Podcast

Charter SchoolsCommentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedMicroschoolsParental ChoicePodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: Matt Ladner interviews Great Hearts Online executive director Kurtis Indorf

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, redefinED’s executive editor speaks to a leader in the charter school organization about the exploding demand for its classical liberal arts education. Currently serving more than 20,000 students in brick-and-mortar classrooms in Arizona and Texas, Great Hearts Online launched in August because of the COVID-19 pandemic and currently serves approximately 1,000 students across both states.

The two discuss the perils of emergency online learning, which Indorf refers to as potentially “lonely, procedural, and uninspiring.” They also discuss how Great Hearts works directly with its families early in the school design process to create a learning environment that best fits their needs, and Great Hearts’ upcoming plans for pods and micro-schools.

“There’s been a lot of work to create virtual and in-person community and to teach students how to build healthy relationships in each … That’s an important part of becoming literate and healthy in our technology-enhanced world.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Great Hearts’ commitment to fostering robust online and in-person communities for its families

·       The pivot from temporarily online schooling to a robust full-time program for families who want it

·       How families are involved in the development of Great Hearts’ programs

·       Plans for expansion beyond Arizona and Texas and pods and micro-schools supported by Great Hearts Online

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Indiana State Rep. Bob Behning on education choice expansion

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with the chairman of Indiana’s House Education Committee. Behning carried a choice bill this legislative session that was folded into the state’s budget, creating a new $10 million education savings account program for students with special needs that will be funded at 90% of regular per-pupil funding. The voucher program will have the highest income eligibility of any means-tested program in the country.

The two discuss the landscape of Indiana’s choice programs, which already were considered a national model, and ponder choice expansion opportunities to come, including better transportation options for families. Behning argues that the more choice families have, the better off the Hoosier state’s education system will be.

“I see this as a social justice issue. Providing opportunities for parents that don’t have the ability to make a choice by moving to a community where schools are better – we’re giving them another option.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       An overview of Indiana’s robust education choice programs

·       This year’s legislative process that led to the creation of a new special needs education savings account

·       How federal funding impacted Indiana’s overall budget this year in the wake of COVID-19

·       Opportunities public school districts have to unbundle services to better serve students who utilize education savings accounts

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationEducation PoliticsFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastPrivate School ScholarshipsSchool ChoiceUnionism

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Kentucky Rep. Chad McCoy on expanding choice in the Bluegrass State

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with the majority whip of the Kentucky House of Representatives who carried a landmark education choice bill, HB 563, to passage this legislative session and then participated in an override of a gubernatorial veto. The bill creates a new tax credit funded program in Kentucky called the Education Opportunity Scholarship.

The two discuss the multi-year political struggle to create the program and the power of teacher unions in Kentucky’s rural areas. McCoy shares his conviction that because district schools often are the biggest employer in rural areas, the outsized influence of the unions kept the bill from becoming law until this legislative session.

Tuthill and McCoy also discuss the politics behind Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto and how public school districts are eligible to participate in the program.

“Parents around the state recognized the need across the board … and their God-given right. (They realized) it is my kid. Why don’t I have a choice?”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       HB 563 and what it does for education in Kentucky

·       The politics behind the bill and how the realities of COVID-19 helped it finally become law

·       The theory of unbundling services and how to create greater equity for families who have less access to resources

·       Future legislation and the goals for education choice expansion

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Catholic SchoolsCommentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastPrivate School ScholarshipsSchool Choice

podcastED: redefinED interview with military spouse, scholarship mom Jessica Bianchi

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

Jessica Bianchi and her husband, Juan Santana, pose with their children, Jan and Gia

On this episode, redefinED senior writer Lisa Buie speaks with Jessica Bianchi, whose husband, Juan Santana, is a chief petty officer in the Navy and stationed in Jacksonville. Their son, Jan, is a rising freshman on a Gardiner Scholarship at Morning Star School, and their daughter, Gia, attends Christ the King Catholic School.

Bianchi, who had the opportunity to meet Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers at one of two bill-signings for HB 7045, was delighted to learn that Gia will qualify for a Family Empowerment Scholarship under the new law that opens program eligibility to dependents of active-duty members of the Armed Forces regardless of income.

Bianchi talks on the podcast about her efforts to send her son, who is on the autism spectrum, to a district school, why that wasn’t the best fit for him, and how the K-12 state scholarship program allowed her to transfer him to a private school. She also recounts the financial sacrifices the family has made, even with the state scholarship, to afford a Catholic education for both children and how their schools have offered a sense of community often missing in a military family’s life.

“We feel we’re being appreciated for the sacrifices that we do for our country … We do it because we love our country. We do it because we don’t want to feel like all these bad things are going on in the world, and we’re just sitting here waiting for someone to fix our problems. We just feel very appreciated.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       How Jan’s educational journey began

·       How Catholic schools provide a unique sense of community

·       How a change in the law governing state scholarships will benefit her family and other military families across Florida

Families interested in applying for education choice scholarships administered by Step Up For Students can learn more here.

 

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews state Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. on the future of education choice in Florida

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with the long-time education choice supporter from Hialeah who carried the Senate companion to HB 7045 during the 2021 legislative session, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis May 11.

Tuthill and Diaz discuss how the landmark bill, heralded by many as the largest expansion of choice in Florida’s history, will begin to normalize choice in the private and public school arena. Both believe education savings accounts are the logical next step for all choice programs in Florida that have the added benefit of empowering teachers to be their own entrepreneurs and business owners, an often overlooked virtue of education choice. They also discuss ongoing efforts to make education choice support bipartisan in the Florida Legislature.

“The ultimate goal is to get everyone to understand this is not a partisan issue. This is a civil rights issue. This is an issue for families. This is a pro-parent issue. This is an issue of opportunity for those who need it most … The one word is persistence.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Passage of HB 7045 and its impact on public education in Florida

·       Where education choice is headed after the bill’s passage

·       Education savings accounts and how they empower and expand opportunities for teachers

·       Diaz’s persistence in seeking bipartisan support for education choice expansion

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedParent VoicesParental ChoicePodcastPrivate School ScholarshipsSchool Choice

podcastED: redefinED interview with scholarship mom La Toya Bell

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

La Toya Bell and her daughter, Camrin, who attends a Tallahassee private school on a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship

On this episode, redefinED senior writer Lisa Buie speaks with La Toya Bell, an independent living specialist for the Children’s Home Society of Florida and mom to Camrin, who attends a private school in Tallahassee on the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

Mrs. Bell, who recently shared her story before a Florida House panel considering expanded school choice legislation, discusses how Camrin’s diagnosis of ADHD made it challenging for her to remain in her district school. She also talks about how it felt for Camrin to be awarded the scholarship and about the positive impact the new school had on her.

“When she was in the public school I noticed when they were addressing her behaviors in a negative way, it was messing with her self-esteem and would make her cry, and … it almost made me feel like her teacher was picking on her, whereas once she did transfer into private school, the teacher had more patience … you could see a little more glow in her eyes.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       How Camrin’s ADHD diagnosis and symptoms affected how she was treated in her district school

·       How the family learned about the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship

·       How Camrin’s new school positively affected her self-esteem

·       Mrs. Bell’s opinion of HB 7045, which expands school choice to 61,000 more students

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Advocate VoicesCommentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastReligious EducationSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews education choice advocate Rabbi Moshe Matz

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

Rabbi Moshe Matz, front row, third from the left, marches with other education choice advocates in a rally at the state Capitol in spring 2010.

Editor’s note: To read a recent news story featuring Rabbi Matz, click here.

On this episode, Step Up For Students president Doug Tuthill talks with the executive director of Agudath Israel of Florida, the local arm of a century-old advocacy organization committed to protecting and advancing the interests of the Orthodox Jewish community.

The two discuss the importance of education choice within the rabbi’s community and the Hebrew understanding of education as a lifelong endeavor that defines the community as a whole. They also discuss HB 7045, a landmark education choice bill passed this week by the Florida Legislature, and how expanding access to choice programs will greatly benefit Florida and the Orthodox Jewish community.

“I think the options we have in terms of education choices we’ve developed here in Florida are definitely a magnet for people … This is a central part of what our community really needs for its growth.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Rabbi Matz’s history as the son of refugees from the Castro Revolution in Cuba and the grandson of Holocaust victims

·       The role that education choice plays in the Jewish community and how it protects its culture and traditions

·       How choice scholarships such as Florida’s allow large Jewish families greater learning opportunity

·       The passage of HB 7045 in the Florida Legislature and how Rabbi Matz sees choice unfolding in Florida

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Catholic SchoolsCommentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedParent VoicesParental ChoicePodcastReligious EducationSchool Choice

podcastED: redefinED interview with Catholic school mom Jennifer Strickland

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

On this episode, redefinED senior writer Buie speaks with Jennifer Strickland, mother to 14-year-old Jack, a freshman at Catholic High School in Pensacola, Florida. Strickland, a former retail manager and independent cosmetics consultant, found herself a single parent when her husband died unexpectedly.

Strickland talks about why she chose a Catholic education for her son and what makes it distinct from district schools. She also discusses the shock she experienced after her husband’s death, the financial hardship she and her son experienced in the years that followed, and her disappointment that state law prevented her from receiving a school choice scholarship for Jack because he had not spent the previous year in a district school.

“It’s like you are almost coerced to keep your child in a public school … Of course, the first thing I thought of was, ‘What am I going to do? He’s already going through a rough time.’ My mind was just reeling. I prayed and prayed and prayed I could keep him where he was.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       How Jack’s educational journey began

·       How Catholic schools provide a unique sense of community

·       How Strickland managed to keep her son in his Catholic school during the roughest time in both their lives

·       How a repeal of the requirement that denies financially qualified families school choice scholarships would benefit Strickland’s family and others across Florida

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