Speaker 1: Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Today, we have a
Speaker 1: returning guest, Erica Donald on the show. I'm very excited
Speaker 1: because she is a returning guest, but she has a
Speaker 1: new role in the world, and it's a very important one.
Speaker 1: She is the chair of the America First Policy Institute
Speaker 1: Center for Education Opportunity. Erica, I know you've founded a
Speaker 1: bunch of charter schools and this has been your area
Speaker 1: of interest for about fifteen years now, and I'm so
Speaker 1: impressed that you get to do this and kind of
Speaker 1: interface with the new administration. So tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about how that's going.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really am living in my school choice dream
Speaker 2: world right now that I've been working on school choice
Speaker 2: for fifteen years. I served on my local school board
Speaker 2: about ten years ago, but dedicated my life to expanding
Speaker 2: education opportunities for families like myself.
Speaker 3: That's why I got into this.
Speaker 2: I needed school choice for my own kids, and being
Speaker 2: at America First Policy Institute heading up their education nationally.
Speaker 2: Not only do I get to continue to work on
Speaker 2: school choice in the States, which is where it belongs,
Speaker 2: as we know, but I also get to interface with
Speaker 2: the White House and Congress and Secretary of McMahon and
Speaker 2: her team on the things that they're doing to respond
Speaker 2: to the executive orders and to eventually dismantle the Department
Speaker 2: of Education. So I'm really having a great time traveling
Speaker 2: back and forth to DC and just making sure that
Speaker 2: we use this time that we have with Trump and
Speaker 2: office to deliver on his promises to the American people.
Speaker 1: Well, and that last one that you mentioned, dismantling the
Speaker 1: Department of ED, obviously that's getting quite a bit of attention,
Speaker 1: and there's some people that I think it's misleading. I
Speaker 1: think the media has been very misleading about what the
Speaker 1: Department of ED does the federal Department of ED. So
Speaker 1: you have your state Department of Ed and then you
Speaker 1: have the Federal Department of Ed. There is a certain
Speaker 1: amount of funding, But can we just kind of go
Speaker 1: through from your perspective what that looks like, because I
Speaker 1: think people hear that and there's suddenly stories about kids
Speaker 1: aren't going to get their lunches anymore, and there's going
Speaker 1: to be money taken from teachers and all of that.
Speaker 1: If we can just kind of dive into what that means.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the Federal Department of Education doesn't educate a single child.
Speaker 2: It actually only makes up about ten percent of the
Speaker 2: education funding that makes it down to each individual classroom
Speaker 2: in our public education system. A lot of that is
Speaker 2: focused on low income and special needs students. But President
Speaker 2: Trump and Secretary McMahon had made it very clear that
Speaker 2: that funding.
Speaker 3: Is going to continue.
Speaker 2: So then what does it mean to dismantle the Department
Speaker 2: of Education if the funding is going to continue to flow.
Speaker 3: Well, some of that funding was being.
Speaker 2: Passed down to the states to handle these responsibilities through
Speaker 2: HHS before the Department of Education.
Speaker 3: Even existed forty five years ago.
Speaker 2: So we're going back to the way it was. Doesn't
Speaker 2: need to be a separate department. That money can still
Speaker 2: flow to the states.
Speaker 3: But what is going away.
Speaker 2: It's the multiple layers of bureaucracy that is required to
Speaker 2: report back on the services that are being given to
Speaker 2: the students. We've heard from teachers that they spend more
Speaker 2: time filling out paperwork than actually performing services for students
Speaker 2: with special needs. We want to take that away, eliminate
Speaker 2: the bureaucracy, allow states and local districts to ensure that
Speaker 2: these services are going to continue, but give them more
Speaker 2: money and more flexibility in order to serve the students
Speaker 2: that they know best.
Speaker 1: So were they having to fill out those that information
Speaker 1: to get that back to get grants and that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. I mean, because it just seems like that's
Speaker 1: something that should have always been on the local level.
Speaker 1: Even if you get a grant, there should be someone
Speaker 1: kind of interfacing on the ground to make sure that
Speaker 1: that is actually what it went to is actually happening.
Speaker 2: And that's why the federal department existed. Frankly, they were
Speaker 2: passing out money and someone at the state level had
Speaker 2: to receive that money and document how they passed it
Speaker 2: down to the local level. Someone at the local district
Speaker 2: had to be there as an employee getting paid to
Speaker 2: document how it goes down to the classroom. The teacher
Speaker 2: has to report back what services that has to report
Speaker 2: back from the district and state. Think about the multiple
Speaker 2: layers of bureaucrafts that are acquired just for money to
Speaker 2: go from the federal government down to the classrooms. What's
Speaker 2: astonishing is that the teachers' unions, who control most of
Speaker 2: these individuals between the federal government and the classrooms, are
Speaker 2: the ones saying that they're no longer going to provide
Speaker 2: these services, even though they're going to be getting the money.
Speaker 3: To do so.
Speaker 1: So I think that's been kind of the confusion when
Speaker 1: you've heard people talk about this, is that they feel
Speaker 1: like this has been there forever. You know, for most
Speaker 1: of us, we've always known that there was a federal
Speaker 1: Department of ED from the time we were little kids
Speaker 1: to now, this has been there, and it seems like, gosh,
Speaker 1: this is a massive amount of people. How many people
Speaker 1: work at the Department of Ed four thousand?
Speaker 2: Well before two weeks ago it was about forty four hundred.
Speaker 2: But as you probably know, just a week after Lenna
Speaker 2: McMahon was confirmed, they did a reduction in force which
Speaker 2: cut that number in half. And this was excess waste
Speaker 2: and bloat. Frankly, one of the examples that they gave
Speaker 2: us was that there were six different strategic communications departments
Speaker 2: in the departm of Education. Obviously, that's not helping students
Speaker 2: get educated. That's messaging to whomever, right, And the average
Speaker 2: salary at the department was one hundred and forty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: So now, after the reduction in force, and after some
Speaker 2: of the employees a few hundred took the buyouts that
Speaker 2: were offered we're down to about thirteen hundred employees in
Speaker 2: the department.
Speaker 3: Remaining.
Speaker 2: Some of those maybe shifted off to other departments that
Speaker 2: are taking on some of the responsibilities Office of Civil Rights,
Speaker 2: we're talking about going to Treasure, to Justice, the student
Speaker 2: loan portfolio, maybe going to SBA, as the President announced
Speaker 2: last week. So some of those employees will continue to
Speaker 2: do those functions in a different department. But d OI
Speaker 2: was already the smallest department in the federal government, so
Speaker 2: it does not need to remain a department unto itself,
Speaker 2: just so that some of the functions can continue.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's interesting because I've heard so many people say,
Speaker 1: how can you support getting rid of these people and
Speaker 1: just cutting them? And in these conversations, you know, I
Speaker 1: think a lot of us who are in the private
Speaker 1: sector have said, you know, it's unfortunate, but when you
Speaker 1: restructure a business, people lose their jobs and they have
Speaker 1: to find other jobs. And though I don't ever wish
Speaker 1: that upon someone, there are other jobs out there. However,
Speaker 1: you saying that the average salary was one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty thousand kind of blows my mind a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think that's more than the governor of Michigan makes
Speaker 1: in a year, you know, so I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: stunned by that. And I can see now why there
Speaker 1: is so much concern because your lifestyle is going to
Speaker 1: really change. I mean, that's there aren't that many jobs
Speaker 1: out there that you come into from a government position
Speaker 1: and you would go into at forty one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2: It's unfortunate, you know. You and I have the same
Speaker 2: compassion for these individuals. Many of them are there because
Speaker 2: they love education. Maybe they have come from a teaching
Speaker 2: position and worked their way up. And it's not about that.
Speaker 2: Our nation is in crisis in more ways than one.
Speaker 2: Like we're in a debt crisis. We've got to get
Speaker 2: our spending on control at the federal level. Our children
Speaker 2: are inheriting this massive debt and bureaucracy. So that's one thing,
Speaker 2: But our nation is also in an academic performance crisis
Speaker 2: where we're turning out only one in three students that
Speaker 2: are reading proficiently.
Speaker 3: How are these people.
Speaker 2: Going to run our businesses, run our cities and our
Speaker 2: counties and our states and carry forward the responsibilities of
Speaker 2: a republic. So we have to fix this problem. We
Speaker 2: cannot continue at the status quo, and I fully support
Speaker 2: all of the actions that Trump has taken and immediate actions,
Speaker 2: thank goodness, to get this really bureaucracy under control and
Speaker 2: push the accountability as well down to the states to
Speaker 2: just do better with their performance.
Speaker 1: Well, and how do you? I mean, I guess there's
Speaker 1: some of that is a concern of how do you
Speaker 1: keep the states accountable if you have no federal Department
Speaker 1: of ED and we're coming off of COVID. I think
Speaker 1: Secretary McMahon is walking in at a time when everybody
Speaker 1: has been very lax a day's ago about holding anyone accountable.
Speaker 1: I mean, in the state of Michigan, we're now the
Speaker 1: forty first state in the nation for education. It's really
Speaker 1: gone down. Hell, I mean this has gone down I
Speaker 1: think ten points since Gretchen Whitmer took office. And there
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be a lot of push. It's kind
Speaker 1: of one of those uncomfortable conversations, to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: because if you sit down and you say, man, the
Speaker 1: schools in the state are terrible. Parents are like, what
Speaker 1: do you know, what do you want us to do?
Speaker 1: This is our schools? So you're insulting me, You're saying
Speaker 1: something that is very offensive to me. And I think
Speaker 1: even with the options, even with the school choice options,
Speaker 1: a lot of people end up in public schools, so
Speaker 1: and we should want our public schools to thrive. So
Speaker 1: what is the answer to getting those schools back on
Speaker 1: tracks so kids are reading.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it does have to do
Speaker 2: with transparency, and that is one aspect of the federal
Speaker 2: Department that will continue, perhaps in a different area like
Speaker 2: the census, to expose how our schools are performing in
Speaker 2: the different states, and even maybe in a more granular
Speaker 2: way so parents and voters can hold their elected officials accountable.
Speaker 2: But ultimately it is the responsibility of the states and
Speaker 2: then the voters of those states to hold elected officials
Speaker 2: accountable if their students are not performing.
Speaker 3: And right now you have a bit of finger pointing.
Speaker 2: Because there are so many federal mandates, it's easy for
Speaker 2: a state to say, well, you know, the federal government
Speaker 2: is involved and we've got to do this, this and that.
Speaker 2: We don't want to have them allow that excuse any longer.
Speaker 2: So with the states completely responsible for education, that's where
Speaker 2: the voters can look at the performance and say, listen,
Speaker 2: Governor Whitmer, you are doing a terrible job and these
Speaker 2: students are not performing under your watch, and hold that
Speaker 2: person accountable. And yeah, the Blue States are going to
Speaker 2: have to come to a reckoning with their voters, just
Speaker 2: like they have on many other issues. But unfortunately the
Speaker 2: Red States are going to, I believe, with school choice,
Speaker 2: competition and free market continue to outperform, and maybe that's
Speaker 2: a source of competition amongst the states.
Speaker 1: All right, we're going to get back into all of
Speaker 1: the details with Erica Donald's but first I want to
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Speaker 1: Erica after this. For those of the folks that are
Speaker 1: in a state that doesn't have school choice, I mean
Speaker 1: in Michigan, we have choice within the public education system,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't extend to private schools or faith based schools.
Speaker 1: For a state like Florida, explain your school choice program
Speaker 1: and how that's changed the state of education over the years.
Speaker 2: We are so fortunate in Florida to be a school
Speaker 2: choice state. We now have both public and private school choice.
Speaker 2: About ten percent of our kids are in charter schools,
Speaker 2: and those students are outperforming their demographic equivalent in the
Speaker 2: public schools.
Speaker 3: Not only that, but.
Speaker 2: There's also studies around the country showing that when there
Speaker 2: is choice, even if it's just charter schools public school choice,
Speaker 2: it does elevate the performance of the related public schools
Speaker 2: in those areas. In Florida, we also have private school
Speaker 2: choice in the form of education Scholarship accounts. Now fourteen
Speaker 2: states have universal essays, but in Florida we have over
Speaker 2: five hundred thousand students that are on an ESA where
Speaker 2: they're getting nine thousand dollars per student to use on
Speaker 2: tuition at a private school. But they can also customize
Speaker 2: taking different courses, purchasing curriculum and materials and things like that.
Speaker 2: So it is a completely different ballgame here in Florida
Speaker 2: where we're starting to see the supply and the innovation
Speaker 2: come about, and there's more and more options for families
Speaker 2: here in Florida. I think people are going to start
Speaker 2: moving down to states like Florida, Arizona, soon to be Texas,
Speaker 2: Tennessee because they're going to get that extra money to
Speaker 2: help their children get a better education.
Speaker 1: Is the ESA program there public publicly funded or is
Speaker 1: that privately funded?
Speaker 3: It is publicly funded.
Speaker 2: It used to be a tax credit scholarship, and hopefully
Speaker 2: we'll have a federal tax credit scholarship here passing soon,
Speaker 2: but we did change it over to where it is
Speaker 2: funded with the same dollars that would otherwise go to
Speaker 2: your public school are now going into an account that
Speaker 2: is controlled by the parents.
Speaker 1: So the complaint with that is then you could potentially
Speaker 1: be closing public schools. How has that in I mean,
Speaker 1: the numbers that I've seen, it doesn't show that public
Speaker 1: schools do close. But how what have you seen in Florida?
Speaker 2: In public schools don't close regardless. I mean they could
Speaker 2: be completely empty and they won't close. Even in Florida,
Speaker 2: We've had a really hard time getting school boards to
Speaker 2: come to the realization that you have to close these
Speaker 2: schools or consolidate and give these kids another opportunity because
Speaker 2: it is failing. Listen, I was on the school board.
Speaker 2: I've been in these battles of this school is half empty.
Speaker 2: What do we need to do to attract students? I
Speaker 2: think it takes them hitting rock bottom. And I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: but that's the way that the system works. When you fail,
Speaker 2: you cannot be subsidized. You cannot be rewarded for failure.
Speaker 2: With more money and more subsidization, we have to have
Speaker 2: the same accountability for schools, public schools that we would
Speaker 2: for private schools, that we would for charter schools and
Speaker 2: any other business, or we're not going to see the
Speaker 2: improvement that inevitably comes about when failure happens. Failure is
Speaker 2: good in a free market society because it tells you
Speaker 2: what doesn't work and forces you to redirect those resources
Speaker 2: into something that will work.
Speaker 3: That's what we need.
Speaker 1: We need that, and polls show that people like this.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's something that I think that We've had
Speaker 1: a lot of pushback in the media, but the polling
Speaker 1: of actual voters are saying, hey, we support candidates who
Speaker 1: support school choice.
Speaker 2: More than ever, over seventy percent overall support for school choice,
Speaker 2: including sixty seven percent of Democrats and higher number for
Speaker 2: Independence and much higher well over seventy percent for Republicans.
Speaker 2: So this is becoming one of those eighty twenty issues
Speaker 2: that the Democrats just refuse to fold on because they
Speaker 2: are loyal to the teachers' unions who are funding their campaign.
Speaker 2: Ninety eight percent of donations political donations from teach unions
Speaker 2: go to Democrats. So even those sixty seven percent of
Speaker 2: their voters support school choice zero percent, virtually zero percent
Speaker 2: of Democrat legislators and elected officials are supportive of school choice.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, this is a guaranteed income for them.
Speaker 1: They if teachers' unions have public schools open, it's a
Speaker 1: guaranteed income. And I think that's something that people don't understand,
Speaker 1: that teachers are forced into the union in most states,
Speaker 1: and then if they're in the union, they're obviously paying dues.
Speaker 1: Those dues are getting paid out of their paycheck, which
Speaker 1: is taxpayer funded, and therefore your taxpayer dollars are often
Speaker 1: funding Democrats to get elected one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: And thankfully, you know stays like Florida.
Speaker 2: I actually advocated for paycheck protection for ten years before
Speaker 2: it finally got passed under Governor DeSantis. So prop to
Speaker 2: him and the legislature for finally getting it done. And
Speaker 2: that means that our school districts no longer subsidize the
Speaker 2: collection of union dues on behalf of our teachers' unions.
Speaker 2: They cannot be automatically taken out of the paychecks any longer.
Speaker 2: That combined with laws that allow for decertification when union
Speaker 2: membership falls below a certain threshold. In Florida, believe it's
Speaker 2: now fifty percent. It keeps the unions on their toes
Speaker 2: and in some cases allows for another type of organization
Speaker 2: to come in to be the collective bargaining unit for
Speaker 2: those teachers that may not have the same political ties
Speaker 2: as a traditional teachers union member of one of the
Speaker 2: national organizations.
Speaker 3: So we're seeing reforms.
Speaker 2: Obviously, we've gotten some Supreme Court decisions that have gone
Speaker 2: our way as well, not forcing people to be members
Speaker 2: of the union any longer in the states around the country,
Speaker 2: and so I think that will continue to evolve. But
Speaker 2: that's also why school choice is so great for teachers,
Speaker 2: because it gives them a non union option that will
Speaker 2: allow great teachers to thrive and even perhaps get paid
Speaker 2: more for their better performance for going into more difficult neighborhoods,
Speaker 2: which you cannot do in the public schools.
Speaker 1: Stick around. We've got more with Eric Donald's, but first
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Speaker 1: back after this. Talked a lot about being in DC.
Speaker 1: You said, now that Donald Trump has been elected, you've
Speaker 1: been there quite a bit. Obviously, we know your husband
Speaker 1: and Congressman Byron Donalds is in DC as much as
Speaker 1: Congress is in sessions, so now you're probably actually seeing
Speaker 1: a little bit more of him. But you guys recently
Speaker 1: made an announcement that you'd like to spend a little
Speaker 1: bit more time in Florida, So tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're very fortunate that Donald Trump came out and
Speaker 2: gave him the run Byron run tweet with a full
Speaker 2: endorsement of Byron for governor of Florida. So just a
Speaker 2: few days later, about a month ago now, my husband
Speaker 2: announced that he would be running for governor. We've been
Speaker 2: in Florida since we were in college. We met at
Speaker 2: Florida State University, which is in Tallahassee, or state capital,
Speaker 2: started dating, got married, built a life, built a family.
Speaker 2: We spent twenty years in financial services before ever getting
Speaker 2: involved in politics. It was not in our plans at all,
Speaker 2: but we have been serving the community in different ways
Speaker 2: and just had been encouraged to get more involved in
Speaker 2: public service.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of been a progression where, you know,
Speaker 3: more and more.
Speaker 2: People have trusted us and especially my husband, with decisions
Speaker 2: on behalf of our community, from state House to Congress,
Speaker 2: and now you know, we hope that we can get
Speaker 2: the endorsement of the majority of Floridians to go to
Speaker 2: Tallahassee and really make a difference in a state that's
Speaker 2: been so good to us and is in such a
Speaker 2: great position to really thrive in the coming years. And
Speaker 2: DeSantis is turned out, so he's not running again, So
Speaker 2: we just are really looking forward to it. It's been
Speaker 2: an awesome first month of the campaign, so much the port.
Speaker 2: We've got to kick off this weekend a rally in
Speaker 2: our hometown here in southwest Florida. So it's it's exciting,
Speaker 2: and I just feel honored that so many people trust him,
Speaker 2: trust us with such a big responsibility.
Speaker 1: There have been some other name that have been thrown around.
Speaker 1: I mean, Matt Gates had been thrown around. I think
Speaker 1: he said he's not going to run. But you talked
Speaker 1: about Ron DeSantis being term limited. Casey DeSantis is not,
Speaker 1: so they there has been some talk about the first
Speaker 1: lady run of Florida running for governor. What do you think?
Speaker 1: What are you hearing behind the scenes on that.
Speaker 2: You know that has come up a few times. You
Speaker 2: know she's teased to run. I don't know what she's
Speaker 2: going to do. But I know my husband has an
Speaker 2: incredible track record, you know, both voting in the state
Speaker 2: House and in Congress. He's got the most conservative track
Speaker 2: record from all of the groups that you know track
Speaker 2: these things when it comes to votes. But also he
Speaker 2: spent twenty years in financial services, in banking and insurance,
Speaker 2: and those are the things that really brings something to
Speaker 2: the table for Florida. We have an insurance crisis and
Speaker 2: property taxes. He totally understands those issues, and we want
Speaker 2: to be the financial and business capital.
Speaker 3: Of the world. We're already well on our way there.
Speaker 2: So I just think that his background really aligns well
Speaker 2: with where we're positioned as a state right now. And
Speaker 2: the fact that he does have such a conservative track
Speaker 2: record really speaks to Floridians.
Speaker 1: I mean, Florida is a unique state because when you're
Speaker 1: looking at states like Florida or California, you have a
Speaker 1: propensity for natural disasters there. You obviously have a propensity
Speaker 1: for hurricanes, and I assume that's what you're talking about
Speaker 1: when it comes to insurance. Does he believe that his
Speaker 1: background in insurance would help him in crisis situations like that?
Speaker 1: Because I think anybody who is looking at who can
Speaker 1: lead the state. In your states specifically, that would be
Speaker 1: a great concern is that we have a natural disaster
Speaker 1: almost every year and that puts you directly into crisis
Speaker 1: mode every fall.
Speaker 2: Sure, that's one aspect of it. Our insurance market is
Speaker 2: really in crisis right now. We've had a lot of
Speaker 2: carriers lead the state because of some of the natural disasters.
Speaker 3: You know, there's legislation that.
Speaker 2: Could be improved in order to better the insurance markets here,
Speaker 2: both property insurance and car insurance.
Speaker 3: So that's a big concern. So just the mechanisms of that.
Speaker 2: He did serve as a chair of that committee in
Speaker 2: the state House when he was there, but also in
Speaker 2: Southwest Florida. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of direct hits
Speaker 2: while he has been a representative either at the state
Speaker 2: or congressional level, so he has been on the ground
Speaker 2: in Southwest Florida. I remember during IRMA there were three
Speaker 2: weeks that I didn't see him because he was out
Speaker 2: there on the ground helping our community when we first
Speaker 2: got hit in twenty seventeen. We got hit with ian
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, and of course he was
Speaker 2: in Congress at the time, so facilitating a lot of
Speaker 2: those disaster recovery efforts, So he's got that direct experience,
Speaker 2: not just in the markets and preparing for those things,
Speaker 2: but actually being on the ground helping our community directly
Speaker 2: when they hit.
Speaker 1: Well. I mean, it sounds like you have a lot
Speaker 1: ahead of you with these are two big things. You've
Speaker 1: got education and you've got a big campaign coming up.
Speaker 1: What does Byron what is the for him for the congressman?
Speaker 1: What is the biggest issue that he thinks Florida's facing me.
Speaker 1: We talked about insurance, but there must be something that
Speaker 1: he is just just driving him to get out there
Speaker 1: and say, I want to do this one to serve
Speaker 1: for the people right directly in my state on the
Speaker 1: highest level that he can.
Speaker 2: It really does center around individual liberty and freedom.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people don't know.
Speaker 2: We started off in politics in the Tea Party movement,
Speaker 2: and it was all centered around small governments and the
Speaker 2: government not getting in the way, picking winners and losers,
Speaker 2: doing bailouts. And that's what got us involved in politics
Speaker 2: in the first place.
Speaker 3: And my husband went back.
Speaker 2: And read things like Frederick Bastiat The Law. I've got
Speaker 2: John Locke here behind me and my bookshelf, and so
Speaker 2: it really comes down to political philosophy that gives people
Speaker 2: the best opportunities to succeed in life because.
Speaker 3: Government is not tying them up.
Speaker 2: In bureaucracy and regulations and things like that. So you know,
Speaker 2: that's kind of the overall picture is having people who
Speaker 2: understand what the right political philosophy is in our country
Speaker 2: of federalism, individual liberty and choices, property rights, and not
Speaker 2: get involved so much in the nuances because there are
Speaker 2: going to be new issues that come up that we
Speaker 2: can't even think to talk about if he were to
Speaker 2: become governor over the next eight years. So you need
Speaker 2: someone who has the right principles and the route right
Speaker 2: foundation that's going to make the right decision when those
Speaker 2: new issues come up that we can't even think to
Speaker 2: discuss at this point.
Speaker 1: So before I let you go, tell me what do
Speaker 1: we expect to see out of you in this new
Speaker 1: role at the America First Policy Institute, And what do
Speaker 1: we expect to see on the national scale when it
Speaker 1: comes to education before you guys dive into this major campaign.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to continue to work with like I said,
Speaker 2: the White House and Lenna McMahon and her team and
Speaker 2: Congress to dismantle the Department, answer the executive orders regarding
Speaker 2: school choice for the President, and hopefully get the Education
Speaker 2: Choice for Children Act through reconciliation, which will be our
Speaker 2: first federal tax credit for school choice, and that will
Speaker 2: help a lot of blue states where people want school
Speaker 2: choice and just won't have access to it through their
Speaker 2: state legislatures.
Speaker 3: It's a completely it's.
Speaker 2: All tax, it's not on the doe. But we're hoping
Speaker 2: to get that passed. But then most importantly, we're supporting
Speaker 2: states in their efforts to expand or an act school choice.
Speaker 2: We're working with Texas right now to get that across
Speaker 2: the finish line.
Speaker 3: My first thing that I did in this position was.
Speaker 2: To write a letter and help Tennessee get their universal
Speaker 2: school choice passed, and then helping to improve those policies
Speaker 2: across the board, because there's a lot of experimentation going
Speaker 2: on in school choice and in essays, and we want
Speaker 2: to make sure everyone gets the very best practices in
Speaker 2: place so the most families can take advantage of these
Speaker 2: and that we bring about innovation, quality and access for
Speaker 2: everyone in a free market environment. So that's what you're
Speaker 2: going to expect to see. If you don't already follow
Speaker 2: me on Twitter at Erica Donald's please do. And that's
Speaker 2: where I try to post everything that's going on, both
Speaker 2: federally and statewide so people can stay up to date.
Speaker 1: Amazing well, I expect to see great things, and we
Speaker 1: are so glad that you came on to talk to
Speaker 1: us this so congratulations on your new position, and congratulations
Speaker 1: on making the decision as a family to go out
Speaker 1: and run for governor. That's a big one, yes, don't
Speaker 1: you know it.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I
Speaker 3: really appreciate it. Hopefully we'll get to.
Speaker 1: Talk again soon, absolutely, and thank you all for joining
Speaker 1: us on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. For this episode and others,
Speaker 1: go to Tutordison podcast dot com. You can subscribe right there,
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Speaker 1: on the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Have a bless day.