Dom talks with House Speaker Mike Johnson as part of this week's round-up stories from Pe…

Welcome to Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano, a podcast devoted to shedding light on issues pertaining to making America smart again. These include, among many topics, school choice and parental rights. This podcast is dedicated to reversing the deeply disturbing trend known as the dumbing down of America. Now, 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 we have a very special guest right at the top of the podcast this week.

I had the opportunity recently to do a wide-ranging interview with the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

And I'm going to play you the part where we talked about school choice because this is a key guy as we head into the midterms.

I wanted to know the politics of this. Should this not be a nationwide issue, a big debate? For a lot of reasons, it's a civil rights issue of our time. It shows a lot about how both parties see this, and America ought to see that, and then vote accordingly, whichever side they're on. So without further ado, here is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, with Dom Giordano, breaking down school choice.

The big, beautiful bill has resulted now. 29 state speaker, I believe, have signed off on it. Sadly, our guy running for president doesn't know enough to sign off on it, Josh Shapiro. I do hope in the campaign, I realize, but I just think school choice is such a liberating force, and we have teachers unions and Josh Shapiro on the other literally standing in the schoolhouse door. So while I have your ear, is there any way the school choice can make its way into the

Well, it should. It is a huge thing. You're right. Among the many achievements in the Big Beautiful Bill were items and agendas and policies that we dreamed about, worked on for our whole lives as conservatives. And this is the first time school choice has been codified. You mentioned all the states that have opted in. The crazy thing is there's 11 or 12 states, something, whatever the number is right now, of blue states who are opting out. Think of what that decision means. This is free money. It's money to

Go to people to allow their children a better opportunity.

If you poll school choice for informed voters when people understand what it's about,

and like if you're stuck in an inner city with failing schools,

and you can get this amount to send your child to a better education and set up a better future,

it's a no-brainer.

These are like 95% public opinion poll issues.

The fact that the blue states are opting out means very simply all that money is going to not go to a state like Pennsylvania,

California, New York, it's going to go to the states that I've been. So they're just literally leaving money on the table. It's crazy. It's crazy policy. I tell you what, Dom, Newt Gingrich has a way of saying things so concisely. And he told me the other night on the phone, he said, Mike, this election cycle is not a contract with America election year. This is a contrast for America. It's common sense versus crazy. And we know what side the Republicans are on. We're the common sense team.

All right, even though that's a very brief segment I was able to get with the speaker, it says a lot. And it says a lot about the politics of this and what people should be aware of and maybe what they should be voting on. I mean, this week here, I'm in the Pennsylvania area. A study came out saying that Harrisburg, Harrisburg Public School students, which is our state capital, that's where all the politicians are, including Josh Shapiro,

the governor who's running for president. Only 12% can read. Based upon the current test, only 12% of public school students in Harrisburg are proficient enough in reading to match the state standard. Only 12%. That means 88% or not. It is the capital city. All right, that's one bit of news here. The other thing is in Colorado, we had on a great talk show host,

from Colorado talking and sent me some material this week. We've sewn in on Colorado because Governor Polis in Colorado is a key figure. I think he's running for president also. And Governor Polis is a bit of a progressive, a liberal, but a smart guy. And he's the one Democrat that said, you know what, I'm going to take the money in the big, beautiful bill to fund these nonprofits that then will release a lot of money towards students,

and their parents to get into a good school, a school that fits them, what this show is all about. It's also about making America smarter, and that would do it. That would be very helpful to do this. Anyhow, the Colorado legislature, they're not satisfied that the governor has ruled, which is constitutional, is legal. They are fighting a rear guard action. If you can imagine, they have several bills in Colorado now, standing in the schoolhouse door still.

which would try to prevent any number of nonprofits and then the schools that the kids could go to. They're mainly, sadly, honing in on religious schools. A lot of the information, you can look it up, says that they're discriminatory. Catholic schools, which I'm a product of. Here we go. They cannot take this defeat that a man on the left, Governor Polis, has started the ball rolling.

Now, there's two other Democrat governors who were overridden by their legislature. We're up to 29 states now and more pending by next week. I think there could be 32 or so that said, yes, this is new money. We want to free these kids. What are we talking about here with these people? What we're talking about, I'll be kind, is a big difference of opinion politically, worldview. My worldview is pretty simple, and I think America's worldview is pretty simple.

This is a very freeing element. Let me just give you another case in point. NPR, which leans to the left, big time. They actually did a show this week on this issue of school choice. And they sent investigators into Iowa, which has a robust school choice program, and they went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I've been to Iowa to cover the primaries and all that stuff a couple times.

I've never been that I remember to Cedar Rapids, but fine American town, middle class, relatively small town. And what did they find? Well, they found that a lot of people are taking advantage of this. But then their investigation indicates, uh-oh, that's the free market. School choice, they say, helped some move their children into schools where they're happier and doing better. The question is, though, the school choice communities must now consider is whether,

a growing education marketplace can be made to work for everyone, even the most vulnerable children. Notice this now. Let's break this down for a moment. Even they acknowledge I have eight printed pages in front of me. How many people took advantage of this and it works for them? Of course, I want this to work for everyone. But they seem to say throughout here, by having this marketplace, this competition, somehow or another, that's bad.

In what universe it goes on and on with charts and graphs and whatever? These things, when I do this show each week, get me fired up. They get me angry. One cockamamie idea after another to try to shut down what is an obvious thing in any field of life. Competition is good here. And the NPR people even concede and show these success stories. Now, with these vulnerable kids, I'm not exactly sure.

They're vulnerable. Not enough connection to their parents or whatever.

We welcome them. We welcome somebody who is advising here to help them find a better and happier place for them.

But you know what? At the end of the day, reading this, are we going to continue this attitude of holding kids and their parents hostage because freeing them from the shackles of just the public school somehow or another is going to lead behind

those that are, quote, more vulnerable. If that's your kid, what do you say about that? Isn't that the question that comes down to this? And we want the organizations I bring on, the people that I talk about, we want more and more people to be able to take advantage of this, right? We're not trying to stop. We want more people. In Texas, it's 275,000 have applied. They're a school choice state. 100,000 in some of these other states. All right, let me turn across the country here with Dom G.

to Arizona. Sadly, this is a sign that I think a bad sign that this guy's running for president. Mark Kelly is someone heroic, someone spaceflight, astronaut, among other things, and a military guy. Okay, senator from Arizona. He has now signed off, big editorial he put out this week with Mazie Hirano from Hawaii, that they are severely trying to stop what they're doing.

they say is going on in Arizona and across the country. And Mark Kelly neglects to tell people in this piece, he says he's a fine product of the public schools. Where did he send his child? Apparently to the Gregory School, which is a fancy affluent school to get the best schooling for his child. How can Mark Kelly in good conscience then write this and be leading this movement? I think I've answered the question. This is political.

That's what this comes down to. And again, just like the NPR article that I mentioned about Cedar Rapids, this is a perfect example of letting the completely flawless be the enemy of the very good outcomes when it comes to school choice. I see right through it. You probably do too. A couple of other things that have happened here that are of note this week, in addition to these two things, on the front of make

America's smart again, and school choice and parental rights are one of the ways of doing that. Lower Merion High School is in the news, and it's getting out there a bit nationally. Lower Merion High School is just out of Philadelphia. It's on the border of Philadelphia. It's very affluent, very educated parents, extremely so. It would match up against any school district possibly in the country. Now parents concerned about something we're concerned about, too many screens, watching too many screens.

Their students get Chromebooks to take home. These parents are leading a movement there saying they don't want that. And they want, I think the title of it is pencils, more pencils, not pixels. Or less pixels, more pencils. All right, you get the idea. And the school district is saying, well, whoa, we based our whole curriculum on computer usage and doing this through a computer. You can't be coming against this. We don't know what we're going to do now.

So there's been big debate here this week. My point is, we brought on James Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist, to talk about this. More and more parents that are educated, looking out for their kids, like in Lower Merion, they are starting to see the results of this. Now, is this extreme to say absolutely no screens in school? We want to try to limit this as much as possible? Time will tell on that, but this is a big showdown.

And I think you're going to see this coming to your area. It's happening not just here, but nationwide. More and more people saying, you know what? This is the wrong bet. We've gone down this path and we've gone too far with all these screens. Here's a story from the Hill. Chromebooks and iPads are on the chopping block. Parents and advocates look to expand efforts to limit technology in school. Despite millions of dollars spent by districts before and especially

during the pandemic to give students one-to-one personal devices. The tides are turning on this. The fight is an expansion from those who work to get cell phones banned from school. See where this is going. Now, look, I know we want to be reasonable. There might have to be some computer usage, some screens, etc. But I think these parents are right to see the overwhelming amount of damage and difficulty that goes on here.

And this is a very affluent, a very connected school district.

And you are going to see more and more of this play out.

In our local news, this plays out all the time this week.

And again, people are saying that some of the things that go with this are impatience, short attention spans.

I'm looking at a companion article that talks about bringing back more and more reading and not through screens in the public schools in this area. Watch for this to come your way. Also, this week, an article that really, maybe it identifies with you, that talked about how families are pushed and pulled into school choice. The survey looked at three groups of parents, those who've made a school

those who had considered a school switch but did not take the leap, and those who are not considering changing their child's school. For families who switch schools, the top three push factors that pushed them toward doing that were repelling them from their child's former school. One said, I worried my child was unsafe or uncomfortable at school. I was concerned my child has lost their love of learning due to something about the school, and my child loves to learn.

but dreaded going to school every day. Well, those are the main factors that pushed. The main factors that pushed to think about doing it but not doing it were friends and surroundings that the kid had grown used to. And again, if the school continues to fail, though, many parents decide in the end not to do that. So we are seeing right in front of us in real time a revolution across the country.

And this podcast is right in the center of that. It's a revolution of parental rights. It's a revolution of saying too many screens. It's a revolution of saying we want America to be smart again. And what is one of the biggest ways to do all of that? The granddaddy of it all, school choice. So think of some of the things we've talked about this week. Mike Johnson talking about this. How in the world could we make, if this became a huge political

I know it won't be one or two, but maybe three in the upcoming midterms. And both sides had to stake out their position of something we all know is not working. Schools, public schools, the screens, parental rights and all that. What could happen? Well, what could happen is we might actually get action and we might free up more parents, I'm convinced, to send their kids to the school of their choice. The argument on the other side is always going to be,

You know it. That's taking resources away from the public schools. No, it's not. This is new money in the Big Beautiful Bill, for example. And even people like Governor Polis have recognized this. When will these other governors do it? And the problem is the teachers unions and others are working around the clock against this. They sense that America is voting with their feet. They want the resources. And what we're going to see in 2027, right around the corner,

is one of the biggest years of a revolution, of a civil rights, school choice. Just think about what we'll be like. By that point, upwards of 40 states, by the time we get to 2027, I predict, are going to be fully invested in getting that money, setting up those nonprofits. There still will be battles. There will be court cases. There will be what they're doing in Colorado, trying to sabotage the school the kid can still go to with the money or the nonprofit that can dispense it.

But feel it in front of us. And this show is in the center of this. We celebrate it. We are winning on this. And as far as NPR and the Cedar Rapids stuff, we feel for all those kids. And if there's some way, shape or form, we can include them. That is our duty. That is something we want to do. We want everyone to have a choice. But we don't want to hold anyone hostage to the fact that schools are not delivering for kids and parents.

Coming up next week, we're going to talk here in Pennsylvania about the battle around this and some of the rhetoric. It might have a couple of people, one on the other side. That's what I'm working on. Keep the faith on this, though. If you want to send me an email, question or comment, domshow, D-O-M-S-H-O-W, at AOL.com. That's the way to go, domshow, at AOL.com. Thanks for listening this week. Tell other people about this podcast, 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.