Dom celebrates School Choice Week and is joined by Sen.

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, and it is a very, very big week here. It is School Choice Week.

You know, we can critique, I have some statistics here of how big of a deal this is in certain circles.

I'm looking at the National School Choice Association events since January 2011 270,000 flagship events meaning big deal national 55 school choice week by the numbers how many schools school districts and the like have been involved in some way shape or form 28,000 so National School Choice Week January 25th through the 31st is a week that we celebrate

one of the most successful parent-driven education reforms in decades. Under the Trump administration, school choice has gained national traction. Now, it's rare. We've been talking about that a lot on this show. And it's now a parent-first policy embraced by families nationwide. With Congress advancing a federal, federal school choice tax credit, this week gives us an opportunity to discuss how these reforms are going to have results for families and students

the United States. But they are only going to have those results if these governors stop their nonsense. And some of them are Republicans. At every state that picks this up at every level, I'm in Pennsylvania, I'll take care of Josh Shapiro, but you can too, who claims he's still studying this like it's the Rosetta Stone, it's hieroglyphics. We now have, as I speak this week, an old school, new school, next school.

We have 20 governors signed off. 20. 19 of them are Republicans. Governor Jarrett Poulos of Colorado, hardly a red state, is the other. And I want to salute him as being a hero by doing the right thing here during School Choice Week. But first, I want to welcome in one of the architects, and I'll tell you more about Colorado and Poulos.

I want to welcome in one of the architects of the school choice movement, a heavy hitter in Washington, big stuff with the Trump administration, Republican Senator Dave McCormick. McCormick is someone who has joined me recently, and I'm going to play you what he told me around this issue of school choice during school choice week, how he thinks it's going, the politics of it, the money.

And he is a guy that works across the aisle. He's very friendly with John Fetterman. They don't agree on everything. But in Pennsylvania, the two of them have stood firm on this. And he is mystified that our governor, Josh Shapiro, and these other 30 governors have not signed off on this. This ought to be a united front. Well, I don't believe Josh Shapiro can sign off because of the teachers unions and the like. There's no excuse on this.

We have reached a magic number of 20 governors now, I believe, who have signed off on something you are a prime driver of in the big, beautiful bill. Something that will set up this system in 2027. I guess it takes effect, but 2026 is the ramp up where parents and their kids could make better choices about schooling. And it benefits the public schools, as I understand it.

And one brave Democrat who is pretty liberal guy and outside the box. And I've been talking to people in Colorado for the podcasts I do on school choice about him and how much blowback he got, but how determined he is. Governor Paul is to see this through. So we have 20 at this point. How are you feeling about that? Well, listen, I'm most focused on Pennsylvania. I think it's as you said, the big, beautiful bill had a school choice provision, which allows individuals.

to have $1,700 tax-free exemption to donate funds philanthropically to School Choice.

The beauty of this is it's all new money, Dom.

So if Pennsylvanians want to give money to School Choice and Pennsylvania doesn't opt in to this program, then those kids in Pennsylvania won't get the benefit of it.

It's not going to take a single dollar away from the public schools.

It's all brand-new money from individuals.

And I think the case could not be stronger. What you hear the teachers union say and what you hear the opponents of school choice say, no, this will take money out of the existing schools. This will take money away from existing students. No, this is all brand new money. So I don't know how anybody with a sound mind who cares about kids wouldn't say we want the extra money. And by the way, we'll get money from states from people outside of Pennsylvania supporting school choice in Pennsylvania. And this is something I know you feel the same way.

If you're really committed to equality, not of outcome, but opportunity, the best thing you can do is give every kid the choice to have the education that's best for them. And listen, this is just a start. There's so much more we need to do. But man, if we don't, if the governor doesn't opt into this, and I've encouraged him very respectfully to do so, if he doesn't opt into this, we're going to miss an enormous opportunity for Pennsylvanians.

Now, Stacey Garrity on my show a dozen times has opted in, can hardly wait, running for governor. Does the governor say anything to your back? I mean, he can't possibly say, Senator, look, he's a smart guy. As political as they come, he understands all the ins and outs. There's nothing here that's new. There's no magic. There's no subsection. As you said, this is new money straightforward. Governor Polis, who some would argue might even be on the spectrum seen as more liberal than Governor Shapiro,

has opted in and he gave all the reasons that you and I are doing so one has broken the ice already yeah well listen the governor and his team have said that they're reviewing it which which I appreciate but now's the time to act as you said 20 other governors and you know listen the governor Shapiro is tiptoed around this issue for a long time my my instincts I don't want to get inside his head but I think he probably knows this is good for Pennsylvania good for Pennsylvania kids and it's just whether he wants to take the plunge politically I hope he'll do that

I've encouraged him to do that. I think this is something that the pendulum has swung.

We've hit the breaking point. We saw during COVID how our schools are failing us. Anyone who thinks that we should continue to just do the same thing we're doing is not looking at the data. This is a way to begin to reform and evolve our education system.

By the way, Tom, I keep saying this, but you know it. We already have school choice in our country. It's for rich people. It's for people that can afford tuition anywhere.

The people this benefits most are the people that are living paycheck to paycheck. It gives them the opportunity to have great school options just like those that have money. I don't understand how anyone could be against it.

All right, that's Senator Dave McCormick during School Choice Week. That's in real time giving you a sense of the politics of this, how it will work in the big, beautiful bill, the mechanism, the good that it will do.

And the only one who signed off that's a Democrat is Governor Polis out there in Colorado.

A guy named Steve Shuck, a longtime advocate of school choice, wrote in the Colorado paper, it's a life changer.

He is the founder of the education nonprofit Parents Challenge.

It's a game changer in Colorado for the country, for education generally, and sure as hell for the kids stuck in underperforming, failing schools, like, sadly, the Philadelphia Public Schools. Now, this was countered in this debate when Paulus did this by Lise Weill, Executive Director of Great Education Colorado, a nonprofit dedicated to grassroots education activism, believes this program is the proverbial camel's nose under the tent that would lead to a

much broader universal voucher program in Colorado. You know what? Maybe I'll get Lisa wheel on and you know what? I'll tell her out of the box. I'm praying, Lisa, that that's what happens. I'm praying that we wear you down. You don't stand in the schoolhouse door. She says, we believe that public dollars should stay in public schools. This voucher program is about privatizing, treating education like a commodity rather than the public good that

We do together as a community. Imagine the public good schools in Colorado, where I am in Philadelphia, where you have year after year in the Philadelphia public schools, entire schools in Baltimore. They're a better example, maybe. It's an ungodly percentage that I have not one kid that is proficient in reading or math, not one. Hey, Lisa, tell me about the public good. How is that the public good?

So I salute Governor Paulus this week during school choice week. He's doing exactly the right thing. He said, if I don't do this, the surrounding states will do this. That money will go to them. You heard Dave McCormick talk about the $1,700. You can take it off for your taxes if you want to do that. It's tax free. It's new money. They will fight this to the death. And people like Lisa Weill may be a nice woman. I don't know.

But she is making this like this is some kind of monstrosity we're creating. Evil power brokers are going to benefit from this by what they do with the public schools. The public schools, many of them are fine. Now, you do have the indoctrination. You do have those elements you may not like, the transgender issues, God knows. But what in the world is propping up schools?

And I'm not blaming the teachers per se. What I'm saying is though year after year after year we hear this nonsense. Now as I said Governor Paulus I looked at his record. Now here's his spokesperson Shelby Wyman said in a statement last week cited by Chalkbeat that Paulus simply does not want to have hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money on the table that could provide additional funding for such programs.

The tax credit creates an immense opportunity for Coloradans to support students in our state, but only if we opt in. He went on to say to Spokes' question, we welcome the opportunity to work with school districts and other educational institutions to ensure this credit can benefit the greatest number of students across our state with evidence-based programs that supplement school days. Made it clear he doesn't see this program as a traditional voucher program. Okay.

A guy who is on the liberal side, to put it mildly, engaging in this. This is a big moment. So we're in the beginning of 2026. This does not kick in until 2027 that it actually starts. But so far, it is not bad to see this happening. So as we celebrate School Choice Week here with Dom Giordano and Old School, New School, Next School,

I'm looking at reports from the field headline from Fox News major city school districts losing students as parents seek better options New York City, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Seattle those districts all lose students big time by a group the American ALEC it's called ALEC the American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC has released its

2026 Index of State Education Freedom. There's the word, Braveheart, Freedom. That's what we're fighting for, freedom of the kids and parents to make a choice at a better life, right? They say that they rank schools based on five categories, student-funded, centered funding, charter schools, home schools, virtual schools, and open enrollment. For the third year, the top spot went to, drum roll please, Florida.

which earned an A+. Texas advanced 15 spots to number 9 after passing universal school choice. Pennsylvania, meanwhile, ranked 32nd overall, earning an abysmal D. By category, we earned a D in student-centered learning, a C in charter schools, an F in homeschooling, a C in virtual schools, and a D in open enrollment. That is shameful, and our governor is running

for president. On what record? So as we continue to celebrate this week,

I'm looking at the hopeful signs. One Democrat has broken the ice. We have to continue to

pressure the media to talk about this. This is billions of dollars. It is a big deal. It's going to

involve people who want to be charitable, see the wisdom of school choice. They then send up to

$1,700 to these nonprofits, which will be dispersing that for worthy kids and parents.

And Governor Polis has broken through, as have 19 other states, some that are top of my mind, Florida, Nebraska, all over the country.

I would predict, say by the time we get to March, you're going to see the number be about at least 30, I think, will crack. And I'm thinking we'll have maybe two or three Democrats. And then we're going to start to call out every one of these other Democrats. What are they waiting for? Governor Shapiro here in Pennsylvania said, well, I'm still studying that. Interesting term, Governor. When kids are in your failing schools, they're not going to improve.

You know it and I know it. That's this week's report on School Choice Week. Let's pivot a bit to what we try to do each and every week, and that is make America smart again. Now, School Choice will be one of the major ways to do that, ultimately, but also there are all kinds of things constantly going on that parents should be aware of that allow us to,

identify some of the things that are holding kids back and the ability to move forward.

So this week, I would tell you that we are seeing intense looks at issues like phones in schools, places like New Jersey.

Some of the states out west, they're getting very, very close to passing laws that are going to attach money and everything else toward limiting.

or removing cell phone usage in school, particularly in classrooms.

That is all happening. That is a biggie.

But the other thing that I wanted to address this week, where I am and across most of the country, we've seen it over the past weekend, across most of the country, we are seeing snowbound people.

It's been I wouldn't say brutal. It was a pretty big storm here in Pennsylvania.

But down south, we saw all kinds of problems with icing, etc.

So we go into this remote learning type of thing. Remote learning came out of COVID. Remote learning, by and large, in most school districts is not, I don't know about calling it a scam, it is not operational. Now, we need to do better if that's going to be the line of defense.

And that's going to be something

that we continue to put out there.

Otherwise, it breeds a lot of discontent.

It breeds cynicism.

That you're just really checking a box for that day.

Now, with one snow day, all of us across the country,

well, 70%, 75% of states had something like that.

In the South, really hard hit for a day or two.

I would give the snow day.

I'm fine with that.

that what's happening in schools that needs to be examined is time on task, not a snow day. Make a big stink over that. Now we have to have a remote system that's cockamamie. I'm talking about time on task during schools rather than cluttering it up with all kinds of various activities that take away from that, particularly with reading and math. And what we're seeing across the country, a little bit

about math and what is the best manner. If you're a parent that wants to get the best for your kid and there's a problem with math, I would recommend a guy I talked to eons ago, John Saxon. His math books continuously have you repractice as much as possible the very basic skills all the way through the year as you advance in other problems. It's genius. And they have been very effective.

As far as reading, I'm seeing more and more states adopt the science of reading, translation, a phonics-based approach. That is the most effective way. We know it. Why were people moving away from phonics? Because suddenly memorization is not something they think is a good thing. I happen to think it is a good thing. And I think that using phonics correctly is going to result in a nation of more and better readers.

The other thing I always recommend is E.D. Hirsch, H-I-R-S-C-H, University of Virginia, the author of a book about the 3,000 words and phrases every American should know. It's about bringing to reading context, and the only way you do that is if you know things like a phrase like, a bird in a hand is worth two in the bush, 1914 to 1917, the World War I, 1861-1865, Civil War.

He's also written companion books, What Every Kid Should Know by the End of First Grade, What Every Kid Should Know by the End of Second Grade. You can monitor your own child. That's E.D. Hirsch, H-I-R-S-C-H. Those are a couple of the guidelines I would give you that make sense, and I hope you try them out. So let's all celebrate together. It's happening. We're on the march. We're going to see more and more states adopt universal school choice.

We're up to around 18. Mississippi is duking that out. On the federal level, though, this is a heck of a breakthrough in the big, beautiful bill. And what you're going to see in 2026 if we do our job is pressure on these governors to tell us why would you not take what is new money? It has nothing to do with money, public schools or whatever. And we go through here on old school, new school, next school.

All the things, all the lame excuses that are put up against school choice.

Kudos to the governor in Colorado for resisting that.

He's in a definite blue state, and he did it.

Let's see who makes the plunge next.

And again, we're only up to 20.

That's a lot more Republican governors.

Why have they not signed off?

Well, they get away with it because the media is not doing their job.

They're not putting pressure on them to tell us yes or no. I don't think any governor has rejected this yet. So you're saying, well, why haven't they signed? They're hoping to skate on this. They're hoping we will not notice it. In future shows, we'll give you the names of the governors once this becomes, we'll give a little bit more time, becomes apparent who has signed on and who has not. So thanks for listening again, and thanks for Senator Dave McCormick joining us with his thoughts on school choice.

this week, what's going to happen, the politics of it, the liberation of it, the word freedom is certainly attached to it. That's exactly each week here. Now, if you want to send me an email, just go to my email, domshow, D-O-M-S-H-O-W, at AOL.com. We'll see you next week here, same time, same podcast, old school, new school, next school.

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