. Oh my God, how bad it is in equities, Martin Luther King Day. Here's the way to help us get out of that. And that would be school choice. These governors have all read it. It's a simple thing. Do you want to do it? Are you afraid of the teachers union? That's all that it comes down to. That's the only thing that we're looking at here that you have to worry about that makes any sense.

Okay. It's just that simple. I'm looking to at a public school teacher who's writing at Real Clear Education, Real Clear Politics, the website. Headline, I've been a public school teacher for 20 years. Trust me, homeschool your kids. And he talks about the things that really matter in schools. Headline, what parents think schools do versus what actually happens.

He talks about it being like a progressive human relations office.

And talks about it doesn't matter if you fail or not.

He talks about the fact that a typical U.S. student spends up to 52% of their school day on a digital device.

What's wrong with that? We've talked about this.

We've talked about that not being the answer.

In fact, it distracts too much digital here. He's laying that out. He says, the moment I realized that he was out, and he talks about an in-service day, we were told to line up on the court at a gym for the in-service day for a privilege walk, and that was it. He was walking out. So he makes it clear how bad it is in the average public, so many public schools across the country.

I gave you what his analogy would be. So as we move into 2026, we are winning in that we are seeing statewide 18 now approaching 17 and approaching 18 with statewide school choice. We have the big, beautiful bill money coming in. And we know that school choice will give freedom. It's a civil rights issue to parents and students.

It also will help to make America smart again.

That's what we're about.

Now, I'm looking at a story from Key Media this week that makes the point that one thing we know about the problem, making America smart again, it's not about school spending.

Research says that the state that did the best job of improving kids' reading ability recently was Mississippi, which spends only about half as much per student as Massachusetts. They have high standards. They are going with phonics. Required all third graders to pass a literacy test. Hired literacy coaches. Coaches, I really believe in that. Screen kits for reading deficiencies. Emphasize phonics.

Louisiana largely copied their success. So you have two states that historically, let's face it, Mississippi, Louisiana, they rank low in almost anything good in the country. And in everything bad, obesity, various learning deficiencies, they rank high. And yet they're succeeding. It is there. So I'm fine that the state of Mississippi and Louisiana are doing this mainly in the public schools. I'm fine with that.

But the bottom line is, in many places, you are not going to see an emphasis on phonics. You're not going to see a removal of the digital. You're not going to see any of this stuff. They are going to continue to do the same old things that have been a disaster in America. So what is the remedy? Well, the remedy to make America smarter again, the thing that we can do in the most imminent. Now, this is a long-term battle. We didn't get into this easily. It's going to take some time to get out of it.

But the one thing that can really be a game changer is school choice. So when you hear people like Jim Hines talk about, well, what if your mama is a meth addict? Usually it's crack, but now it's meth. And your dad is a pimp. What chance does that kid have if he goes to a private school? Just the, oh my God. And the Forbes magazine and the other cut I played you of the teacher in Washington state. You see what we're up against.

The empire does not die easily. They will fight to the death on this. On our side are everything we know in our gut, everything analytically we know, and everything we know morally. School choice is the civil rights issue of our time. There is no doubt about it. The other issue, though, while we're trying to free people up, we can't lose kids.

And if we can't do it with every kid out there, or a large number, we can do it with those parents that are interested and get what we're talking about here every week to be able to do this. Now, if you have a question, comment, something you'd like me to research, talk about, just send me an email. domshow at aol.com, domshow at aol.com, and we'll try to include it in the podcast. And in fact, next podcast,

We're going to talk with somebody in Colorado who has a lot to say about the governor there, the sole Democrat who has signed off on this. And that Democrat, I applaud him, Paulus. He's liberal on many issues, maybe even slightly progressive. But he said, how could I let my constituents down by not taking advantage of something that other states around me will and something that will aid and abet and offer freedom? Now, even though I differ with him, there's a good deal.

There's a guy who gets it. This is about freedom. It's about your child. It's about making America smart again. Love to get him on the show. I'm trying to lay that out. I'm sure the teachers unions are meeting around the clock now to stop this guy. I thought he was going to run for president. We'll see. Your job is to continue to look out for your own child, grandchild, taxpayer money, etc.

You talk about standing in the schoolhouse door and yelling gibberish about a meth mama and a pimp daddy. That's what this debate is coming down to. Take heart. We're beating them. We are going to beat them. We're winning and we're going to win and win and win. Thanks for listening to this week's edition of Old School, New School, Next School.

Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano is a presentation of Giordano Productions LLC. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.