(((My Fellow Americans))) #85: Lennie Jarratt

00:28
i’ll be
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buried in my grave
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before i become a slave yes
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that is
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[Music]
01:10
we have solely changed
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[Music]
01:37
that is
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[Music]
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[Music]
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but it seems like since that day
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[Music]
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we have sorely changed
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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south carolina you’re watching my
02:37
fellow americans with your host
02:40
spike cullen yes
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yes it’s me
02:47
keep clapping
02:54
but for some reason it seems to be
02:57
somehow worse than 2020
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but how would we know that you wanted
03:00
the miracle if you didn’t keep clapping
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folks
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welcome to this amazing episode of my
03:05
fellow americans i
03:06
am literally spike cohen and apparently
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this is now the second time this year
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which is the
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only two times this year that i’ve now
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said literally and i’m not sure if i’m
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gonna keep doing that i hope i don’t
03:17
because i already find it annoying this
03:19
is a muddy waters media production
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folks my guest tonight is an absolute
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champion
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for education he’s actually the former
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managing editor
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editor of champion news i told you he
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was a champion and also of education
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matters which are
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two publications that are focused on
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education reform he has talked about
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education reform on
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fox news abc chicago
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multiple other radio outlets and
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newspapers and websites across the u.s
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he has been a presenter on panels
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discussing education choice
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common core homeschooling and the
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illinois freedom of information laws
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with groups such as american majority
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americans for prosperity
07:26
illinois tea party groups homeschool
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conventions and state legislative
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hearings
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and he is on here tonight with me spike
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cohen
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and we will not rest until we have
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single-handedly solved
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the education crisis here in this
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country that is my
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solemn promise to you and i just made it
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on behalf of lenny as well ladies and
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gentlemen
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my fellow americans please welcome to
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the show
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my great my guest lenny jarrett lenny
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thanks so much for coming on man
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oh thanks for having me on spike this
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will be a lot of fun
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yeah i’m really looking forward to it
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this is a topic that is near and dear to
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me and i i really look forward to
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talking with you about this
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and folks be sure to chime in with your
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thoughts and questions
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muddied admins are standing by and lenny
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and i will let you know
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if you are right or wrong now lenny
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just out of curiosity i’m reading about
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your bio and i’m i’m i’m hearing all the
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things that you’ve done you you are
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absolutely fantastic when it comes to
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education reform
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what got you into this like what was
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there a moment that just made you
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realize you had to
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make your your basically make your your
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life’s advocacy focus on education or
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was it sort of a
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a cumulative thing everyone has their
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story for why they do what they do
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tell us the the lenny jarrett story well
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i kind of got
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started because i was actually
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researching a school referendum in my
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local public school district
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and about two weeks into doing that
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the website i put up to pl placed all my
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foia requests
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and everything all the information i get
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back i was like everybody to try to
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decide what they wanted
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my website got hacked and i turned out
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to have a cyber stalker for about six
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years
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and found out it was a husband of a
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teacher in the local school district
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and the more they pushed me the more i
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pushed back and the more i researched
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and figured out what was wrong with the
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public school system
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per say for the most part who was
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running it and what the problems were
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and that just led me down this whole
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path of okay
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education choices actually the answer
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parents need to be empowered instead of
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all the power being in the hands
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of local bureaucrats federal bureaucrats
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and state bureaucrats
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so it was at this is fascinating so you
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were hacked
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and you said you found out who it was
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and you said i’m gonna show them
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i’m going to fix you know i’m going to
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uh you know eliminate a problem that
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that
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this this man’s i guess wife is was a
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part of with the with the teachers
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unions or whatever
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yep yep she was and it wasn’t i at the
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time i didn’t
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understand exactly what the problems
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were right i just was kind of trying to
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find out to see if they needed a tax
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referendum
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so they turned me a mild manner computer
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programmer into an education reform
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expert and advocate by attacking me and
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continuing to attack me
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over and over again so i just kept
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digging until i found out what the real
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problem
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was and i did find out what the real
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problem was parents
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don’t have any power right now and
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that’s the issue right
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right so you’re like the batman of
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education reform
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you were just a mild-mannered guy and
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then they came after you
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and they kept coming after you and
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eventually you said enough
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and or you actually kept more and more
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saying enough and now you are
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here talking with a jew in his basement
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and this is uh
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this is absolutely this is perfect well
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hey man thanks so much for coming
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i want to ask you lenny 50 years ago as
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you know or roughly 50 years ago
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the federal department of education was
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created
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with the intention of increasing
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literacy rates and
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lowering the student-to-teacher ratio
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and they’ve spent uh
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inclu once you factor in inflation they
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have spent well over two trillion
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dollars almost three trillion dollars
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and all of those things have gotten
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worse during that time so i i would
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assume that we can agree that the
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federal government has done a bad job
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but
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is that where it started or was it
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before that and if so what what
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actually led to is what what was the
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catalyst that started making education
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so bad in the u.s to begin with
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well the federal intervention really
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kind of got it
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kicked off more and more and more i mean
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but actually something you might want to
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know is the
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department of education was actually
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created about 168 years ago
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people didn’t want it as a department so
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it became
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an office underneath the commerce
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department
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up until the 1970s when jimmy carter
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elevated it back to the department
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back to a full department cabinet status
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that’s interesting
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but yeah they started the federal
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government started intervening actually
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back
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in the 30s and 40s and under the guise
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of oh we need more farming programs we
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need all this so they wanted to require
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that
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and the more intervention the federal
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government did into the states
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the worse education kind of became they
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took more
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the control did was was no longer local
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and then the states started taking more
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and more control because they had to
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answer to the feds
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and so this never-ending cycle of
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intervention
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into local education lenny
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are you telling me that the more
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government
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takes power away from citizens
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and centralizes it into the hands of
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politicians
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and bureaucrats and cronies that that
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somehow makes things
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worse yep imagine that
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i’m shocked i’m sure i’m going to need a
12:46
minute just to process that no
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so okay so so this is actually something
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that has been kind of sl in in a similar
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way with healthcare
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healthcare problems didn’t start with
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obamacare or even with medicare and
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medicaid
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this is stuff that really started in
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earnest uh uh shockingly enough uh
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between the period of woodrow wilson and
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fdr so it sounds like kind of a similar
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thing with this what
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what were some of the first things that
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happened that really kicked off
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you know the the the the the
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centralization of of healthcare and the
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and the uh ensuing
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collapse of results that happen as a
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result of that
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um i’m not as familiar with how the
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centralization for health care happened
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and stuff like that
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i’m sorry i mean no no no i’m sorry i
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meant education i apologize yeah
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well it really was you know actually
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after
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jimmy carter did that then there was
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the the education secretary under ronald
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reagan
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put out that report came a book a nation
13:44
at risk
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which then the federal government and
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you know congressmen and legislators all
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think
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we have to do something about this
13:51
because education is going the wrong way
13:53
so they feel like oh we got to do
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something about this so the but then the
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more they do
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the worse it gets because they put all
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this control in the federal departments
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of education
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so the state depart state groups
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education departments have to file
14:08
even now with the federal department any
14:11
of their education plans if they want to
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change something they’re going through
14:14
the federal department of education
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on how they’re going to fix things and
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how they’re going to do things
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that’s why right now the teachers unions
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and the public schools get so upset
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whenever states are looking at doing any
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type of school choice
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because that takes that that child then
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is out from under
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the state and then from under the
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federal government
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so they can’t interfere with their
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education anymore so
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it it makes it it’s all actually if you
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follow the money it’s really about the
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money the more
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children they’re educated the public
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school system the more money the state
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spends and then the more money that the
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federal government spends
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so they control a lot more that way so
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you know this is the cycle
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of government failure right government
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fails at something
14:57
or makes it worse they use that as a
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pretext for even more control
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um and then as a result of that things
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you know
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there’s more power taken from people and
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more infringement on their
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on their rights and on their property
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they’re robbed more and more of their
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ability to make choices and the money
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with which they can
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make those choices effectively and then
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they fail even harder
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repeating the cycle that that continues
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so you know yes
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here are some more recent examples of
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uh of how this ends up playing out or
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uh there was the uh no child left behind
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bill that happened during uh george bush
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or as i call it an increasing number of
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children being left behind
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uh because that’s really what it is or
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another way to call it is the
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scantronization of education
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uh where you know it’s increasingly just
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well i’m gonna let you talk about it
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what what
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what happened with no child left behind
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and and and how did that
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create the even worsening of of
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education i keep wanting to say
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healthcare
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of education if i say healthcare assume
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i’m saying education and blame it
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blame it on public schooling too yeah
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yeah well no child left behind just
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basically again it just gave more
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control to the federal government
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through the department of education
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so that they could regulate and do more
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stuff actually it’s about
16:16
eight percent of the money comes from
16:18
the federal government into the public
16:20
to a local public school right but it’s
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over 40
16:23
of the regulations are from the federal
16:25
government
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so you can see the disconnect right
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there if it was only eight percent
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of the regulations came from the federal
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government with eight percent of the
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money
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right we actually wouldn’t have as big a
16:36
problem as we have right now
16:38
so nearly half of the regulation is
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coming from the government
16:43
and all of the money is coming from the
16:45
taxpayer let’s be clear
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when we’re talking federal money that’s
16:48
our money when we’re talking state money
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or
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even school district money that’s our
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money that’s being
16:53
that’s being spent but so they’re only
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giving
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uh eight percent of the total funding
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that’s happening but they’re putting in
16:59
which explains why there’s been i i wish
17:01
i had had the time
17:02
i thought to get the chart but you know
17:04
we’ve seen how the
17:06
uh administrator to teacher ratio has
17:09
gone completely out of control there are
17:11
by a fact i think an entire order of
17:13
magnitude uh
17:14
more administrators than there are than
17:16
there are teachers
17:18
yes uh i forgot the exact number two but
17:21
i know administrators have gone up by
17:22
over 700
17:24
since i think it’s 1982
17:27
student population has gone up barely
17:29
over 100 percent
17:30
and teachers have gone up about 159
17:34
so it’s yeah everything’s going into
17:36
into administration
17:37
to deal with all the paperwork they have
17:39
to deal with right now
17:40
but we don’t want to forget the
17:41
elementary secondary education act which
17:44
was back under lyndon johnson
17:46
that then no child left behind replaced
17:48
which is now the essa
17:50
every student succeeds act supposedly is
17:53
what their what was what they called it
17:55
um is that which we’re currently under
17:57
that replace no child left behind
18:00
what’s crazy is whatever these bills are
18:02
called you can almost rest assured that
18:05
it’s gonna do the opposite so like no
18:07
child left behind
18:08
many children were left behind what was
18:10
this one called every student succeeds
18:11
act every student succeeds act
18:13
so we can we can be almost every student
18:15
fails act i was going to say
18:16
no student succeed act like you know it
18:19
ends up becoming the exact
18:20
opposite of what of what was promised
18:22
like it’s insane to watch this stuff you
18:24
know i
18:24
i just traveled the country uh
18:27
campaigning last year
18:28
for for vice president we came in third
18:29
by the way uh and i
18:31
uh uh i like to say that we came in
18:33
third it was
18:34
far behind in third but we came in third
18:36
every single state anyway whatever that
18:37
doesn’t matter
18:38
i was in 35 different states 75 campaign
18:41
stops and i talked to a ton of teachers
18:43
in fact i even did some
18:44
uh interviews and shows with teachers
18:47
across the country
18:48
and uh and also uh people that were
18:50
heads of
18:51
of of school districts of school boards
18:53
and they said
18:54
we don’t get to do our jobs we’re not
18:56
making decisions what school boards are
18:58
and teachers are largely doing
19:00
is looking at federal and state dictat
19:03
and then figuring out how to actually
19:05
take this and be able to teach children
19:07
with it
19:08
so it becomes an absolute mess i think
19:10
we often
19:11
blame the teachers and i think the
19:13
teachers unions are a big part of the
19:14
problem
19:15
but in my mind and correct me if i’m
19:16
wrong this isn’t a teacher problem this
19:19
is a bureaucracy problem
19:20
am i not correct absolutely correct
19:24
well good uh bureaucracy is the problem
19:27
yeah it’s it’s it’s that was my my uh my
19:31
takeaway from it was that teachers want
19:33
to teach
19:33
students you know are there some lazy
19:35
teachers or whatever sure that’s true of
19:37
any
19:37
any industry any sector of the economy
19:39
whatever that’s true of anything
19:41
but the vast majority of people i talked
19:43
to were incredibly frustrated
19:45
that they weren’t allowed to do their
19:47
jobs the federal government created a
19:49
series of burdens
19:50
and regulations and and they are largely
19:53
just
19:54
test test takers and they are constantly
19:57
threatened with um they’re constantly
20:00
threatened with
20:01
you know funding changes if they don’t
20:02
get certain test results can can you
20:04
talk to us a little
20:05
about why we are seeing an increasing
20:08
amount of children being labeled as
20:09
special needs and being put
20:11
on on you know on in special needs
20:13
classes and being put on medications and
20:15
things like that is that
20:16
related to no child left behind in other
20:18
regulations
20:20
it’s i more related to the how the state
20:22
funding formulas work
20:24
from what i what i understand and have
20:26
seen in the past in local school
20:28
districts
20:29
including the one where i started
20:30
researching it’s because
20:33
they get their foundation level from the
20:35
state
20:36
was here in illinois was about five
20:38
thousand dollars per child
20:40
but if you have a student with an iep
20:43
plan
20:43
because of some type of some type of
20:45
special need that they need
20:47
some of them i saw were actually just
20:49
because the student was shy
20:51
that money then became over eight
20:53
thousand dollars per student
20:54
and sometimes even more so it was an
20:57
incentive to them
20:58
to give kids an iep
21:01
to be able to get more money and then
21:03
the ritalin
21:04
and things like that for students really
21:07
i think that’s more of
21:09
you know they have so much stuff they
21:10
need to get into the classroom
21:13
that they just don’t want to handle kids
21:15
the way they used to anymore and they
21:17
haven’t trained teachers to really
21:18
handle
21:19
kids that are more active and stuff so
21:21
their way to do that
21:22
is to just kind of medicate them so they
21:26
sit down and be quiet and just sit at
21:28
their desk and
21:29
do kind of what they’re told so right
21:31
all these regulations end up
21:33
getting more of the the accelerated kids
21:37
brought back toward the middle where
21:38
they’re trying to get the other kids
21:40
you know kind of brought up to the
21:41
middle hold up yeah but it ends up just
21:43
bringing
21:43
everybody down even the middle gets
21:45
brought down as well because of the way
21:47
everything is being done right now and
21:50
parents
21:51
got to be upset about this actually was
21:52
a recent survey
21:54
that showed if parents had a choice 36
21:58
percent of them would choose a private
22:00
school
22:00
and you’re like 33 of teachers would
22:03
choose a private school
22:04
and that doesn’t count the number that
22:06
would choose a charter school or
22:08
homeschooling
22:09
well so even with all the propaganda
22:12
about uh
22:12
uh private schooling and and school
22:14
choice and things like that that come
22:16
out
22:16
out of the teachers unions a third of of
22:18
teachers are saying that they would
22:20
they would rather deal with a private
22:22
schooling system than
22:23
than deal with the government schooling
22:25
system that is incredible
22:26
you know and another big part about you
22:28
know labeling kids with special needs is
22:30
that
22:30
that exempts them from the testing
22:32
requirements so they get more money
22:34
and they get or or the the testing
22:36
requirements are lower or something like
22:38
that
22:38
yeah the test requirements are different
22:41
but they’re still there no that was one
22:42
of the things they argued about with no
22:43
child left behind
22:45
because even the kids with their ieps
22:47
had to still
22:48
take all the tests and then they were
22:50
counted now they’re kind of part of a
22:52
subgroup
22:52
with under essa but they still do have
22:55
to have the testing
22:56
it’s just kind of counted in different
22:58
ways and that’s why you’ve seen more and
23:00
more schools actually now
23:02
are finally moving to more of the growth
23:04
from the first of the year
23:06
to the end of the year how much the
23:07
student had actually grown
23:09
rather than the standardized test my
23:11
take on standardized tests
23:13
they’re tools for the bureaucrats
23:14
they’re not tools for teachers that’s
23:16
correct and they’re not tools for kids
23:18
you know you you you’ve i i i remember
23:21
and i mean
23:22
i was in a far less you know i i was in
23:24
school in the 80s and 90s
23:26
and late 80s and and through the 90s and
23:29
it was already hard to keep you know
23:32
people are going to be shocked to hear
23:33
this but i was a bit of a precocious kid
23:35
and i ended up by the time middle school
23:37
rolled around they were just handing us
23:39
tests every day we weren’t
23:40
learning things we were being taught to
23:42
memorize stuff
23:43
and we were then you know then we were
23:46
then taking tests
23:47
and you know i thankfully for the most
23:50
part was able to do the test but there
23:51
were kids with testing anxiety
23:53
that you know ended up being put in
23:55
remedial classes and it was just because
23:57
that’s not
23:57
how you teach kids you know and and in
24:00
my personal
24:01
situation i ended up turning to drugs
24:03
mostly because i was
24:04
bored and then as a result of that i
24:06
completely fell off i was telling you
24:08
during the
24:08
you know while we were getting ready to
24:10
start the show that you know if it
24:11
wasn’t for my parents being willing to
24:13
you know intervene and and homeschool me
24:15
a couple times during during
24:17
schooling and especially those last
24:18
couple years in high school i might have
24:20
ended up in juvie i might have ended up
24:22
in this whole
24:23
school-to-prison pipeline and i’m
24:24
grateful to them for that but it
24:26
it hurts me because there are a lot of
24:27
people whose parents aren’t in a
24:29
position to be able to
24:30
you know to be able to do that for them
24:31
and it’s it’s just terrible to see
24:34
talk to us about how common core works
24:37
into it because
24:38
i hear a lot of different things about
24:39
common core and you know i hear
24:41
everything from it’s great too
24:42
it is you know uh it’s you know it’s
24:45
the implementation of communism in our
24:48
schools and everything in between you
24:49
know there’s
24:49
there’s a lot of there’s a lot of
24:51
misunderstanding about what common core
24:53
is
24:53
uh tell us what is common core and and
24:55
you know how has it
24:57
affected education in this country i
24:59
almost said healthcare again i almost
25:00
said healthcare again well
25:01
common core is really kind of a
25:03
guideline and some of it isn’t bad
25:06
but the problems was how it was
25:09
implemented how basically the obama
25:11
administration when they came in
25:12
basically bribed the states to take
25:14
common core
25:15
but the real problem with common core
25:17
was
25:18
it allowed almost every bad curriculum
25:21
ever written
25:22
to be into the schools all they had to
25:24
do was say it was common core aligned
25:26
and schools were buying it whether the
25:28
curriculum was good or bad
25:30
that was really the problem so so some
25:32
of common core was
25:33
was not great the way it was done but
25:36
some of it was actually pretty good
25:38
but the problem is it doesn’t solve the
25:39
problem it still puts the government in
25:42
control
25:42
instead of putting the parent in control
25:44
i mean i to me if a parent wants us
25:46
wants to have a school that
25:47
uses common core aligned curriculum go
25:50
for it
25:51
whatever student you know parent doesn’t
25:53
want a child in that
25:54
then they should be able to go to
25:56
whatever school or whatever other
25:58
entity that’s not teaching common core
26:00
line that’s really the that’s really the
26:02
solution
26:03
common core doesn’t really matter it’s
26:05
whatever these next fads coming down
26:07
the social emotional learning is another
26:09
fad coming down some of that is really
26:11
good
26:12
students actually need to learn how to
26:14
deal with their emotions
26:15
right right again it’s going to be
26:17
misused so
26:19
the parents don’t have any power in this
26:21
situation and that’s the real
26:23
problem here yeah and that’s this is
26:26
what i heard
26:27
over and over again on the campaign
26:29
trail from teachers from parents
26:31
uh from some i had some high school
26:33
students that came out and asked me
26:34
questions about it
26:35
and what they said is essentially there
26:37
were many different ways that they said
26:39
it but it was all basically the same
26:40
thing
26:41
we have no control over our schools it’s
26:44
not
26:44
working our children are falling behind
26:48
um you know those who understood how the
26:50
global marketplace is working are like
26:52
our kids are wholly
26:54
unprepared for the the the work that the
26:57
labor
26:58
competition environment of the future
26:59
even just in this country especially
27:01
uh and not to mention in other countries
27:03
um it you know and and
27:05
it’s costing us a fortune our property
27:07
taxes are going through the roof
27:08
supposedly to pay for all this
27:10
and yet it is increasingly substandard
27:12
so i think that there is and that’s why
27:14
you know polling shows that things like
27:16
uh like uh school choice like uh you
27:19
know homeschooling co-ops and things
27:20
like that
27:21
are increasingly popular despite
27:23
billions of dollars being spent on
27:25
pro-government propaganda saying no no
27:27
the problem is
27:28
we just need more of your money that’s
27:29
you know it’s not it’s not the problem
27:31
with this race car isn’t that the engine
27:33
is broken and the transmission fell out
27:35
we need more we need to pour more gas on
27:37
top of the car
27:38
that will fix this yeah parents don’t
27:40
even understand how much money is being
27:42
spent
27:42
in the in the public school system right
27:44
now anyway
27:46
i mean there are schools in illinois
27:47
that are spending like over a little
27:49
over four thousand dollars per student
27:50
and are doing fine
27:52
there’s other schools that are spending
27:53
over twenty thousand dollars a student
27:55
and aren’t and if you ever ask a
27:58
superintendent one question i used to
27:59
love to ask superintendents and um
28:02
teachers and anybody
28:03
high up in education was how much money
28:06
is enough you keep saying you want more
28:08
how much money is enough and i’ve only
28:12
had one
28:12
person actually answer that question
28:14
because most of them are always going to
28:15
be the answer is always more
28:17
so what what just out of curiosity what
28:20
was their answer to that
28:22
their answer was about 21 000 per
28:25
student and when i pointed out that that
28:27
was actually chicago public schools
28:29
that part of them were almost at twenty
28:30
one thousand dollars and washington dc
28:32
was over thirty thousand dollars they
28:34
were starting to backtrack and say oh
28:36
well
28:36
well it depends on the student they
28:38
immediately started backtracking once i
28:40
confronted them with that number
28:43
21 000 a new car
28:46
per student every year yep
28:50
i mean private schools operate for a lot
28:52
less than that
28:53
yeah most private schools are under 10
28:55
000 actually most private schools
28:57
actually cost less than any public
29:00
school to operate and most parents don’t
29:02
understand that
29:03
they the teachers union and their
29:05
propaganda against like oh
29:06
private schools are only very expensive
29:08
oh they’re rich elite students
29:11
and most of the majority of them aren’t
29:13
there are a few yes
29:14
absolutely but the majority aren’t the
29:16
majority are trying to help students and
29:18
their tuition is
29:19
less per year than than what public
29:21
schools are spending per year
29:23
and that’s why they’re competing with a
29:24
monopoly that
29:26
that can just suck money from people you
29:28
know at will whenever they want to
29:30
and yet they still are able to
29:31
outperform that entity surprisingly
29:33
enough so it’s almost like government
29:35
you know i i you know i often say i i
29:38
was
29:39
right before the show i tried putting
29:40
together a comprehensive list of things
29:42
that government does not suck at
29:44
and uh the pen didn’t work because i got
29:46
it from the government
29:47
um no so listen we’re so we i think we i
29:50
think we’ve kind of driven home the fact
29:52
that government has done a bad job at
29:54
this but
29:55
you know let’s talk solutions what are
29:57
some of the
29:58
free market solutions to education that
30:01
can that can
30:02
create serious reforms and improve
30:05
the educational outcomes of students and
30:07
and teachers and parents
30:09
well the simple idea is fun children not
30:12
systems
30:13
right but then it’s you get into the
30:15
mechanisms of how you do it and there’s
30:17
lots of different ways a lot of people
30:18
like to
30:19
like the voucher method that was the
30:20
kind of the one of the early ones
30:22
started back in indiana in 1990 or not
30:26
in india
30:26
milwaukee voucher started in milwaukee
30:29
and there’s a few states with vouchers
30:30
and stuff there’s about 188 000 kids
30:32
nationwide that are on vouchers
30:35
vouchers are really a just a basic
30:37
certificate where the government says i
30:38
will pay for your child to go to another
30:40
school
30:42
those are very highly regulated and
30:44
those are really not
30:45
a good free market solution they’re
30:47
better than
30:48
nothing but they’re right good free
30:50
market solution
30:51
getting into education savings accounts
30:54
has kind of been a better
30:55
method because then the student the
30:58
parent controls a fund
31:00
where all the money is in that for the
31:01
child they can spend it on
31:03
books uniforms the tuition
31:07
uh travel back and forth even for
31:09
specialized
31:10
therapies which is used on a lot of
31:12
states especially arizona oklahoma that
31:15
does
31:15
does some of this and then there’s tax
31:17
credit scholarships
31:19
which is a where private donors give
31:22
money to a scholarship
31:24
granting organization that then they get
31:27
a tax credit
31:29
typically it’s not always dollar for
31:31
dollar but it’s some percentage of a
31:33
dollar
31:33
on that on their state taxes
31:37
so the states are basically saying we’ll
31:38
give you this credit but you’re giving
31:40
money specifically for education
31:43
florida has the largest tax credit
31:44
scholarship program now with over a
31:46
hundred thousand
31:47
students and there’s about 275 000
31:50
nationwide in tax credit
31:52
scholarship programs there’s actually 24
31:55
programs in 19 states now
31:57
with tax credit scholarships and so
32:00
those are very very useful they’re
32:02
usually typically just go to tuition
32:04
so there’s a new thing that hasn’t
32:06
passed yet that’s a really good idea
32:09
is tax credit scholarships to actually
32:11
fund
32:12
an education savings account so the
32:15
donors are giving money
32:16
for the tax credit scholarship that’s in
32:18
funds but funding
32:19
a fund for the parents to then control
32:22
through this organization so it’s it’s
32:25
legit and everybody knows it’s going for
32:27
educational purposes
32:29
that’s kind of the newest free market
32:31
solution it’s probably the best of both
32:33
worlds
32:34
of the least regulation and still
32:38
providing exactly what kids need more so
32:41
than just a trash cutter scholarship and
32:43
definitely more so than just a voucher
32:45
and and that coupled with i would
32:47
imagine
32:48
deregulation you know removing the
32:50
federal regulations and everything
32:52
and or at least removing the bulk of
32:54
them and getting rid of a lot of the
32:55
statewide
32:56
regulations and kind of decentralizing
32:59
allowing individual school districts
33:01
uh to to decide what their educations
33:03
look like and and be empowered with
33:05
their own funding to do so
33:06
yeah that would be helpful but that’s
33:08
not happening anytime soon
33:10
before we get to deregulation we’re
33:12
going to have to have more kids that
33:14
are basically using tax credit
33:16
scholarships in esa and education choice
33:18
before the deregulation really happens
33:21
several states do have open enrollment
33:23
where a school kid in one school
33:24
district can actually
33:26
apply for another school district and go
33:28
to school over in another district as
33:30
long as they
33:31
have room for students and can take more
33:33
students and stuff so
33:34
that’s kind of one to one one method
33:37
within the public school system that is
33:39
allowing
33:40
more choice as well too there but we had
33:42
a long way to go before we ever get to
33:44
really actually deregulating state codes
33:46
and then federal codes
33:48
and getting them out of the way of the
33:49
education system i want it now
33:52
i want the whole thing now so i i meant
33:55
so you mentioned school choice and and
33:57
how you didn’t think it’s a free market
33:59
solution and i am with you my friend
34:00
because
34:01
i’ve talked with a lot of people who are
34:02
like school choice school choice school
34:04
choice
34:04
you know uh assign the money to the
34:07
students instead of the
34:08
instead of the uh the schools and yes i
34:10
agree with that and like you said is it
34:12
better is it the i guess lesser evil of
34:14
what we have now
34:14
absolutely here’s my fear of it long
34:16
term and you can tell me
34:17
if i’m just being a conspiracy nut uh or
34:20
if i’m right
34:21
my concern is that if school choice was
34:24
to become
34:25
standardized across the country you
34:27
would very quickly have
34:29
the federal government being or i guess
34:31
either however it’s implemented either
34:33
the federal government or the individual
34:34
state governments
34:36
being the main uh uh funding for
34:40
uh source of private schools and even if
34:43
it didn’t start this way eventually very
34:45
quickly
34:46
that money would come with strings so
34:48
not only would you now have
34:49
uh government involvement more
34:51
government involvement in private
34:53
schools with the strings attached to the
34:54
funding
34:55
uh and and would you now increasingly
34:57
have private schools geared towards
35:00
the government as the real client
35:02
instead of the the parents and the
35:03
students
35:04
but by implementing that they will have
35:07
gotten rid of the the
35:08
the only bastion of free market
35:10
education left besides homeschooling
35:12
is that not i mean it’s like a camel’s
35:15
nose under the tent type of thing is
35:16
that not a legit concern
35:19
it is a legit concern but the way around
35:22
it vouchers are the most regulated
35:24
vouchers are kind of
35:25
what that there would be a lot more
35:28
regulations on vouchers than any other
35:29
type
35:30
if you go tax credit scholarships right
35:33
and then them funding esas
35:35
it’s going to be very very difficult to
35:37
ever regulate those
35:39
because the donors would stop giving and
35:41
stuff too it would be almost impossible
35:43
for the governments to start regulating
35:45
those
35:46
and the other fact is that most of those
35:48
programs are
35:49
well all the programs are at the state
35:51
level not the federal level
35:53
so if the federal government tried to
35:55
regulate them the state could go
35:56
no our program’s working great you’re
35:58
not touching it we’re not
36:00
dealing with this so it’s kind of
36:02
insulated
36:03
that way by being at state level
36:05
programs that’s why
36:07
as you know education reform advocate i
36:10
would rather work at the state level
36:11
than the federal level
36:13
i know president trump tried to talk
36:14
about a lot about school choice and
36:16
stuff like that but it’s still
36:18
so much better and less regulated at the
36:20
state level
36:21
and keeping the federal government
36:22
completely out of it so i would say
36:24
that’s the way to go about
36:26
it is ignore what the feds are doing
36:28
kind of keep them at
36:29
keep them doing whatever they’re doing
36:30
and keep them out of school choice
36:32
and keep it all at the state level
36:34
absolutely as much as possible and that
36:36
will prevent
36:37
those regulations from creeping in and
36:40
you know going to the the federal model
36:43
of things instead of having one top-down
36:45
solution
36:46
you’ve got 50 top-down solutions which
36:48
are still better than you know just the
36:50
one
36:50
and you know different states can see
36:52
what’s working what’s not working and
36:54
tailored as they see fit and if we’re
36:56
already moving in again i want
36:58
everything now
36:59
if we’re already moving in the path of
37:00
deregulating down to the state level or
37:03
or or giving funding and you know
37:05
putting the funding
37:06
at the state level instead of you know
37:09
more and more at the federal level
37:10
that kind of creates the momentum to say
37:12
hey what if we did this at the
37:14
school district level and hey do we need
37:17
40 of the regulations to come from an
37:19
entity that isn’t really doing anything
37:21
to help you the way but i i’m a dreamer
37:23
i’m a dreamer but yeah well actually
37:25
actually douglas county colorado
37:27
actually passed a school choice program
37:29
within
37:30
their schools within their school system
37:32
that went all the way to the supreme
37:34
court
37:35
but it died at this well it got sent
37:37
back to
37:39
the state supreme court of colorado at
37:42
the same time of trinity lutheran
37:44
case they said this was wrongly decided
37:46
you need to go back and look at this
37:48
case based on the trinity lutheran
37:50
one which was the kind of the precursor
37:52
to espinoza which got rid of the blaine
37:54
amendments
37:55
so it was the kind of beginning of that
37:57
and what happened in douglas county
37:58
colorado
37:59
because it came back the teachers union
38:01
went into that next school board race
38:04
and decimated the mod they throw so much
38:07
money in it that their candidates won
38:11
they ended the program so then it was no
38:13
there wasn’t anything
38:14
to fight for at the supreme court
38:16
anymore and that and it was gone
38:18
so it can be done at the school district
38:20
level but it’s much much harder to deal
38:22
with that than at the state level but
38:23
yes
38:24
some counties have tried it so it’s
38:27
because
38:28
the states have the wherewithal to fight
38:30
against the teachers unions if push
38:32
comes to shove whereas some of the
38:33
school districts they just get crowded
38:35
out and they can’t really do it
38:36
yeah it’s hard on a school on a school
38:38
board race level it is really really
38:40
hard to fight the teachers union
38:42
um it’s one of the things i did actually
38:44
when i was doing it and realized
38:46
it’s you can only fight and beat the
38:47
teachers union so many times
38:49
they’re just going to wait and keep
38:50
coming back and and take over the school
38:53
boards
38:54
in just a year two years or four years
38:56
they’re going to have control of the
38:57
school board again no matter how many
38:59
how much you beat them by it’s it’s
39:01
almost impossible that’s why you kind of
39:02
got to go up to the state level
39:04
to really have a longer term impact
39:08
it is hard to compete against an
39:10
opponent that is able to take money from
39:12
you at any time
39:13
to fund their own aims right like if
39:15
we’re playing monopoly
39:17
and it comes around to my turn and i go
39:19
all right well i’m going to take 2 000
39:20
of lenny’s dollars and i’m going to buy
39:22
park place like you know that that that
39:24
doesn’t that’s not that doesn’t work
39:26
very well so
39:27
um so let’s talk homeschooling a little
39:30
bit
39:31
um where does homeschooling fit into all
39:33
of this
39:34
and are there policies that can be
39:36
implemented
39:38
and in fact these esas that you’re
39:39
talking about is that something that can
39:40
be used at
39:41
school as well and if so what what other
39:43
things can as well
39:45
yes esa’s could be used for
39:47
homeschooling
39:48
and in fact they are used in some states
39:50
for homeschooling
39:51
most homeschoolers though are not going
39:54
to want to do that what actually okay
39:56
what actually really works
39:57
great for homeschoolers are individual
40:00
tax credits or individual tax deductions
40:02
credits are better
40:03
where illinois we actually have one and
40:05
i use that because i ended up
40:06
homeschooling my two children
40:08
as well for uh actually starting in my
40:11
oldest for starting in fourth grade
40:13
all the way through twelfth grade we
40:14
homeschooled her and my other one after
40:16
kindergarten all the way through high
40:17
school
40:18
but it’s a tax credit so whenever i
40:20
spent anything education related
40:23
i just saved my receipt at the end of
40:25
the year i’m writing
40:26
writing that off on my taxes up to 500
40:30
per student with a few other caveats in
40:32
there but
40:34
um so that was pretty much it so it was
40:36
great for me and actually illinois has
40:38
almost 300 000 people taking advantage
40:42
of that
40:42
individual education tax credit and
40:45
illinois is actually one of the best
40:46
homeschooling states in the country
40:48
surprisingly given how draconian and a
40:51
lot of our stuff here’s
40:53
yeah i’m surprised by that here in
40:54
illinois so
40:56
really yes is that just because of the
41:00
regulatory structure that allows them to
41:02
do it or
41:03
or what led to that fight battles back
41:05
in the 80s
41:06
to open up homeschooling and making
41:09
homeschooling legal
41:10
and ones one thing that’s really
41:13
actually kind of nice here in illinois
41:14
is home schools are considered private
41:17
schools
41:18
there is no such thing as homeschool in
41:21
the
41:22
legislative language legal language in
41:24
illinois whatsoever
41:26
you are a private school and that’s one
41:29
thing that’s protected homeschoolers
41:31
since the 1980s when it became legal
41:34
here and why illinois is one of the best
41:36
homeschooling states
41:37
just to give you an example a few years
41:39
ago it was well actually 2012
41:42
a legislator decided they wanted all
41:44
homeschoolers in illinois to register
41:46
so they filed the bill one of the
41:49
secretaries
41:50
called one of the homeschooling groups a
41:52
week later 4 000 homeschoolers
41:55
were standing in the rotunda singing
41:57
songs and talking to legislators
41:59
and the bill was pulled while they were
42:01
still on the in the rotunda
42:03
having their rally just because they saw
42:05
the power of what homeschoolers can do
42:07
when they band together
42:08
and that’s the one thing that you know
42:10
across tax credit scholarships esa
42:12
any type of school choice that kind of
42:15
momentum that
42:16
kind of numbers will shift power at a
42:18
state level very quickly
42:20
to make sure they cannot add regulation
42:24
to school choice and to homeschooling
42:26
that way
42:27
and the interesting thing is um that was
42:30
also
42:31
you know the i’m sure the homeschoolers
42:33
and their kids that went to the
42:34
to the rally to protest that also was
42:36
like their
42:37
their lesson for the day right so it
42:39
kind of two birds with one stone
42:40
this is the thing with homeschoolers
42:42
they’re at home so if
42:44
if they find out that there’s something
42:46
that’s infringing on their rights
42:48
they can say hey kids uh we’re going to
42:50
capitol hill or we’re going to this you
42:52
know this
42:52
the state house or we’re going to
42:53
wherever uh and that’s going to be
42:55
today’s lesson
42:56
is to you know is is is you know our
42:58
civic duty to fight against
43:00
infringements
43:00
and encroachments on our rights and our
43:02
ability to do things you know they are
43:03
they’re uniquely suited like they’re
43:05
literally at home they can
43:06
they can go they you know they’re
43:08
they’re they’re not saying oh well you
43:09
know
43:10
the kids are in school and i’m at work
43:11
they’re at home teaching the kids so you
43:13
know
43:13
it it’s it’s kind of ideal they’re like
43:15
the last people that you would want to
43:17
tick off
43:17
because they can just go with the kids
43:19
they can pack up the van
43:20
and come to capitol hill and uh and and
43:23
and sing songs and
43:24
and march and rally until you until you
43:26
you take the bill down that’s that’s
43:28
hilarious
43:29
yes there’s also the other side of that
43:31
though when public schools
43:33
have a bill here in illinois they again
43:35
i mean that this happens in other states
43:36
too
43:37
is when they wanted something passed
43:40
they wanted here to increase taxes
43:42
is they actually bust students down
43:46
for a field trip day to the capital and
43:49
there were hundreds and hundreds of kids
43:50
there
43:51
arne duncan was actually famous for
43:52
doing this when he was secretary
43:54
but he was education for the president
43:56
in chicago running security public
43:58
schools
43:58
he would do that he would bust kids down
44:00
there by the hundreds
44:02
so they could go talk to legislators to
44:04
try to get tax increases
44:07
this is well so we’re doing the opposite
44:09
instead of coming in buses we’re coming
44:10
in you know
44:11
uh uh thousands of minivans and and cars
44:14
and so forth and the thing is like
44:16
when you talk to a homeschooled kid and
44:18
this isn’t
44:19
always but you often find that
44:22
they are first of all they’re usually
44:24
more comfortable talking with adults
44:26
because they’re they’re they’re having a
44:28
rapport with adults instead of that
44:30
really weird
44:31
top-down thing that is used in the
44:33
prussian model of schooling
44:34
where you’re just kind of there and and
44:36
there’s this authority figure and you
44:37
never really get to question why they’re
44:39
an authority figure they just
44:40
are and you know they hand you these
44:42
things that you have to
44:44
use a number two pencil on and then the
44:46
bell rings and you gotta go
44:47
to the next thing because you’re being
44:48
institutionalized right so
44:50
there’s this sort of like disconnect
44:52
between you know
44:53
students and adults you know adults are
44:55
this you know this
44:57
it’s sort of like in in peanuts like you
44:58
know you don’t even really hear their
44:59
voice
45:01
and it’s like you just do what they say
45:02
and and whatever whereas in
45:03
homeschooling
45:04
i have found that they often have and i
45:06
can from personal experience
45:08
i was talking with my dad about stuff
45:11
he i was asking him questions we would
45:13
find out together
45:15
instead of him having to pretend he knew
45:16
everything to try to keep some kind of
45:18
power balance he’d be like
45:20
i don’t know let’s go find out and we
45:21
and you know this was pre-internet we’d
45:23
go to the library and find things out
45:25
it was education was fun and i learned
45:27
so much more
45:28
and it took far less time every single
45:30
day to be able to do
45:32
it i would i would cruise through things
45:34
because learning was
45:35
cool it was fun i liked waking up and
45:37
finding out stuff and i had way more
45:39
free time to then go spend time with
45:41
friends afterwards
45:42
yep yeah there was an op-ed here a
45:44
couple years ago i read about a college
45:46
professor
45:47
used to fight against homeschooling all
45:49
the time but when he moved to
45:50
cal to teaching at college he kept
45:53
trying to get the students to interact
45:55
with them
45:55
and he it was they weren’t they weren’t
45:57
interacting with him
45:58
right until he had this one student that
46:00
just kept asking him questions and kept
46:02
having conversations with him the whole
46:04
time during class
46:05
and finally he asked that student why
46:08
are you comfortable asking all these
46:09
questions
46:10
when your peers aren’t and they were
46:12
like oh i was homeschooled
46:14
and now he’s an advocate for
46:15
homeschooling because of that experience
46:17
he had personal experience
46:19
of that intergenerational learning that
46:22
homeschoolers have had
46:24
yeah i i i have a theory that the reason
46:27
that
46:28
i and i’m a millennial so i’m not
46:29
crapping on millennials i’m just a very
46:31
old millennial i’m a millennial with
46:33
male pattern baldness right like i’m i’m
46:35
i’m that first wave like i think i think
46:38
82 was the first year for millennials so
46:40
first yeah so i’m like the first i was
46:43
the first millennial to run
46:44
for for on a national ticket and that’s
46:47
not because there’s anything special
46:48
about me it’s just i this is the first
46:49
time millennials qualified so here i am
46:51
um you know for the 35 plus age thing um
46:55
all that to say it seems like a lot of
46:57
kids that are in there in their
46:59
kids a lot of people that are in their
47:01
like mid 20s late teens
47:03
there’s this weird disconnect a lot of
47:05
them have with adults
47:07
and i think it’s entirely based on the
47:09
fact that they were so institutionalized
47:11
in the school system
47:12
and and and their interactions with the
47:14
people in the school system
47:16
outnumbered their interactions with
47:17
parents and other positive role models
47:20
twenty to one that even as adults now
47:23
they still have a weird interaction with
47:25
other adults because
47:26
they’re not used to it and and i think
47:28
that you know this go i mean
47:30
this is a social thing even more so than
47:32
an education thing
47:33
but it’s what happens when you put kids
47:35
in cubicles
47:36
and and treat them and basically prepare
47:38
them for a a life
47:40
of either factory work or going into the
47:43
military which is what the prussian
47:44
model is based on
47:45
and then shove them into a 21st century
47:47
environment that has nothing that does
47:48
not line up even remotely with that
47:51
yeah but that’s kind of the prussian
47:53
model it’s basically
47:54
you want kids smart enough to be able to
47:57
do their jobs but
47:58
not smart enough to be the boss
48:00
basically to start their own jobs and
48:02
start their own businesses
48:03
is really kind of that model you’re
48:05
creating widgets
48:06
that’s and that’s they’re treated like
48:08
kids are treated like widgets a lot of
48:09
times
48:10
especially with the funding they’re all
48:11
basically funding widgets
48:13
is how the government funds schools
48:15
right now because it’s
48:16
based on the number of children you have
48:19
which is the wrong way to fund
48:21
yeah we treat kids like statistics and
48:23
the stats are bad
48:24
and and that’s that’s a really really
48:26
bad thing so uh
48:28
lenny look before i before i give you a
48:30
chance to give your final thoughts let’s
48:32
see if we have any questions here uh
48:34
we’ve got some people
48:35
that are calling you education santa
48:39
uh so that’s good um
48:42
um let’s see uh so sherry conover
48:46
charlo i hope you’re saying i’m saying
48:48
your name correctly sherry says i was on
48:49
the school board for a catholic
48:51
elementary our kids spent 60 hours on
48:53
the state required test
48:54
plus another 12-hour test for third
48:56
graders our vouchers came in
48:58
teachers had to teach reading for 90
49:00
straight minutes this is for as young as
49:03
kindergarten
49:04
granted reading activities didn’t have
49:05
to be sit down yet it’s too much on the
49:07
same
49:08
topic imagine it’s a snow delay and the
49:10
teacher still has to teach 90 minutes
49:12
straight
49:12
add lunch and recess and that leaves
49:14
very little time left for crucial
49:16
i don’t know what steam classes are you
49:18
probably do
49:19
yeah this uh yeah the stem and steam
49:22
it’s art
49:24
math um science technology
49:27
oh it’s stem but with it’s stem but with
49:30
art as oh
49:31
right okay sam what with arts yes okay
49:35
so it’s just you know like you said that
49:37
the issue
49:38
is funding is a part of it and and the
49:40
strings attached that come with it
49:42
but ultimately we’re not going to get
49:44
the solutions we want until we get what
49:46
i want which is the full
49:47
you know or at least the beginning the
49:48
process of deregulation and putting the
49:50
power
49:51
back in the hands of of educators and
49:54
parents
49:54
to be able to empower students to
49:56
actually learn and
49:58
and enjoy education instead of seeing it
50:00
as a as an institution
50:02
yeah and the bigger the more kids to
50:04
take advantage of education choice the
50:06
faster you will get
50:07
deregulation exactly yeah well it starts
50:10
the process people realize oh crap
50:12
the problem wasn’t money the problem was
50:14
who was in charge of it
50:15
and you know let’s let’s keep working
50:17
that way yeah i like how you think
50:19
a lot of that parents have seen a lot of
50:21
that with the pandemic when their kids
50:23
are at home now they get to see
50:24
exactly what the classes are and what
50:26
they’re having to do to help the kids
50:28
so they’re starting to get a taste of it
50:30
and then we’re way
50:31
you know waiting to see what’s really
50:33
going to happen because it looks like
50:34
the numbers so far
50:36
there’s an extra four or five percent
50:38
that are now moving to homeschooling
50:41
there’s a lot of kids just being
50:42
completely left behind and
50:44
the schools don’t know where they are
50:46
and stuff right now because they just
50:48
kind of dropped out already which is
50:49
really going to be bad for society over
50:51
time
50:52
the economics of this learning loss and
50:54
what the pandemic is doing is going to
50:56
be very very drastic and very very hard
50:58
on a lot of students
50:59
and especially the low-income and poor
51:01
students which is why school choice is
51:03
even more important
51:05
because take honest the rich already
51:07
have school choice
51:08
they can go and pay for whatever they
51:09
want yes the low income that don’t have
51:11
school choice that need the school
51:13
choice that need those options
51:15
that they’re not getting right now and
51:17
because the funding is tied to the
51:18
schools they are essentially
51:19
segregated into bad failing schools
51:22
they’re being told hey look
51:23
if you’re poor tough stop being poor
51:27
well how am i going to stop being poor
51:28
if i and my kids can’t get a proper
51:30
education
51:31
to be able to to to learn you know
51:33
before we even get into all the
51:34
economic policies that are leading to
51:36
you know entrenching people in poverty
51:38
just looking at education
51:39
they’re not able to get the educational
51:41
tools they need to be able to seek the
51:42
jobs of the future to do that and we
51:44
tell them eh
51:45
tough stop being poor so if nothing else
51:47
tying the funding to the students
51:49
instead of to
51:50
you know uh to to uh to the uh schools
51:53
if nothing else solves that or at least
51:55
greatly ameliorates that problem
51:57
and it forces those schools to either be
51:59
good or
52:00
go out of business and be replaced with
52:02
one that is exactly and public schools
52:04
right now don’t have that since they
52:06
they have no fallback they’re just going
52:08
to keep getting money
52:09
they’re not going to get closed where
52:11
public schools and
52:12
private schools and charter schools all
52:14
of them will close if they hit lose
52:16
students
52:16
they’re going to close but you mentioned
52:18
segregation
52:19
a minute ago and this is something i’ve
52:21
talked about a lot there was actually
52:23
just a study done
52:24
that showed you know 1968 before
52:28
all of the desegregation and everything
52:29
happened 77
52:31
of black students were in predominantly
52:33
white schools
52:35
that dropped all the way down to 63
52:37
percent in 1988 when they were really
52:40
trying to
52:40
really trying to desegregate you know
52:42
integrate the schools a lot
52:44
better and that was working in the 1988s
52:46
but 2018
52:48
that number is back to 81 percent so
52:51
public schools right now
52:52
are more segregated now than they were
52:56
in 1968 wow
53:04
and now and now you can’t point to it as
53:08
an evil you can’t say look they’re
53:09
forcing
53:10
you know black kids to be in substandard
53:12
schooling you go oh well this is just
53:14
the reality of our system well the re
53:15
the de facto reality
53:17
is segregation into substandard schools
53:20
with no effective way to be able to
53:22
change it until we change the way that
53:23
the funding is even happening
53:25
that is exactly wow
53:28
see this is the problem i i’m already a
53:31
libertarian right
53:32
but then i get people like you on the
53:34
show who drive
53:35
down into even greater detail how much
53:38
government sucks at stuff and it makes
53:39
me even more libertarian so you know i’m
53:41
trying to stay relatable lenny like come
53:42
on man
53:43
uh lenny listen this was fantastic this
53:46
is exactly i think you are
53:48
obviously an expert on this and your
53:50
ideas
53:51
uh are exactly it sounds like what we
53:53
need to do to at least start the
53:55
incremental process
53:56
because as much as i hate it we’re not
53:58
going to snap our fingers and have you
53:59
know fully decentralized schooling
54:01
overnight but
54:02
we can at least start the process of
54:03
moving to that so hey man thanks so much
54:05
for coming on before i let you go
54:07
i want to give you a chance to give your
54:09
final word uh
54:11
anything that you feel like we didn’t
54:12
get a chance to say if there’s anything
54:14
you’d like to promote
54:15
plug your your website your pages
54:18
anything that you want to say
54:19
anything you want to promote lenny
54:21
jarrett the floor
54:22
is
54:23
[Laughter]
54:25
well it is it really comes down to the
54:28
simple fact of
54:29
we have the solution already to fix
54:31
education it’s funding children
54:33
not systems and then that will drive
54:35
everything else it’ll drive the
54:36
deregulation it’ll drive the state back
54:38
out of controlling
54:39
local control it puts parents in charge
54:42
so we’re
54:43
empowering the parents to do what they
54:45
need to do to make sure their child gets
54:46
the best education
54:48
because they know how what your best
54:50
education is for their child
54:51
better than somebody in their state
54:52
capital and certainly better than
54:54
somebody in washington dc
54:56
but if you ever want more information
54:57
actually i work for a great organization
54:59
ace scholarships
55:00
out of denver and they work in eight
55:02
states and they provide scholarships to
55:05
low-income
55:05
students that gives these students the
55:08
opportunity
55:09
to be able to get a better choice to get
55:13
a better education
55:14
and it completely changes not only them
55:17
it actually changes their parents
55:19
parents of these students that ace uses
55:22
are in three years they’re going back
55:25
and getting their own degrees they’re
55:27
increasing their job opportunities
55:28
increasing their
55:29
own income because of the education that
55:32
they’re seeing
55:33
in their children in the opportunities
55:35
right their children are getting so
55:36
yeah ace scholarships.org if anybody’s
55:38
interested in coming and looking at more
55:40
information
55:41
and helping really helping low-income
55:44
students
55:45
outside you need not without waiting for
55:47
state regulations a lot of our
55:49
most likely the most of our programs are
55:51
private programs
55:52
so we’re helping students that are right
55:54
now public schools and helping them get
55:56
to private schools
55:57
regardless of what the government says
56:00
do or don’t do
56:01
we’re already just doing it regardless
56:02
anyway and people are donating and
56:04
putting their money where their mouth is
56:06
and actually helping students
56:07
right now that is awesome man where can
56:10
people find you
56:11
personally because what i’m getting is
56:13
we need more lenny
56:15
where can we find lenny we love lenny
56:17
lenny lenny lenny like literally someone
56:19
wrote lenny lenny lenny
56:20
where can people find you man i’ve kind
56:23
of most of my political stuff and
56:25
everything i’ve done outside i’ve kind
56:27
of
56:27
i kind of kind of gotten away from all
56:30
of that
56:31
but there is a universal education
56:33
choice page
56:35
on facebook that you can find and follow
56:37
my stuff there when i post about
56:39
education choice
56:40
or at a scholarship it’s actually act
56:43
act.a scholarships.org and you can look
56:47
there
56:47
and all the studies and all the work i’m
56:49
doing at ace um
56:50
and writing and stuff that is there as
56:53
well
56:54
so okay so the two places to find me
56:57
universal school choice
56:59
universal education choice universal
57:01
education choice on facebook and
57:04
act scholarships on facebook
57:07
no it’s well it’s act.ace
57:09
scholarships.org on the
57:11
website web address oh is it what is the
57:13
website okay yeah we got
57:15
team lenny you’re a hit lenny everyone
57:17
loves you this is now
57:18
so from now on folks this is going to be
57:19
my fellow americans with lenny jarrett
57:21
i’m going to retire
57:22
um everyone loves gen everyone loves
57:24
lenny um lenny can we get you back on
57:26
hopefully in the near future sure
57:29
absolutely i’d love it
57:31
i think that’d be fantastic man hey
57:32
thanks so much for coming on
57:34
i really appreciate you stick around i’m
57:35
gonna talk with you during the outro
57:37
uh but thank you again man you are you
57:38
are fantastic you just got
57:40
hundreds of new fans uh actually
57:42
thousands of new fans you just got a lot
57:44
of new fans lenny
57:45
um but folks thank you so much for
57:47
tuning into this episode of my fellow
57:48
americans
57:49
uh i i had a really great time talking
57:51
about education
57:52
once again shocker to no one the problem
57:55
is that power and money and
57:57
opportunities and freedom have been
57:58
taken out of the hands
57:59
of the people put in the hands of
58:01
politicians and bureaucrats and cronies
58:03
and the solution equally not a surprise
58:06
is to take that power back which is what
58:08
we talk about on this show
58:09
uh every single time i go live because
58:11
that’s my thing
58:12
uh so thank you again for tuning in to
58:14
this episode what do we have coming up
58:16
um let’s see so on uh
58:20
tomorrow i will be on a very special
58:22
episode of the chris and jesse
58:24
kristen spikey show with spike and
58:26
chrissy uh
58:27
that will be uh tomorrow at i believe 8
58:29
p.m and
58:30
why don’t i just pull up the cam i’m
58:31
sitting there fumbling through trying to
58:33
remember what i’m doing let me just pull
58:34
up the calendar
58:35
everyone keeps trying everyone is used
58:37
to me having no idea what i’m doing no
58:39
i’m wrong it’s at eight on friday
58:44
next tomorrow at eight i’m gonna be on
58:45
the post political podcast
58:48
and that is live so check that out
58:51
um and i will also be on uh the chris
58:53
and spiky show with spike and chrissy on
58:55
friday and then i’m gonna take the
58:57
weekend
58:58
oh no i’m doing stuff on the weekend too
58:59
but nothing that’s live uh and then join
59:01
me next
59:02
uh monday for culture of winning where i
59:05
talk with
59:06
libertarians who get elected to office
59:08
to demystify that idea of libertarians
59:10
winning and talk to them about how we
59:11
can build a blueprint for libertarians
59:13
to win
59:14
across the country uh my guest next
59:16
monday will be aaron
59:17
wright uh and then join us next tuesday
59:20
at 8 pm eastern for the muddy waters of
59:22
freedom
59:23
where uh matt wright and i parse through
59:25
the week’s events
59:26
like the 2020 wonder boys that we are
59:28
and then
59:29
tune in next week right here same spike
59:32
place
59:32
same spike time for another episode of
59:35
my fellow americans
59:37
with jason speier folks thanks again for
59:39
tuning in i’m spike cohen
59:41
and you are the power god bless guys
59:46
[Music]
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[Music]
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away
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[Music]
60:29
[Music]
60:32
[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
60:54
come
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[Music]
61:05
[Music]
61:08
sometimes darkness is all i find you
61:10
know what they say about an hour for a
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night in a time where the blind
61:13
blood who am i to deny with growl when a
61:15
loved one dies i recognize that body
61:17
outside with the holes in the body that
61:19
was alive
61:20
now confined to a chalk outline find out
61:22
how but you never
61:34
i’m in love
61:48
[Music]
61:55
tell me why
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[Music]
62:13
make a change
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[Music]
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we will make
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[Music]
62:53
you