The Walt Blackman Show

Understanding the Power of School Choice: The Success of Personalized Education and its Future Impact

October 02, 2023 Walter
Understanding the Power of School Choice: The Success of Personalized Education and its Future Impact
The Walt Blackman Show
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The Walt Blackman Show
Understanding the Power of School Choice: The Success of Personalized Education and its Future Impact
Oct 02, 2023
Walter

Ready to crack the code of school choice? We guarantee you'll leave this episode with a solid understanding of why a staggering 72% of Americans support this notion. We kick off with an inspiring story of my friend Renee, a Dallas nurse, who's a shining example of the potential success that can be unlocked with personalized education. 

We shift gears to dissect Arizona's bold 2022 school choice program and the revolutionary School Choice Bill. Through this, we uncover how providing an education scholarship account (ESA) of up to $30,000 for students with special needs is not just possible, but already happening. And, it doesn't stop there. How did Arizona create an impressive $43 million for the school system through criminal justice reform? We've got the scoop. 

Lastly, we step back to appreciate the big picture. Let's debunk the myths together - school choice doesn't mean abandoning local schools. In fact, it's a catalyst for improvement. Just look at Florida and Indiana, states that managed to skyrocket in their education rankings after embracing school choice. So, buckle up for an enlightening journey through the school choice narrative and its impact on the future of education. You don't want to miss this.

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Ready to crack the code of school choice? We guarantee you'll leave this episode with a solid understanding of why a staggering 72% of Americans support this notion. We kick off with an inspiring story of my friend Renee, a Dallas nurse, who's a shining example of the potential success that can be unlocked with personalized education. 

We shift gears to dissect Arizona's bold 2022 school choice program and the revolutionary School Choice Bill. Through this, we uncover how providing an education scholarship account (ESA) of up to $30,000 for students with special needs is not just possible, but already happening. And, it doesn't stop there. How did Arizona create an impressive $43 million for the school system through criminal justice reform? We've got the scoop. 

Lastly, we step back to appreciate the big picture. Let's debunk the myths together - school choice doesn't mean abandoning local schools. In fact, it's a catalyst for improvement. Just look at Florida and Indiana, states that managed to skyrocket in their education rankings after embracing school choice. So, buckle up for an enlightening journey through the school choice narrative and its impact on the future of education. You don't want to miss this.

Support the Show.

Speaker 1:

How to sit back and relax and get ready for the Walt Blackman show.

Speaker 2:

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a place where facts are our North Star and common sense is our guiding principle. You've just tuned into the Walt Blackman show. He's the voice that cuts through the noise, the man who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Please welcome your host, the one and only Walt Blackman.

Speaker 3:

Hello America and welcome back to another episode of the Walt Blackman show. I'm your host, walt Blackman, and Boy Do. We have an incredible lineup for you today. We're going to dig deep, expose truths and demolish myths, always with hard hitting common sense and facts. Hello everybody, it's Walt Blackman. Welcome to the Walt Blackman show. Hope you had a great weekend. No, I did.

Speaker 3:

Today we're going to be talking about something that's near and dear to my heart, as I am sure it is near and dear to a lot of parents, and how their kids are educated. We're going to be talking about school choice, america's school choice program. We're going to be talking about some of the numbers that support the reason why we need parents to have a better, better handle on where their kids go to school and making sure that the government is not in that decision, and it is a parent's right and responsibility to be able to send their child to the school that their kid is going to do best at and is best for their child. We're going to be talking about that in much more on the Walt Blackman show and we'll be back right after this message.

Speaker 1:

If you're looking to catch up on Walt's past shows, all you need to do is go to Apple Podcast, spotify Podcast Index, amazon Music Podcast, attic Podchaser or End Player FM. You can also go to his website at wwwbusfrautcom and click on the Walt Blackman show. Now here's more of Walt. We're coming at you on the Walt Blackman show.

Speaker 3:

Okay, welcome back everybody. This is Walt Blackman on the Walt Blackman show. Before we get started, I want to give a shout out to someone who, you know, I kind of grew up with a little bit. Her name is Renee. She is a nurse in Dallas, texas. Now, what is really special about this person? Her and I were good friends back in high school, back in the day, and we recently were able to reconnect and it, I got to tell you, when you are in high school and you are looking forward, you're, you know, you got a lot of people that are like, oh, my goodness, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? How am I going to turn out? And parents, you know, sometimes worry about that with their children also. And, looking back, when I knew her in high school and now we've reconnected, she's a nurse, she's a professional, she's done some great things in her life. You know, I could have never thought in a million years that we would be back at this situation where we're at. I got to tell you a true American. And nurses have, they are unsung heroes in my book, I got to tell you, because nurses, they are the backbone of the medical field, because doctors come in, they do their little deal and they leave and the nurse steps in and the nurses with you, I would say 90% of the time and the nurse gets to know you and the nurse understands what's going on with you because they've been doing this for a while. That's why my hat is off to Renee. She, being a nurse, she's being a lifesaver and she just says she's doing her duty. I got to tell you she's going above and beyond the call of duty, being a nurse and my I am just really, really thankful that we were able to reconnect and I plan on bringing her out here in the event or, god willing, I do make it back into office so she can sit on the floor during opening day and that will be something that's going to be really really neat to see. So everybody want to give a shout out to my good friend, renee, and from Texas and she is just a great and wonderful person.

Speaker 3:

Now let's move on to what we came here for, and that's to talk about school of choice, and the vast majority of Americans do support school of choice, including a number of Democrat and independent folks. They really want school of choice because you want to be able to put your kid in the right or the best possible situation so they can have the best tools they need to succeed and to move forward and to do great and wonderful things. Now polls say when we're looking at polls, real clear politics, and you can look this up 72% of Americans support school of choice and the ability for parents to choose the school that best fits their child needs, and I think that's important. I think parents have a right to be able to do that and that big government is out of that decision making, because government is not designed to raise your children. You are as a parent. And then also, while we are talking about school, there is no reason for the United States Department of Education, because if you look in the Constitution, the Constitution said this is the US Constitution says the states are responsible for educating their children, not the federal government. And when we see school choice being stripped away in some cases particularly here in Arizona, where we have a governor that's trying to strip away the ELA that is a problem when there is no funding for that. Now, 72% of America support school choice and the ability for parents to be able to choose that. 82% of Republicans. As you break it down, 82% of Republicans approve this, 68% of Democrats and 67% of Independents. Now, given how divided Americans are over almost everything, particularly in this type of volatile environment that we find ourselves in as Republicans, democrats, independents, so on and so forth, that is about as bipartisan as it gets. When I'm talking about those numbers, and given that politicians read polls, school choice should be a slam dunk for anybody, because it's a bipartisan issue and I gave you the numbers. And if you are running for office, that should really be something that you should be able to take a win on. Well, let's take a close look at this Now. I was talking about my good friend Renee. She lives in Texas. Let's take a look at Texas and see what Texas is doing.

Speaker 3:

Now. You can't get much more conservative than the Lone Star State. I mean, I went to school in Texas. I mean conservative, so you'd think it would be a very robust school choice program in Texas. But you'd be wrong if you thought that, because I thought that until I did my research and Texas public education doesn't look all that different from the progressive states like California and New York. Now, even though I got some friends out in Texas, I'm not trying to throw you guys up under the bus. However, that is a real thing and then again, it shares. Equally embarrassing for educational test results. Now, this is in Texas, where you would think that it is a conservative environment, which there are a lot of people that are conservative. However, their government isn't looking at their school programs or school choice in a way where it is a conservative platform for them in Texas.

Speaker 3:

So when we are looking at test scores and test results, when we're talking about Texas, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress, 75% of Texas eighth graders are not proficient in reading and math. So when you see that as a parent, automatically as a parent, when I see that, I'm like, well, wait a minute, are we talking about public education? And if it is public education, guess what I want to look at where my kid is going to school right now. I want to see their numbers. Now, the state's own assessments are just a glimmer of it. Now, 60% of students cannot do math at a grade level that they are currently in, and nearly 50% Now this is troubling Cannot read at that grade level. Now that, right there, should grab you by the collar and shake you to say, whoa, this is. This is insane 50% of the kids can't read at a grade level Now in Arizona. Because I want to be fair, I want to make sure that I put everything into this melt.

Speaker 3:

So, again, looking at Arizona, when we are looking at and I am using Arizona, greater heart, americaorg when we are looking at the numbers in Arizona, for example, number of graduates are 570. This is, this is the graduating class of 2023. So the number of graduates are in Arizona is 570 and the average weighted GPA is 4.14 and the average SAT score is 1268 and it is 118 plus points above the national average. And the average ACT score is 24, which is 4.2 points above the national average. Now, 90% of the students in Arizona will immediately attend college. 75% of those students will receive some sort of merit based scholarship and students are pursuing more STEM degrees.

Speaker 3:

Now, the reason why the reason why I compared it to both and it may sound like that we're doing better here in Arizona than any other states Now we still got some issues in Arizona and the the big thing that is helped our numbers come up is not because of the public school system, even though they do what they can under the certain situations and circumstances that they fall under, and it's definitely not the fault of teachers. A lot of the fall lies on legislators and how we are allocating funds and resources to these teachers. So, in the class of 23, and when we look at the number, I said that there are 579 graduates in Arizona and for when we're talking about merit based scholarships, they are we're looking at over $50,000 of these kids that are going to school. To 75% of the graduates that are going to school earn some sort of merit financial aid or scholarships, and we talked about the SAT and so on and so forth, but I want to point this out Last year, in 2022, there were 613 graduates. So what happened there? Why do we have less graduates?

Speaker 3:

And it could be a number of things, and some folks blame it on COVID, some of us blame it on what have you, but what we did differently in Arizona as a legislative body? We enacted the school choice program and gave parents more of a decision and control of their kids. So that's why I believe that we saw test scores go up. We saw graduation rates kind of dip. However, when you look at the ACT SAT scores and the average GPA, those all went up and I attribute this to student, the parent choice program that we have here in Arizona, and it really, it really helps. It helps Now when we're talking about 60% of the students cannot do math at the grade level in Texas. Texas is not the only place that has this type of problem. It is not, ladies and gentlemen, and we're going to talk about more of this parent school choice and public schools, so on and so forth.

Speaker 2:

After these words from our sponsor, First and foremost, a quick thank you to our incredible sponsor, wb Consulting Services LLC. They're the trailblazers in business consulting Right here in beautiful Phoenix. If you're seeking to elevate your business, give them a call at their offices at 6029607, or toll free at 1-800-83-415-57WB Consulting Services is your go-to for all your business solution needs. Okay, everybody we're back.

Speaker 3:

This is Walt Blackman, the Walt Blackman show. We're talking about school choice. We were talking about Texas and I don't want my good friend René to think that I'm picking on Texas because I am not. I'm just using the comparison and contrast and, just to be fair, reading levels in Arizona, when we're talking about that age level, the third grade area, it's about the same and it's about the same across the country. So I want to make sure that folks understand not picking on Texas. Just use them as an example, because my good friend lives out there and as we continue to talk about this, texas has a big problem out there, just like any other schools, and it need a solution, a Texas-sized solution, and that solution should be school choice, more school choice for parents. Parents should have the unwavering right to pick where they want to send their kids to school and have that support from the state. So when you're talking about backpack money and backpack money means how much does the state put into a child for going to school? Now in Arizona it's $13,000 per backpack. Follows that kid. So what we've done out here for school choice if a parent wants to do homeschooling for their child, they apply for this program and they're able to get extra funding to make sure that their kids have the resources that they need and the parents are able to do those things so kids can succeed.

Speaker 3:

The problem that the left will tell you is that it takes money from the public schools, and that is a fact. It does take money from public schools. However, the solution to that is finding money in other places and other buckets to be able to plug those dollars into the public school system to be able to offset the dollars that the school will lose when that kid leaves or goes to another school. I think that's important that we do that, so we can't just say I'm for school choice and take money out of public schools and not put it back in there. A final way to put it back in there and, ladies and gentlemen, it is not raising property taxes. That is not the answer. So that particular message goes out to county boards of supervisors, because they control the property taxes that a person or a couple will pay to put their kids through school.

Speaker 3:

So we need to make sure that the solutions out there all stem around school choice and that we're able to still take care of our public schools, because in a lot of situations there are no alternatives to a private school or a charter school or to homeschooling, and the only thing that's out there could be public schools. So we want our public schools to be strong and have a solid foundation for those parents and families that can't go to private schools, charter schools or homeschools. So we need to make sure we are taking care of both and I have no problem with that. Some folks think that schools get too much money anyway, and this is my answer to that. If you think schools are getting too much money anyway and teachers are getting paid too much money, you should talk to some of these teachers who have to go into their own pocket to buy supplies for kids or buy the additional real estate or resources for kids, or to actually have snacks or what have you, because your school has to cut back on certain resources because of a lack of funding. So this problem that we are having with our schools or public schools and private and charter schools, charter public schools we need to make sure that we are attacking this on an all fronts and not just this is a Republican deal or this is just a Democrat deal, where they don't want a choice for their kids because the numbers say it.

Speaker 3:

I talked about the numbers. The numbers don't lie. They do not lie 68, 82%, 68% and 67% independence. The numbers don't lie. Now, so what's the problem? And we kind of went over that. Why isn't it a slam dunk for folks that are running for office, folks that understand this of why school choice is important? Why is a state that has led on such cutting edge initiatives as medical liability or tort reform falling behind on critical issues like education? And that applies to Arizona. We've got some real good legislation on tort reform. We've got some great legislation on medical liability. However, we always seem to fall short when we're talking about education.

Speaker 3:

Now here's what those who oppose school choice will tell you, and I kind of went into that a little bit If you offer parents a choice, the public schools will lose funding. Money needed for public schools, which must accept all students, will be siphoned off to some of these competing charter schools or private schools or someplace else, like homeschooling. But I gotta tell you that concern is misplaced, and I'll tell you why it's misplaced. Because, for example, if public schools are competitive, when we're talking about trying to be able to keep a student for parents, they have to be in a level wherever that parent feels like they are going to send their kid, that it is competitive. Now, for example, I've used this before, this analogy before, and that analogy is say you have two schools, you have a public school, and then you have the private sector and your kid is in a public school and those who are public school teachers, who are more proponent for public schools please, please, hear me out and don't think that this is a stab at public schools If that public school is failing and that public school is getting the dollars allocated that they are able to get in some states like Texas, they don't have a real good school choice program and that school is failing. And you have another school that's a private school and say you don't have the ALE stuff that we have here in Arizona and you have a private school and you're able to send your kid to a private school because you're paying for it whatsoever, why would you keep your kid in a failing school? And vice versa, if there's a charter or a private school that is failing, why would you keep your child in that environment? Now, as a responsible parent, you are going to move your kid where they are going to get the best education and that's why school choice and parents have to have more of a say.

Speaker 3:

Now, in states where school choice already has a long history, most parents do not leave their local school for another school, and that is a fact, and we are talking about 72% of the parents right now in Arizona that already have a long history in their public school system. Now we're talking Republicans and conservatives don't leave their school because the school is actually doing what the parent needs and the school is competitive. Now why aren't they heading for the exits? As I told you, parents have a choice and when parents have a choice, public schools improve. Now some folks that are sitting on the outside that are definitely against private and charter schools I can understand them saying no, they don't. You know the public schools aren't getting the help that they need, and that again is we're a legislative body. The legislature has to make sure that is an even balance. So we are not pulling dollars out of public schools that could be better fit and used for resources in those public schools, while still giving parents the opportunity to choose where they want to send their kid and letting the dollars of the backpack follow that child. And it's interesting when we are talking about the states where parents again have the choice to be able to do that.

Speaker 3:

Now, when Florida first implemented their school choice program back in 2002, they were ranked number 33 in the nation everybody. They were ranked number 33 for education, low income students, when we're talking about that realm. But by 2019, where do you think that Florida went? They went from 33 to number one in the nation because they implemented school choice. Again, it is my thought process that school choice programs enhance the marketability and the competitive edge that public schools need, and we talked about the numbers where more parents in a school choice state will leave their child in that local school. Indiana since we're talking about a lot of states went from 22 in the nation to number three with low income students in the same period of time. When they are after they implemented choice. When a parent has choice, they are going to make better decisions for their children, and I am not talking about pro choice, okay, I'm talking about choice of where they send their child to school, giving parents control of this.

Speaker 3:

Now, all of this improvement happened without parents abandoning their local schools. Yes, and that is something that you will not hear from the folks that are against school choice. They won't talk about the numbers. Now, not all, again, democrats are. People on the left are of this thinking Because, as I said, the number of Democrats that are for school choice, when we are talking about that, is 68%. That's nationally. So not all Democrats feel this way. And, as I said again, like in Indiana, they implemented school choice. They went from 22 to three. It all improves. It all improves the local schools and parents are not abandoning their local schools at the exit levels that some folks would tell you. Here we go. Now, look at it this way everybody. What parent doesn't want their local school to be a good school? The answer is zero, because they want their kids to be in the local school and have that experience.

Speaker 3:

Now, as I said before earlier, I went to high school in Germany and Renee went to the same high school. We went to the same high school together in Germany. That was a DOD school, that was the Department of Defense Education System school. They did things a little bit differently and our scores were a little bit higher, I would tell you, for SATs, acts and so on and so forth, because the school was actually a good, competitive school. It was a great school. We had great teachers, we had great curriculums, we had after school programs, so on and so forth. So I think that that helped us a bit more.

Speaker 3:

However, schools here in the States, and that's in every state we need to get better at that. Now I want to put this out there School choice doesn't destroy public schools. I want to put that out there. It does not destroy public schools. I believe, in my professional opinion as a lawmaker, that it only makes them better. And, of course, if a public school is already a good one with good outcomes, then students and parents won't want to use their choice options. Nothing will change. So what does that mean? Again, I don't believe it is the teachers, the administration. I don't believe it. I don't believe it's that. I believe that is what it is, what we do as lawmakers to facilitate their needs.

Speaker 3:

Again, some people think that we give schools too much money. In Arizona, it is the second or it is the largest budget item in the overall budget. It is the largest budget item. Some people say, well, it's too much money. I think it's like eight billion dollars right now and a lot of people say, oh, that's too much money to give private or public schools because they're failing. Why are they failing? Now I'm talking as a perspective, as a Republican or conservative. Why are they failing? Is it because we have bad teachers? Is it because we have bad resources? Is it because our outcomes? We are punishing these schools who have bad outcomes. Are we looking at the weight and measures properly? Are we looking at the funding formula properly? Is it something that needs to be changed?

Speaker 3:

As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to get off of the Republican or Democrat side when we are looking at school and education for our kids, because it has to be bipartisan. It can't just be Democrat or Republican. Now, I'm not talking about the curriculum, because when I say this, most people will think well, he thinks that we should have all the liberal stuff in our schools and not have God in our schools, so on and so forth. I am not talking about that. I am not talking about that. I want to make it clear. What I am talking about is when we are looking at policy for funding schools to make sure that they have the proper resources they need to be competitive. We need to get off of this tangent about conservative or non-conservative, republicans or non-Republicans, democrats or independents. We need to get off of that and look at how to better strengthen outcomes so our school rating will climb and reading levels and math levels will be achieved. We need to be able to do that Now.

Speaker 3:

If a school is failing and its test scores are poor, as I kind of laid it out, if their test scores are poor and they don't make improvements, then parents have an option to go elsewhere everybody they have the option. Why keep a child in a school that is failing, regardless if it's a public school, a charter school or a private school or it's home schooling? If a child is failing and the outcomes are subpar, then guess what? The parents that have the option to take their kid out of that situation put them in a situation that works for them. However, the reality is is that they will not pull them out of school because some states don't allow them to do that, and the kid stays and they fail in a failing environment. Thus, when they do graduate, if they graduate, they are a step behind some of these other states and some of these other students that are able to have school choice.

Speaker 3:

Now, just that consequence, ladies and gentlemen. Just giving that power to parents again will push failing schools to do better. It's called competition. That is what the data tells us, and all you got to do is look at the number. And if a school can't cut a semester to everybody, then guess what Then? Only then do parents look for another school, another alternative to sending their kids elsewhere. This is Walt Blackman. Let's take a break and we will be right back after these messages.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 3:

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Speaker 1:

If you're looking to catch up on Walt's past shows, all you need to do is go to Apple Podcast, spotify Podcast Index, amazon Music Podcast, attic Podchaser or N Player FM. You can also go to his website at wwwbusfrautcom and click on the Walt Blackman show. Now here's more of Walt coming at you on the Walt Blackman show.

Speaker 3:

Okay, everybody, this is Walt Blackman and welcome back If you would just join us. We're talking about school choice, parent choice for schools for their child, and we have talked about some of the numbers that we've seen, particularly in our state, and we talked a little bit about Texas and shorter. But by the argument. Again, as I said, the argument is school choice will drain money away from public schools. Now some folks will say that's false. Some people will say that it's absolutely right, you're draining money from schools. We have to look at how we are funding schools as a whole and if we are using dollars for school choice now we have to make sure also, as lawmakers, when we pull money, when we do the backpack funding, when that kid disengages from a public school, what are we going to fill that void with? How are we going to get recovered funds into the proper places, like where that kid has left a vacancy? Because that is true and we do take money from public schools. If we are following just the backpack, when that kid pulls out, goes to a charter school, money does follow that kid, but here in Arizona, however, here in Arizona, the solution is to find other avenues and resources to make sure that we plug that proverbial water leak that caused the money to leave, and make sure that we were able to continue funding at levels where we're supposed to fund Now in 2022, in a landmark piece of legislation here in my own state and that's when I was in the Arizona House of Representatives and I actually co-sponsored this bill Arizona Pass, the School Choice Bill that gives parents an education scholarship account ESA for anywhere from 7,000 per student to more than 30,000 per student with special needs.

Speaker 3:

We gave parents the choice, we said, and the 13,000, as I said before, that's with federal dollars also. So when we're talking just in Arizona 7,000 per student, 30,000 if the student has special needs we push that back to the parents. Here you go, your kid needs a better environment to learn. There you go, you pick it, you make sure that it's what you want, it fits the needs of your child, and here's the dollars to be able to do that. Now what I wanted to do is to put that money back in.

Speaker 3:

There is through criminal justice reform, it said, by doing the earned release credits, and I'm kind of going down a rabbit hole here, but I want to talk to you about how we were able to put money back into the school system. Two things happened in the Department of Corrections. We closed one of the prisons, which will eventually generate revenue extra revenue for Department Corrections and to the General Fund of Arizona and number two, earned release credit. Now what earned release credit did those folks that were incarcerated, that were nonviolent and I want to say that again, nonviolent, and they have a category of non-dangerous and they were not a threat to the community? We're able to earn credit as they worked their way out through education, do drug treatment program, through so on and so forth, anger management classes, those types of things.

Speaker 3:

The savings on the first year with that bill would have generated $43 million. $43 million can go back into our school system. Why? Because we don't have to spend it on the back end if these kids don't get the right education that they need and they end up in our correctional system. That's what we did here in Arizona and that helps. Now the money follows the student, not the school in Arizona.

Speaker 3:

It's a simple change and changes everything. It changed the whole dynamic of when we were talking about school choice. Now, successes like we had here in Arizona accelerated the wave of new school choice programs across the country Iowa, utah, arkansas They've hopped on to the school choice bandwagon in 2023 because of the legislation that we pushed here in Arizona and because of our forward thinking. Now, again, some Democrats don't like that. We have a Democrat governor who does not like that and she has done everything that she could to strip ESA from our schools, strip that from parents, so parents don't have a choice. So in Arizona, we just let the parents choose. However, it is really good to see that more states are poised to come on board for ESA. Education, scholarships Counts for parents. It's important that they are able to do that.

Speaker 3:

Now I want to get back to Texas. Texas has a great chance to be one of these new states to do this. Now Texas passes a sweeping school choice law, comprehensive. It would very likely see the same results as Florida, indiana and some of these other states that I've been talking about, because the numbers are out there, everybody wins. The school choice movement would be unstoppable. Can you just imagine if every state had school choice for parents? Think about the level of measures that will increase in our country.

Speaker 3:

Now we have kids that are getting out of some of these schools that don't read past the third grade. They can't do the math, they can't do the critical thinking that they need. The movement would be unstoppable if we are allowing freedom of choice when we are talking about schools. After all, aren't we about freedom? Aren't we about liberty in our country, freedom for parents to choose the best educational options for their children Isn't that what we are about? School choice is a way to be able to do that.

Speaker 3:

Now, in closing, as we come to the end of our show, I want folks to think about this, not on the lenses of a political agenda or an ideology, not on the lens of where do we want our future to be able to be in a position where they can do the most good for our country. That depends on how they are being educated. If they are in a failing school, we can pull them out of that situation and we can put them in an environment where they will learn, where teachers and students do better. We take care of teachers to make sure that they are not coming out of their pockets and we take care of students to make sure that they are in the right environment. And we take care of parents. That is most important to give them the opportunity to choose where they send their kids. This isn't politics everybody. It is not politics. This is common sense. I just want to leave you with a quote from a Nebraska state senator, justin Wayne. He is a Democrat. He put it like this this is about parents and students wanting something better, wanting to access the American Dream. Don't we owe that to our kids? Isn't that what we all want? To have our kids have the American Dream. The start of that is making sure that they are properly educated and that the parents and the teachers have the resources to be able to do that.

Speaker 3:

Everybody on Walt Blackman. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the parent choice program that we are talking about. Again, a shout out to my good friend, renee, out of Texas, and she is a nurse. If you see a nurse or if you have to come in contact with a nurse, make sure that you say thank you for your services, because they do a great job taking care of all of us. Everybody take care of. This is Walt Blackman, and I'll see you on the flip side. Understand that if you are part of the problem, you are not part of the solution. Everybody take care. God bless and I'll see you again on the Walt Blackman show.

Speaker 1:

If you're looking to catch up on Walt's past shows, all you need to do is go to Apple podcast, Spotify podcast index, Amazon music podcast, attic, pod chaser or end player FM. You can also go to his website at wwwbusfrautcom and click on the Walt Blackman show.

The Importance of School Choice
Importance of School Choice and Support
School Choice's Impact on Education
School Choice and Funding in Education
Appreciating Nurses and Promoting Accountability