Panel Guests Agree States Should Have More Control Over Schooling

The Trump administration today is celebrating National School of Choice Week. It hosted parental rights groups and education organizations at the White House today. It also launched a webpage showing which states have opted into a federal school choice tax credit program that goes into effect next year. Many Democrat-led states like California, New York, and Illinois have yet to opt in based on the map. Joining us now to discuss is Maggie McNeely, Legislative Strategist of the Concerned Women for America. And we have Erin Boxer, CEO of Diversified Education Services and former teacher. So good afternoon to you both. Welcome. Thank you for joining us today. Maggie, let me talk to you. So we're in the middle of National School Choice Week. Give us your thoughts here, your reactions on the federal school choice tax credit program being rolled out by this administration. Yeah, well, first of all, it's excellent news because this is the very first time that we have a federal level school choice program. And we've seen a lot of states go ahead and enact broader education freedom, different education savings accounts, tax credits. This is the very first time we've actually seen a program like this come out of Washington, D.C. So we are so excited to be spending our 16th school choice week and are able to spend that celebrating a federal level school choice tax credit that will be available to Americans all across the nation for the very first time. OK, Erin, can I get your thoughts now? Same question. Sure. Thanks. It's great to be here. This is a reminder that education is supposed to serve families and not the system. So it's very exciting to have this the school choice week. And it's really about putting a spotlight on every legitimate option. There's district, there's magnet, there's charter, private and virtual, even homeschooling. And this week matters because it shifts that conversation from the political side to a simple question, is your child actually thriving? Supporters will, like myself, we argue for school choice because it improves outcomes in two big ways. You have fit and then you have accountability. And fit matters because not every kid learns differently. As an executive functioning coach, I can tell you that, especially for my students who have ADHD or anxiety or learning differences, and they need more structural or different teaching styles. So the bottom line is that this is not anti-public school. It's pro parent. And most importantly, it's pro student. So, Maggie, you reacted positively just now. But if you look at the map published by the Trump administration, it looks like blue states are behind on opting in this into this tax credit program. Why do you think that is? Well, there's a number of reasons that people who aren't excited about this tax credit are trying to argue that it's going to take away money from public schools. That is absolutely not the case. What this tax credit program does is it incentivizes private donors to donate to private organizations to then give money to low income students. It has nothing to do with taking money away from public schools. It is just incentivizing people to use their own money to help these low income families have access to more education options. So we're really hopeful that these blue states will understand that if they opted to the program, they're actually just going to be helping their students. They're not going to be taking away money from public schools. They're not going to be disenfranchising teachers or students in their states. They're just going to be helping more families choose the education option that is best for them and for their students. Aaron, I'm also wondering, is there a role that teachers unions are playing in this behind blue states apparently not opting into this tax credit program? I'm so glad you asked. Yes, unions do not like school choice because it poses a threat. And listen, unions are not about kids. They are about themselves. They are about the politics. And the only reason why they got so big is because Jimmy Carter empowered them because they promised to get him into office or at least help him get into office. And it has spiraled into this thing that we now know. And they're not evil. I might be overstating it a little bit, but they are incentivized. They're incentivized to protect their own system, staffing and contracts and seniority roles and centralized control. The teachers who belong to the union, they're just trying to do their jobs. It's the people that are in Washington, the Randy Weingartens. It's not about kids. It's all about the money. And school choice, when it shifts leverage to parents, it threatens the status quo. They make their money from dues. If there's fewer kids that are going to the public school, then they're not getting as many dues. And if they don't have the dues, they don't have the money, they don't have the power. And the uncomfortable truth is unions will fight reforms even when families are desperate because they don't prioritize them. On the flip side, teachers are exhausted and they're not supported enough. They don't get paid enough. And it's important that we say that out loud. But parents can't be told to sacrifice their kids' future to protect an adult system. The priority always has to be kids first. Maggie, I'm curious as well, your thoughts on the role that teachers' unions play. Yeah, so they, as Aaron said, they are very self-interested. They are focused on the interests of the unions rather than the kids or the teachers. They are much more often interested in pushing a political agenda. We actually saw last July, the National Education Association, the NEA, voted on a bill that would force students to stop using any materials from the Anti-Defamation League, which is an association that helps to promote education about the Holocaust and why you shouldn't be anti-Semitic. And these are materials that have been used in states for decades. But the NEA decided to push a vote to say you can't use these materials. You can't use materials that say anti-Semitism is bad or that teach about the Holocaust. And that's just one very small example of what the unions are up to right this minute. And so they're not interested in kids going to schools that aren't going to push woke ideology. They're a huge problem. They are an obstacle to ensuring that kids are actually learning math and reading and the things they actually need to achieve in life and have a successful career. Okay, Aaron, I want to read a quote here by President Trump. He said he wants every parent in America to be empowered to send their child to public, private, charter or faith-based school of their choice and that he'll use every power he has to give parents this right. Why has the president made expanding universal school choice a key objective, Aaron? Why do you think? It's piggybacking off of what Maggie said, empowering the states to be in charge of their own education, less government. Conservatives are all about less government and liberals are all about more government, right? And so education is where it starts. Empowering our teachers to help our kids get to a place where they're not reliant on the state, where we're not a welfare state filled with social programs. And unfortunately, when Trump is in office, anything that he wants to be a part of, the other side wants nothing to do with it. As they say, he could come up with a cure for cancer and the leftists would say, no, no, we're not interested in that. They probably wouldn't say it as nicely as I just did. So he just wants everyone to be successful. He wants everyone to have a chance. And it starts with young people and the messaging. And the problem is, is that we have so much of this liberal ideology being inflicted upon these kids because they're so easily influenced. The power of suggestion with the pronouns and the emails and the gender ideology, it's insanity. It's as Elon Musk says, a woke mind virus. So one of the first steps is to clean up the education system. He said he wanted to do that. Keep the government out. The accountability problems that we've been having and uneven access, it needs to stop and we need to give our kids a chance so they don't wind up being reliant upon the state. Maggie, should education be an issue given to the states? Absolutely. We've had the federal government running education for decades and it has obviously resulted in just abysmal results. The U.S. continues to sink in how we're rated among the developed world as far as our academics go. And we need to change. It's not working. Every child is created with unique individual talents and gifts and having a one-size-fits-all system that acts as if they are just all the same is not serving them well. And it is denying them the inherent dignity that they have as individuals. So it's high time that the American system actually reflects that every child is different and they should have an education system that treats them as such and is going to allow them to flourish and succeed as they were created to do. Okay, Aaron, I started with Maggie, so I'll end with you. Can you just add a bit more here? What do you think are the benefits of shifting education back to the states? And how do you address some concerns that the standards might vary wildly? We have to make sure that this gets off the ground in the best way possible. Anything that's new and that government is involved has a chance to get muddled, whether it be the messaging or the finances. There's always going to be naysayers. This is an incredible opportunity. People have been speaking about this for decades, trying to get school choice to be a part of this, trying to get the unions out, trying to keep the government out, and to empower parents and span these options and reduce Washington's grip. Most recently, this big shift with the federal tax scholarship model, it isn't even called a voucher, but it functions similarly because it's letting taxpayers receive credits for donations that fund scholarships, and the family can use that for tuition and other education services. That is an amazing opportunity. While it's happening now, the messaging needs to get out there clearly to families. These other states, California, Illinois, or anyone else that doesn't want to get on board. As a parent, I would ask myself, why? Why don't we want to give our kids more of an opportunity? Basically, what's changing is the money and the power is going to move closer to the families, and schools, they're going to have to compete on performance, culture, and results, which always is going to bring out the best. That's what this country is based on, a meritocracy, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this unrolls. Okay, let's leave it there for this conversation. Enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Thanks so much, Tom. Thank you.