New York City spends $42,000 per pupil, but student outcomes are mediocre and families are fleeing the system. Danyela Souza Egorov joins Freedom to Learn to discuss the city’s shrinking enrollment, increasingly empty school buildings, and soaring spending. Danyela urges city leaders to make responsible decisions, tackle the city’s chronic absenteeism crisis, and prioritize students and families rather than powerful unions. The conversation covers foolish COVID-era policies that reshaped public education, why parents are demanding more options, and what the federal scholarship tax credit could mean for New York families seeking educational freedom.

• What to Do About NYC’s Empty Schools: https://manhattan.institute/article/what-to-do-about-nycs-empty-schools?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social
• The Ghost Classrooms Haunting America’s Education System: https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-ghost-classrooms-haunting-americas-education-system?author=Danyela+Souza+Egorov&category=undefined&elementPosition=0&row=3&rowHeadline=Latest+News&rowType=Vertical+Carousel&title=The+Ghost+Classrooms+Haunting+America?s+Education+System
• Schools Received More Money Than Ever. Parents Aren’t Seeing The Results: https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-spending-more-than-ever-on-education-is-it-getting-us-anything
• Chronic Absenteeism Is Hampering School Improvement Efforts in New York City: What Can Be Done About It? https://manhattan.institute/article/chronic-absenteeism-hampering-school-improvement-efforts-new-york-city

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Intersectionality has quietly become the unseen driver behind today’s divisive education policies, anti-American sentiments, and campus radicalization. William A. Jacobson, Cornell Law School professor and founder of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, joins the podcast to sound the alarm on this dangerous ideological “mother’s milk” that feeds critical race theory, DEI, and even some acts of domestic extremism. Bill describes how teachers unions and colleges of education pushed intersectionality into K-12 classrooms. And he provides concrete actions policymakers should take to confront intersectionality directly, including executive orders and guidance, federal funding oversight, and congressional hearings.

Intersectionality: The Rise of a Dangerous Anti-American Ideology and How to Stop It: https://dfipolicy.org/report-intersectionality/

Sarah Parshall Perry of Defending Education joins Freedom to Learn for a fast-moving conversation on the biggest legal and policy fights in education today. We cover the launch of Defending Education’s new litigation center, the power of accrediting bodies like the American Bar Association, and what’s at stake for free speech and parental rights in K–12 and higher ed. We also get into gender secrecy policies, teachers unions’ political spending, and the growing push to turn classrooms into activist spaces. Plus, a new rapid-fire round!

Arkansas is streamlining the K-12 education bureaucracy, investing in educators, and expanding families’ options. On today’s episode of Freedom to Learn, Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva covers the rollout of the transformative LEARNS Act and its impact. He explains how Arkansas expanded Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) from targeted eligibility to universal access, and what it took to launch the statewide choice program that now serves about 50,000 students. Secretary Oliva also shares Arkansas’ federal waiver strategy to cut red tape and return decision-making power to the state by consolidating fragmented funding streams, reducing compliance costs, and shifting the focus from micromanaging inputs to holding schools accountable for results.

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The Classic Learning Test is disrupting the standardized testing status quo. Michael Torres, CLT’s Director of Legislative Strategy, explains how this fast-growing exam is quietly challenging the SAT/ACT duopoly, offering a rigorous alternative with longer reading passages, no-calculator math, and a focus on true college readiness. He traces CLT’s 10-year rise from a niche option for homeschool and classical school students to widespread adoption in public systems, starting with Florida in 2023. We discuss expanding recognition across major university systems, U.S. service academies, and the shifting state and federal policies that are embracing the CLT and reshaping college admissions. Our conversation explores the high-stakes policy battle behind the scenes: how the College Board is fighting to protect its control over education, how exams influence what gets taught in classrooms, and why CLT is pushing for “assessment choice” as a natural extension of school choice.

The Classic Learning Test Takes Aim at the SAT–ACT Duopoly, Education Next: https://www.educationnext.org/the-classical-learning-test-takes-aim-at-the-sat-act-duopoly/

What does it actually look like to unwind federal control of education? Keri D. Ingraham, Director of the Discovery Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education, joins the podcast to discuss the first year of efforts to scale back the U.S. Department of Education and return authority to states and families. Drawing on her experience as a teacher and administrator, she argues that downsizing bureaucracy can drive efficiency, innovation, and stronger outcomes for students. She also explains how the new Education Freedom Tax Credit will expand school choice across the country, but only if all 50 states opt in.

The Education Department Is Shrinking: Staff cut by half, billions saved, and states empowered: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-education-department-is-shrinking-5bf05e23?mod=commentary_article_pos2

What if the real education crisis isn’t falling test scores, but a generation losing the ability to focus deeply, think critically, or even just read an entire book? In this episode, Dr. Kathleen O’Toole of Hillsdale College explains why today’s students are less cognitively developed, and how classical education offers a powerful alternative. From the failures of literacy instruction and colleges of education to the impact of screens and COVID disruptions, we discuss what went wrong and what can be rebuilt. O’Toole makes the case for content-rich learning, great books, and the formation of the whole person, and explains why more families are turning to these models, especially now that expanding school choice programs empower families to choose a classical education option. In an AI-driven world, Dr. O’Toole argues, classical education graduates’ ability to develop their minds, acquire knowledge, and think for themselves may provide the ultimate advantage.

In this week’s episode, Tiffany Hoben, a former teacher and administrator, exposes the deep, recurring failures in school governance and accountability revealed in her analysis of West Virginia’s Special Circumstance Reviews of districts and schools. Tiffany highlights the interconnected “braid” of financial mismanagement, inconsistent academic standards, and discipline chaos that cause school systems to break down, and emphasizes the urgent need for both structural reform and the expansion of education freedom opportunities like the state’s Hope Scholarship education savings account program.

Until recently, Tiffany was the Director of Education Partnerships and Strategy at the Cardinal Institute. Last week, the Department of War (Defense) Education Activity announced that Tiffany will serve as Chief Academic Officer for DoWEA, the system that educates 67,000 military-connected children studying in 161 schools around the world.

“How should states invest limited education dollars to raise student achievement at scale?” New research from the American Federation for Children asked this question and found that Florida’s school choice investment was 11 times more cost-effective than increasing public school spending. Patrick Graff, Senior Fellow with the American Federation for Children, compared the best research in the competitive effects of school choice programs and the best research in K-12 school spending, both of which were published in top economics journals. He found that Florida’s school choice rich policy environment benefited both public and private school students, and the effects of competition created a return on investment MUCH larger than simply spending more on public schools.

School Choice or School Spending? Florida’s 15-Year Experiment Points to the Answer: https://www.educationnext.org/school-choice-or-school-spending-floridas-15-year-experiment-points-to-the-answer/

Despite the existence of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law that has been in place for 50 years, many parents face acrimonious, heartwrenching, and expensive fights to ensure that their children’s unique needs are met. Debra Tisler, founder of Emergent Literacy and an educator with 30 years of experience, joins the podcast to talk about the obstacles that parents face, the hostile and litigious due process regime, and why Congress has not reauthorized the law for over 20 years. Debra suggests opportunities to better serve students and families, including expanding education freedom programs that enable families to find and afford the best education option for their child’s needs without exhausting and costly lawsuits.

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When parents in a small Wisconsin town discovered that male students are allowed to use girls’ bathrooms at their local high school, they didn’t stay silent. This week on Freedom to Learn, Cory Brewer of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) unpacks what’s happening in New Richmond, and why this fight is about far more than one school district.

Cory explains:

Social justice and “anti-racist” warriors are eroding the foundations of order and learning in schools. Steven Wilson, author of The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America, joins the podcast for a frank discussion about the entities that forced the “lost decade” in K-12 education onto students, families, and school communities. We examine how colleges of education prioritize ideology, how union power and demands constrain district leadership, how the “No Excuses” charter model initially transformed outcomes for low-income students — and why some charter networks abandoned that focus. We explore the rise of anti-racism fervor that engulfed the K-12 sector, and what it will take to return to academic excellence.

There are bright spots, like New York’s Success Academy network. There are hard truths that must be reckoned with. And Steven assures us that there is a healthy path forward.

Julie Young, founding president of the Florida Virtual School (FLVS), turned a two-page concept paper for a “web school” into the first statewide online public school while battling resistance from districts and unions at every step. During her 17 years at the helm, Julie grew FLVS from a small local pilot serving 77 students in 1997 into a national leader that currently educates over 200,000 Florida students annually. In today’s episode, she reveals how she navigated opposition, won over legislators, secured performance-based funding, created FLVS district franchises, and trained educators, while ensuring students received high-quality online education. Julie also delves into the differences between the emergency “Zoom schools” of the COVID era and well-designed virtual programs.

Julie Young is the co-editor of Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America and author of the upcoming book Say Yes, How Virtual Became a Reality.

Lindsay Fryer, a former senior staffer on Capitol Hill, joins the podcast to unpack the opportunities and limitations of the current push to “return education to the states.”  With her pivotal role in the reauthorization that transitioned the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) from NCLB to ESSA, Lindsay offers unique insights into the federal government’s influence over education, a domain traditionally managed by state and local authorities. We discuss what the administration can achieve through guidance, waivers (including Iowa’s approved waiver and Indiana’s waiver application), and other actions, and explore the roles governors, state education chiefs, and Congress play in empowering states, communities, and families.

Last week, over 26,000 schools and groups held National School Choice Week celebrations to encourage parents to explore school choice options – including open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, microschools, homeschooling, and private schools – and urge policymakers to expand them. Shelby Doyle, Senior Vice President of Policy and National Partnerships for the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, joins the podcast to discuss School Choice Week, recent parent polling, the different types of school choice, and tools to help parents navigate their options.