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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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Charter SchoolsCommentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastSchool Choice

PodcastED: Fernando Zulueta, founder of Academica, America’s biggest charter school service provider

Ron Matus
Ron Matus

The charter school that spurred creation of Academica did not hit the ground running. No, jokes Academica’s founder and president, Fernando Zulueta, in a new redefinED podcast, “We hit the ground falling.”

A hurricane, an appendicitis, upset district officials, bad first-year test scores, an accommodating private school – all played a role in Academica’s origin story. Thankfully, it has a happy ending.

The Florida charter sector, now encompassing nearly 700 schools, is celebrating its 25th birthday this year.

Miami-based Academica provides services to 143 of them, and 178 nationwide. Another 1,000 schools in 18 countries participate in its international dual diploma program.

Despite its size – and its success – the organization remains oddly under the radar.

Academica’s core networks are Somerset, Mater, Doral and Pinecrest. According to Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, whose research on charter school performance is widely respected, all four are making modest to large gains over like students in district schools. The Doral network showed the biggest gains – 142 additional days of learning in math and 57 in reading.

Those results are on par with more celebrated charter organizations like Achievement First, IDEA, BASIS and Great Hearts. So where’s the love?

Zulueta offers his take on that and other issues in the podcast, along with a little history about that first Academica affiliate. Among other insights:

Talent + freedom. “Find the best possible people to run (schools) and give them as much autonomy and control over their environment as possible.”

Let teachers teach. “Anything that wasn’t mission critical to the task of educating students is what Academica sought to do.”

On criticism of for-profits: “There’s this rather demeaning and unfortunate notion among some folks in the public sector that they’re just much smarter than everyone else.”

On why it persists: “Divide and conquer.”

On education savings accounts: “I’m in favor of … anything that empowers parents to access better quality education.”

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Commentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedMicroschoolsParental ChoicePodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews entrepreneur Joe Connor

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill speaks with the co-owner of SchoolHouse, an organization serving several hundred students in eight states by creating flexible learning communities known as micro-pods for four to eight students.

Tuthill and Connor discuss how SchoolHouse connects members of the community with a shared interest in a smaller learning environment to each other, allowing families to customize their learning pod from the ground up. The two also discuss how micro–schools empower teachers as well as students, and how education savings accounts of the type proposed in Florida’s Senate Bill 48 could help more families access smaller, more customized educational options.

“What excites me about ESAs is that it’s really what parents already do, and the government is responding to that. I don’t know a single parent … who doesn’t pick from different vendors for different things … (parents) have choice in their lives, and it’s giving them the money to really fund that, which is exciting.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Connor’s background as an educator and education law attorney

·       The creation of SchoolHouse, how it works, and how the pandemic accelerated the micro-school learning trend

·       Opportunities for teachers to thrive in the customized learning environment of micro-schools

·       Creating greater equity for serving families without financial means through ESAs

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Commentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedGardiner ScholarshipParent VoicesPodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: redefinED interview with ‘multiple choice’ mom Stephanie Conner

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

On this episode, redefinED senior writer Lisa Buie speaks with Stephanie Conner, a mother of four from the tiny town of LaBelle, Florida. The former teacher and her husband, Joel, an adult education teacher, use the Gardiner Scholarship for their son, Eli and daughter, Madeline.

Their younger children, Meizie and Gideon, joined the family through adoption and use the Family Empowerment Scholarship to attend a nearby private school. 

 Conner discusses her children’s unique needs and how pre-approved therapy equipment made possible by Gardiner’s flexible spending accounts helped maximize her two older children’s ability to learn. She also describes how an arrangement with the school that her younger children attend allow her to mix and match services for Eli and Madeline, providing a truly customized learning plan for each.

“The main blessing of the Gardiner is being able to use it for whatever we think they need and not have other people tell us what they think we should do, being able to control and do what is best for our children … Flexibility has been the key to making it successful for us.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       How the Conners’ homeschool journey began

·       An overview of the Conner children’s unique educational needs

·       How education choice allows the family to use “unbundled” services from a local private school

·       What a typical school day looks like for the Conners

·       How the Conners are using their education savings accounts to help Eli and Madeline get the most from their education, even in a rural area

·       What Stephanie Conner would change about the Family Empowerment Scholarship

·       Her thoughts on Senate Bill 48 and the flexibility it would offer

Editor’s note: To read more about how the Conners are exercising education choice, click here. To read a recent op-ed Stephanie Conner wrote on education choice that was published in the Naples Daily News, click here.

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Catholic SchoolsCommentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationFeaturedParent VoicesPodcastPrivate School ScholarshipsReligious EducationSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Florida Catholic Conference’s Michael Barrett

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill speaks with the Conference’s associate for education about the history of Catholic education and the tension between Catholic schools maintaining an open, welcoming environment for all students while adhering to the practices and beliefs of their religious identity.

With nearly 30,000 of Florida’s roughly 80,000 Catholic students receiving some type of state scholarship, education choice plays a significant role in Florida’s Catholic schools. Tuthill and Barrett discuss Senate Bill 48, the landmark choice bill proposed by the Florida Senate that will be discussed during this year’s legislative session, and opportunities the Catholic community has to better serve families should the bill become law.

“We are not trying to discriminate against anybody. We’re trying to maintain (schools) where we can build and teach and provide an environment that is based on the fundamental aspects of the Catholic faith.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       The history of Catholic education in America stemming from Protestant discrimination in the first modern public schools

·       How education choice provides vibrancy to Catholic schools in Florida even as enrollment declines in other states

·       Issues of religious freedom and non-discrimination language that governments are codifying into law

·       How Catholic schools handle identity issues on a school-by-school, per-family basis rather than adhering to blanket policies

·       Senate Bill 48 and how its potential to help Catholic schools serve more students in better ways

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastPublic School ChoiceSchool Choice

podcastED: Matt Ladner interviews Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Chad Aldis

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

In this podcast video, redefinED’s executive editor speaks with longtime education choice advocate Chad Aldis, vice president for Ohio policy and advocacy at Fordham, wo previously served as executive director of School Choice Ohio and was Ohio State director for StudentsFirst.

Ladner and Aldis discuss a recent Fordham study that mapped out open enrollment policies across Ohio after some media outlets questioned whether open enrollment education choice policies exacerbated school segregation. The study concluded they do not, it brought to light something more alarming.

Under state law, districts choose whether to accept nonresident students. Most suburban districts in Ohio have kept their doors shut. Despite being public agencies – often boasting of being “open to all” – these school systems deny children access just because they don’t have the right address.

“Let’s be real about this … no, you’re not to open to everybody. You’re open to everyone who can pay the price of admission … The price of admission is property taxes.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Aldis’s critique of the current system, which results in high-wealth suburban school districts “walling out” poorer students from urban centers, who have been shown to benefit the most from education choice

·       How Ohio’s open enrollment system is different in rural counties

·       How rules restricting charter schools to urban areas further restricts choices for minority and low-income families

·       Comparisons with another education choice state, Arizona

·       What can be done to correct the inequities caused by Ohio’s open enrollment choice system

LINKS MENTIONED:

 https://fordhaminstitute.org/ohio/research/open-enrollment-and-student-diversity-ohios-schools

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation Savings AccountsEducation SpendingFeaturedParent EmpowermentPodcastSchool Choice

podcastED: Matt Ladner interviews Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, redefinED’s executive editor speaks with longtime education choice advocate Bolick, who is co-founder of the Institute for Justice. Now serving as an associate justice on the Arizona Supreme Court, Bolick recently co-authored Unshackled: Freeing America’s K-12 Education System.

Ladner and Bolick discuss the book and imagine what a K-12 education system would look like if it were being built from scratch today. Most traditional schools, Bolick says, are nowhere close to where they need to be if America is to continue its economic prosperity and remain competitive with other developed countries. Education savings accounts, Bolick believes, are the most powerful tool for bringing about improvement in public education.

“We have the ability to deliver a highly personalized, high quality education opportunity to every child in the country today at a fraction of the cost we spend on education. We are so far from that.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Bolick’s critique of the current education system and his commonsense principles for creating a 21st century K-12 education system

·       Why Bolick believes education savings accounts are the future of public education

·       How the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds

·       Test score comparisons to countries spending less on education that belie the fallacy that increased funding can cure America’s educational woes

·       How the best teachers can innovate and thrive in a new public education paradigm

LINKS MENTIONED:

RedefinED: Parents, teachers, indicate support for ESAs, national poll finds

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Commentary and OpinionEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityEducation LegislationEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedParent EmpowermentParental ChoicePodcastPrivate School ScholarshipsSchool ChoiceTeacher Empowerment

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill on SB 48, which would further empower Florida families seeking education choice

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, redefinED managing editor Donna Winchester asks Tuthill about a landmark education choice bill filed Thursday in the Florida Senate. Sponsored by Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. (R-Hialeah), SB 48 would merge Florida’s five choice scholarship programs into two and add flexible spending options in the form of education savings accounts to better meet the individual needs of scholarship families.

 The bill would transfer students currently receiving the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship to the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which was signed into law in 2019, and merge the McKay Scholarship Program for students with disabilities and the Gardiner Scholarship Program for students with unique abilities, creating a new program called the McKay-Gardiner Scholarship Program.

Tuthill discusses the bill’s potential to better align public education to the modern world of school choice, aiding not only students and families but educators and education providers as well.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of very dynamic educators who would normally be pushed out of the profession because they’re so frustrated (now) staying … and creating lots of innovation. For the next 15 to 20 years, I think you will see an amazing amount of innovation driven by educators who finally have the freedom to be more creative, and families having the resources to access those kinds of choices. I think it’s going to be a renaissance for teachers and families.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       An explanation of SB 48 and how it would enhance Florida’s choice landscape

·       The genesis of Step Up For Students’ motto of “helping public education fulfill the promise of equal opportunity”

·       How education choice empowers educators and promotes entrepreneurship

·       Tuthill’s response to those who doubt a parent’s ability to make good educational decisions for their children

·       What social science has to say about learning and internal motivation and how that message can guide education choice advocates and thought leaders

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