Children in poor neighborhoods often attend substandard pubic schools, and may benefit th…

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 dom giordano with you

welcome into this week's edition of old school new school next school you know the premise or if

you're new the premise of this show is to make america smart again that would really help

and the way to do that is through both school choice think about that concept it's the biggest

concept out there and we're winning on that and it's also through parental rights both of which go together so uh coming up we're going to hear from the guy the biggest guy in all of the school choice the guy that's winning battle after battle we're up to 30 states now that have signed off on taking that new money from the big beautiful bill and giving it to people in their state but we are still fighting these people who are just

mean when it comes to kids. So a couple of updates, and this is apropos across the country, where I am in Pennsylvania, where I am in Philadelphia, a state representative named Martina White has a new resolution that she's introducing for May 17th, and this would be to honor, this is, yeah, they want to designate May 17th as the 25th anniversary of the

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program Day to commemorate the scholarship program's role in pre-K through 12 education. The program provides tax credits to business entities contributing to scholarship-granting organizations that help families afford tutoring, private or parochial schools, specialized education, innovative educational program in public schools, and other opportunities. They want to expand this.

Now, this helps lower middle class poor children. These weasels in Pennsylvania now, Democrats mainly progressives, they are trying to go after some of the parts of this since they can't defeat the whole. They're trying to go after the parochial private schools and say they don't do as well as the public, which is just outrageous. They're trying to go after the mechanism of how the money is dispensed.

Guy Shiraki, who has been on the show, wrote about this this week, how outrageous this whole thing is. His article appeared in the Real Clear Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Dems should demand accountability in public schools. They don't. Instead, they're going after Pennsylvania's EITC program. That's a program I just mentioned that helps these poor kids. We fought this battle. Did you hear what I said?

25 years ago, we won this battle. This program's been going on 25 years. They just don't give up. This is just so apparent. Guy also wrote about this this week. We have a school, wherever you are across the country, for that matter, across the world, you may have something like this. We have a school called Southwork. Southwork School is deficient both in every proficiency, but it's also deficient in

just the physical layout. Kids there this past week at the South Work School in Philadelphia, they were out there with their parents holding up signs, don't I deserve a bathroom? These kids, because of the deficiencies with the bathrooms, and this has gone on for a while, have to go to the bathroom in a trailer that's been set up. And this has gone on for months. Also, they were holding up signs about pest control. Yes, you heard me, P-E-S-T.

Pest Control. Meaning, they don't want to have rodents of one sort or another overriding their school. Things are hard enough. Bathrooms, pest control. Guy Shiraki, in his piece, makes mention of the fact, while all this is going on at Southwark, right? It's in the news. The budget for the Philadelphia Public Schools is just a hair under $5 billion a year. Now, you would think with $5 billion,

with a declining enrollment of the number of children, that you would be able to provide the basics. Bathrooms that function. They don't have to be elaborate. And maybe, I'm not sure if they're rats or not, but rodents or rats in the school. A minimum, Philadelphia public schools. So what do you do if we don't have school choice? Look at the money that's been pumped into the Philadelphia schools. We've talked before about Chicago. They have one school.

that has 27 kids and 28 staff, including principal and vice principal, in the school for those 27 kids. It's a capacity of over 1,090 and only 27 in that school. Zero percent proficient in reading or math out of those kids. And the cost is over $94,000 a year. So I'm encouraged that stories like South Park, that what's going on here across the country,

We are winning on this.

And I know people get tired and say, yeah, we're winning, but why does it take so long?

And the reason is the other side is fighting that hard on it.

At the egging on of the teachers unions.

I mentioned Chicago a moment ago.

May 1st is the day in which worldwide communism celebrates.

The Chicago teachers are fighting in a battle with parents because they want to take hundreds of school kids in Chicago to these activities around May Day.

May 1st. The activities are obviously a basic front for communism on that day. That's what May Day is about. And they want to turn them into little activists versus students that are proficient in reading or math. So these battles are essential. And the big, beautiful bill cutting through, as I said, Corey DeAngelis is going to join us. It's coming up. Corey DeAngelis now says we're up to 30 states and seven or eight that are

are on the cusp of doing it that will accept the money for the big beautiful bill that will go to nonprofits and then parents can access that to get out of these schools that are not good for them or their kids. So when you think about it, I don't know how many are as dramatic as the South work schools with little kids standing out there saying they don't want any rodents. And oh, by the way, why do they have to go to the bathroom? We're talking young kids, second, first grade, stuff like that.

Go to a bathroom in a trailer that have pulled into the school lot.

$4.9 billion.

Wouldn't you think you'd be able to function a little bit better?

So without further ado, the guy that really is on the forefront of this huge following,

he also is a fellow now with the Heritage Foundation.

Let's bring in the evangelist of school choice, the one and only Corey DeAngelis.

Hey, Don. Thanks for having me.

Well, Corey, I meant to send this to you. I have a source, somebody I've become very friendly with, who's a talk radio host by doing my podcast that you've been very gracious to come on several times. And she alerted me of the all out attack now in Colorado where Governor Polis, who is a liberal, probably a progressive, I would say, what they're trying to do is call it discriminatory.

the non-profits that will be set up, and they're trying to attack Catholic or other religious schools as discriminatory and fight the rear guard action and prevent kids from getting that money. They're trying to make it as humanly impossible for parents, even though they've lost. Yeah, that's unconstitutional, and Colorado keeps losing at the Supreme Court for good reason. They keep passing all these idiotic laws, and so we'll

We'll see if that makes momentum in the legislature. I did hear about that. They're basically trying to regulate the school choice initiative since Jared Polis opted in. And they may win a battle, but they'll lose the war ultimately. That would be discriminatory against religious institutions for trying to shackle on those types of regulations. So good on Jared Polis for opting into the program, calling it a no-brainer. He's the one that got it right. He's probably trying to run for president in 2022.

and positioning himself as the moderate. Whereas you have other Democrat governors like Andy Beshear out of Kentucky, he vetoed a bill that was going to off the state into the school choice program. Thankfully, the legislature overrode his veto. But people have talked about him as wanting to run in 2028 as well on the Democrat side. But he's taking another approach. Maybe he just wants to get past the primary. And so he's running as far left as he can and being buddy-buddy with Randy Weingarten.

Let's bring up another guy who I think is running for president or he sees himself as a VP and then that road to the presidency. And this guy, look, his military service and all that. But what he did with the don't follow orders and then a whole raft of things recently. But now suddenly Mark Kelly, Senator Kelly has pivoted with Maisie Arano of all people. Man, if I saw my name on a bill with her, I'd say, wow, to attack school choice.

Yeah, I mean, he attacks school choice for other families. Mark Kelly talks about how he's a proud product of public education. Well, then why did he send his own kid to a private school? He's a total hypocrite. He's a senator out of Arizona, and he's just totally lying about the program. I think they named the bill, Protect Public Schools and Public Money in Public Schools. This program doesn't use a single dollar of so-called public money, which is a communist term to begin with.

They should be talking about it in terms of taxpayer dollars, but it's private funding.

It's a tax credit scholarship.

You're donating voluntary contributions to scholarship organizations, then getting a tax benefit for doing so.

According to the Supreme Court case in 2011, ACSTOV win, which was out of Arizona, private dollars remain private until they enter the tax collector's hands.

Any other view of tax money is that basically, in Mark Kelly's logic, all money belongs to the government, and it's total socialism. That's a warped view, especially in America. And look, he's in a state where they have over 100,000 kids using scholarships for private schools in Arizona. And so hopefully it's a play stupid games, win stupid prizes moment for Mark Kelly. His constituents must not be happy about his attack on parental rights.

It is almost universal. Either they or they sent their kids to some of the priciest schools imaginable. And, you know, Johnson, Speaker Johnson, Corey, with me, was serious about this. Is it your sense, though? I'm not sure that in the midterms this is going to get a proper place because it gets at the heart of standing in the schoolhouse door. It gets in the heart of they never give up on this.

And what you're doing on the other front with the teachers unions, that should have traction. That's what I told them. Yeah, it should have traction. And it almost relies on the Republicans running on the issue. I mean, look, education is typically at the bottom of the list on priorities when the voters go to the ballot box. Usually it's jobs, the economy, crime at the top. But if you go back to the 2021 election in Virginia, when Glenn Youngkin won the governor's

education was the number two issue in that election. It's second to only the economy. And why was that the case? Well, it's because his opponent, Terry McAuliffe, said, I don't think parents should be telling schools that they should teach. So parental rights became front and center. And if Glenn Youngkin would have ignored that comment, it would have been a low tier issue. He would have lost the governor's race. So Republicans need to be confident and bold in talking about education and parental

and lead on the issue emerges the parents party look this is what trump did he won with

education voters on that issue by a few points if you look at atlas intel polling and that's a

seismic shift to the right that's right relative to decades of democrat dominance on education

because they were seen as the the party that was just going to throw more money at the problem so

So hopefully voters hear some of these messages, especially when you have Mark Kelly introducing a bill of 30 other Democrats in Congress to get rid of Trump's new school choice program that 29 states have already opted into. That is a benefit that people have that they will lose if the Democrats take control of Congress and vote to get rid of it.

Well, I'm agitating here. Republicans in Pennsylvania, I don't think they're doing a good enough job to say how in the world could Shapiro still not sign off on this to put that out there. I mean, because the media has got to cover it a little bit, the tension of the back and forth on not signing off on this. They just have to press the issue, though. He's trying to play both sides, right? He's trying to straddle the fence right now. And this is Josh Shapiro from the start. He said he

He supported School Choice, included in his education platform when running for governor in 2022, went on Fox News in 2023 saying he supported it, and then vetoed School Choice, his own campaign promise, because he blamed the House leadership, saying that, well, the Democrats control it. We need to get a budget deal done. He was basically trying to have his cake and eat it too, but now the decision's squarely in Josh Shapiro's hands. This should be an easy decision, but now he's kicking it.

the can down the road again by saying, oh, we're waiting for the rules to be finalized. But we all kind of know what the program is going to look like. This is why 29 other states have already opted in. And so this seems to be like another excuse yet again from Josh Shapiro as a reason why he still can't follow through on that campaign promise of supporting school choice. So we'll see. Look, the deadline's at the end of 2026. We'll see if he opts in or not. But it's kind of odd that you have 2026.

29 other states and then josh chapiro who

tried to emerge as a leader on this issue in 2022 he's now four years later um and and we have

nothing from him on the issue just more excuses talking with cory d'angeles so uh cory i say

there's second to none but i defer to you since you joust at the highest levels with randy weingarten but

the chicago teachers and you've been on your social media really playing this out on may day of all

are dragging what hundreds of kids into being little Mondonis, I guess, in the city of Chicago. This union, to me, is the bluntest and most thuggish of all the unions that I know. What are they doing? Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, I had just uncovered a clip also of Stacey Davis Gates, their president, who called school choice racist and sends her own kid to a private school now. She was with an interviewer, and she's told them that they engage in political activities.

so that black women could have jobs. Yes. And not a mention of – and so they could live a life without a husband. And it's like, really? You want to break apart education and the nuclear family? But they're also planning a May Day protest. Of course they chose that day these freaking socialists. But they want to keep kids out of class. They want to take them to the Capitol to protest for more extortion from the taxpayers to throw more money at the problem, to line the union bosses' pockets.

while kids are sitting in schools where they're already spending $30,000 a kid.

And they have not a single kid proficient in math in 80 public schools there in Chicago.

They have one school that spends over $90,000 a kid, Douglas High School, and it's 97% empty.

They have more employees than students, 28 employees, 27 students.

It was built for 1,000 kids, and they have not a single kid proficient in math or reading.

So if more money was the solution, you'd think that that institution would be knocking it out of the park. Instead, it's a failure factory. And now they want to use your kids as political pawns to take even more money from you that you can't spend at an alternative institution like a private school like Stacey Davis Gates does. It's total socialist hypocrisy. And they're now overstepping their bounds even more by using your kids and their political

I just learned right before we got on that there's a press conference going on right now in Chicago where parents are pushing back and saying no you shouldn't be using our kids as political pawns and so hopefully I'd encourage more parents to step back and teachers who are on board with this they need to leave the union go to optouttoday.com you can join the Teacher Freedom Alliance and starve the beast. And you guys are really ringing up the numbers of teachers who are doing just that. That's right.

I think it's over 14,000 now. This is just in the past year. You got like 14,000 teachers who have left the unions because they don't want their money going towards politicians they disagree with. And teachers aren't making enough as it is in so many places. They should be able to keep more of that money in their pocket. When you join the Teacher Freedom Alliance, you still get that liability insurance, but donors are covering it for you for free. And so why would you continue to give your money to people like Stacey Davis Gates so she can use it to send her kid to a private

I have at school while calling you racist if you want to do the same thing. It's totally crazy.

Corey, thank you. Where do we find you on Twitter?

You can follow me on X, it's at DeAngelisCory, and yeah, I'm a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Thanks, Corey, very much.

All right, thanks, Tom. Great talking to you.

That is as good of a summary as you're going to get anywhere of the last month, month and a half in this battle over school choice.

And remember, school choice is the mission, but the broader mission is to make America smart again. And we're not going to do that if we just rely on the public schools, essentially, if they shut down all these other wonderful opportunities that are out there. So it is a long struggle, but picture those kids at Southwark. Picture the rodents. Picture the bathrooms. Would a private school be able to function in that manner? Would the Board of Health not come in?

Would they not be shut down? And here's the thing. Here's the big, broad question to end the podcast this week, old school, new school, next school. Headline at the Hill. Will Democrats allow a school choice wealth transfer? Meaning Democrat leaders are opposed to school choice, usually at the behest of the teachers' organizations. But with 30 now on board with this, the others that don't get on board, some of the biggies like Penn State,

Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Illinois, Illinois may weaken.

There'll be a wealth transfer in that the money, the scholarship monies, big, beautiful bills, more of it will go to the surrounding states versus these states. It won't do it.

Now, I know it's a hard battle here, but are people going to get upset enough and say, why is our state not getting that money?

We will see.

It's a slow battle, inch by inch.

We're at the 60% mark now.

I would predict by the summer, we're going to be at the 80% mark, meaning 40 on board.

Now, in the final shakedown, maybe six, seven, or eight will not do it.

But gradually, we can pick them off one at a time.

And when we get them down to that, we'll come up with a little name for those six, seven, or eight.

And we'll talk about what they're doing to their children and parents. That's the strategy. It's working. We are winning. And America will win when we win on this. So let people know about the podcast. This is where you get your information. This is where you hear people like Corey DeAngelis on a regular basis who is second to no one. If you want to send me an email, you have a question, you have a comment, something in your area, we'd love to hear it. Just send it to me.

We will see you next week with more great guests. And imagine a program out there in Pennsylvania for 25 years. I hear a lot of people are going to vote against this resolution honoring this for poor kids. We'll report on that. Dom Giordano with you on Old School, New School, Next School.

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