November 20, 2023 • 24 mins
In this episode, Erica Donalds, CEO of Optima Edge and advocate for school choice, discusses the impact of illegal immigration on the American education system and the need for educational reform. She shares her personal journey of launching five charter schools in Florida, including the world's first virtual reality charter school, driven by her experience as a mother of three boys who learn differently. Erica emphasizes the importance of providing alternative educational options for families, the need for a free market approach in education, and the benefits of education scholarship accounts. Listen for new episodes of The Truth with Lisa Boothe every Monday and Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have seen record breaking illegal immigration under Joe Biden.
He's allowed so many legal immigrants into this country that
we could create entire new states out of the people
who have come here. But one thing that doesn't get
discussed enough is what's the impact going to be for
your kids? What impact is this going to have on
K through twelve in America now that you have all
(00:20):
these illegal immigrants that are going to be going to schools.
We'll talk to one woman who's sounding the alarm on this.
Her name is Erica Donalds. She's married to Congressman Byron Donalds.
She's also guest faculty at the Leadership Institute's school Board
programs and CEO of Optima Edge. She's launched five charter
schools here in the state of Florida, and she also
(00:42):
launched the world's first virtual reality charter school, Optima Academy Online.
We're going to talk to her about her concerns about
this influx of illegal immigration and also talk about her
fight for school choice in America. Stay tuned for Erica Donalds. Well,
(01:02):
Erica donald it's great to have you on the show.
You're doing a lot of great work here in the
state of Florida. So I appreciate you making the time.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh I'm so happy to be with you, Lisa. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You know. So before we get into this big topic
of how this just massive influx of illegal immigrants is
impacting our schools, how'd you get into this fight?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, definitely accidentally and just as a mom. I have
three boys, as you probably know, and I discovered with
the second one that they all learn differently, and it
doesn't matter if you buy an expensive house in an
expensive neighborhood so that you can go to the best schools.
Not every school is going to work the same way
for every child. And I discovered school choice when I
(01:41):
found out I didn't have it right. I needed a
different option for my second child. At the time, you know,
we were young parents. We couldn't afford private school. There
were no charter schools in our community, and we really
had to rearrange our lives to get my son into
a school, driving him back and forth, and it completely
changed his outlook on learning. He went from being absolutely
(02:05):
miserable in school to loving what he was learning in
a classical environment, talking all the way home when we
were driving him to and from about what he had learned,
and it just made me think how many other Darrens
are out there that I could perhaps help, you know,
if I get involved in this school choice movement. So
that's what got me started. I ran for school board,
(02:25):
learned a lot about the system and all the things
that are broken about it, and I've just gone about
and creating optima ed and starting charter schools and virtual
schools to just try to give options to families like
mine who need something else for their children.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You put together or created five charter schools across Florida,
and then you launched the first virtual reality charter schools.
So you didn't just take this on. I mean you
really really took this on and actually launching these schools.
So I mean that's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well thanks. I don't know how to do anything small,
as my husband will tell you, and I do find
it to be a national emergency. I know that with
my own children. I felt that urgency because you know,
these kids don't get another chance at first grade, they
don't get another chance to read on grade level because
they don't catch up if you don't teach them at
(03:18):
the age of you know, kindergarten, first grade. And I
just know how it felt as a mom how desperate
I was for another option, and so I feel like
we can't build them fast enough. I wish I could
do it faster, but we are going as quickly as
we can while maintaining the quality that our families deserve.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
You know, I had Betsy de Vas on the podcast
I guess it was like a year ago, and it
was remarkable because you know, she gets vilified, but she's
trying to help people. It's like, why do you think
you know, school choice gets criticized so much. Is it
just the teachers union influence or why do you think
that is.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I definitely felt that hatred. As I mentioned, I was
on the school board here, not the union's favorite school
board member for because I did advocate a lot for
options for families. Free market. You know, the monopoly doesn't
like competition, and for one hundred years, the public schools
and government run schools have enjoyed a monopoly in this country.
They don't like reforms, they don't like innovations, they don't
(04:15):
like being held accountable for their performance in any way,
whether it's top down accountability from the state or accountability
in the form of giving parents another option. And so
they're going to fight against anyone like me who just
wants to do what's best for kids and for families.
And frankly, my mission is to bring a free market
into education and force them to compete for students. And
(04:37):
they definitely don't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well, you know, and parents want this. I mean, you
can see pull after a pull where you know, the
majority of parents of Americans support the concept of school choice.
And you look now, I mean, students aren't proficient in
anything across the board, and COVID obviously had a big
part of that learning loss, but kids are not being served.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You're absolutely right. And there were just a poll that
came out and printed in Politico seventy three percent of
parents support ESA's education savings accounts, which we're seeing pop
up all over the country. Well, why is that Because
you look at Baltimore, for example, where forty high schools,
(05:19):
forty individual schools have no students who are operating on
proficiency on grade level in math and reading. You know,
in New York City grades three to eight thirty eight
percent proficient in mathematics. And this is where some of
the smartest people in the world live and work. You're
talking about thirty eight percent. Twenty seven percent is that
(05:40):
number in Illinois? It's abysmal. In Oregon, they just got
rid of their standards for high schoolers to pass a
proficiency test in order to graduate high school. I mean,
we can't even call them graduates anymore. They're simply finishers.
They got through, they aged out, but they're not prepared
to succeed, and they're certainly not ready to help America
(06:00):
compete on the global stage.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And I wonder if some of it's intentional. I mean,
some of those scores seem to be bad enough where
you know, it doesn't seem like the intention is to
learn in some of these schools.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, it's not accidental. When you look at the teachers'
unions that we mentioned earlier, you look at what they
talk about in their conferences and their professional development. It's
not how to help children read. It's not how to
help them to be proficient in mathematics. It's about how
to indoctrinate them. It's about social justice and DEI and
all of these political and cultural issues that the union
(06:35):
has decided to prioritize over the reading, writing, and arithmetic
that parents want their children to learn in schools, and
so it is intentional. There is a priority given to
those ideas instead of teaching our children the history of
our country, the history of the world, so that they're
not doomed to repeat it. As we're seeing in the
streets right now when you're looking at these pro Hamas,
(06:58):
anti Israel, anti Semitic protest, including one from New York
City students k to twelve students who are walking out
in support of Hamas. It's unbelievable, But it's because they're
not being taught history, and they're not being taught how
to decipher these things through the lens of the history
(07:18):
of this world.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It certainly paints a grim prospect for the future. And
you know just what we're up against and just basic
common sense and even just basic decency. We see utter
Joe Biden, just I mean historic floods of illegal immigrants
to the United States. I mean so much so that
we could create entire new states out of the illegal
(07:39):
immigrants who have come into this country. What's been that
impact on schools across America.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, this is a huge concern that no one is
really talking about. This massive, uncontrolled influx of migrants coming
across the southern border is putting an unmanageable strain on
the public education system, which is just further damage the
quality of education that our children deserve. It's completely unfair
to American families and children who deserve to have a
(08:07):
top notch education. And by nature of adding these students
to our system, the teachers are going to have to
pull away their time and attention to the students who
are not speaking English. They're already very far behind academically.
The teachers are slowing their pace to accommodate the limited
(08:27):
proficiency of these students, and we're having to use resources
to hire social workers, other special services, more guidance counselors
for these additional students. Inevitably, that takes resources away from
Native students who are already behind because of the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, I mean, how many schools have you know, bilingual
teachers or have teachers that you know. I mean, we're
seeing people come into the United States not just from
you know, Central and South America. We're seeing people come
in from around the world, So, you know, how do
you accommodate Yeah, you're talking about people from math, you know,
so many different countries or in continents. How does a
school even address.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
That dozens of languages are coming across the border. It's
estimated that about three million people have come through just
this year alone. If a third of those are students,
a million K to twelve students, that's larger than the
largest school districts in America New York City or LA Unified.
(09:26):
It's the largest school district. Think about how much money
it costs to educate those children, and that it's going
to be more than what it normally costs to educate
an American child because of all the deficiencies that they're
coming in with. And so, yes, you're right, it's not
just about hiring an ELL teacher, an English Language Learners teacher,
(09:46):
because they're not going to speak all of these languages.
You're talking about Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic that are coming across
the border. So it's an immigration problem, a mass influx
problem that is going on at the southern and border,
and no one is talking about how unfair this is
to our American students who absolutely need these resources to
(10:07):
get caught up after the learning loss that they received
in COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Let's take a quick commercial break back with Erica Donald's
what kind of impact do you think that's going to
have on the proficiency and math and reading and some
of these different subjects that we've already seen fall dramatically.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
We're losing a generation, Lisa. We just saw a study
out recently that students are going to need four months
of additional math instruction to get caught up after the
pandemic and the closed schools. Well, we look at LA
Unified and you mentioned school unions earlier, they wouldn't allow
(10:48):
an extra ten days of learning in the school year.
I think they got it down to three days that
were optional. How are our students going to get four
more months? And that's four months with the tension that
they need from their teachers, and we're also battling a
teacher shortage. I'm telling you the only solution here is
(11:08):
a free market that will help to solve these problems
using the latest innovations technology bringing other players into the space.
We're talking about micro schools, online schools, different ESA programs
that allow you to allakarte the education experience for your child.
So if they're just deficient in math, you can find
(11:30):
that math tutor and use those ESA dollars a little
extra money towards whatever it is your child needs. The
free market is the only way to solve this problem.
We know for sure that the monopoly is not going
to reform itself. It's not going to solve this issue.
And the Biden administration frankly needs to solve the real
route problem here and stop the massive illegal immigration at
(11:52):
the border. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I feel like it's not discussed enough, just the impact
and the damage that COVID had on children. Even as adults,
it was difficult. I mean, I moved down to Florida
for the end of it to be free, but you know,
when I was in New York, it was difficult. You're isolated.
I live by myself. But you know, you've got these
students and these young people who you need to be
(12:13):
around other kids, who who need to be seeing people
smile and interacting with other humans, and you know, they
need to be learning, and instead a lot of them
were stuck at home by themselves and forced to and
adequately learn online. And it's you know, it's not just
the intellectual damage to these kids. I mean it's emotional,
it's you know, personal, and I just feel like these
kids are sort of irreparably harmed by all of this.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
A lot of them are Lisa, and we've also seen
where the mental health crisis is really rearing its head
in the public school system. We're having to hire many
more mental health specialists in the schools, and this just
goes back to the limited resources that are available to
address these concerns and having to stretch those resources even
(12:59):
further with this in flocks of students. You know, they
had their own issues, I'm sure in their native countries
during COVID. The problem is we're not looking to buckle
down and solve these problems. America is not serious about
competing globally on academic excellence. We haven't been for decades now.
(13:19):
So we have to get serious as a society, as
a culture, and frankly in our leadership that this must
be a priority. We have to hold people accountable and
the best way to do that is through a free
market system where parents are able to vote with their
feet and the transparency that's necessary so we see how
(13:40):
the students are performing in various school environments, and that
will allow people to make informed decisions so long as
they have the freedom to do so.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
You know, we've seen in previous elections that you know,
education can be a driver of the electorate. I believe
it was in twenty eighteen Governor DeSantis school choice was
impactful for him electorally. And then you know, you look
at virgil Ya with Governor youngin Should this be a
centerpiece of whoever ends up being the Republican nominee and
around some of these states, I.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Think it absolutely will be. And we've seen a huge
influx of moms and regular people like myself. Right, I
got elected in twenty fourteen to the school board. You know,
I say, like before it was cool to be on
school board. I was kind of out there by myself,
just a handful of us in Florida. But now hundreds
of members of like Moms for Liberty are getting elected,
(14:31):
and people who are just finally waking up to the
issues in our education system and taking back control of
our local school boards of schools and even in state
legislatures where you see people getting elected whose focus is
on education reform. I think that's a great movement. I
do think we've seen even the presidential candidates talking about
(14:53):
what needs to be done at the federal level, including
getting rid of the Department of education who has not
proven to have any possible to impact on the trajectory
of K twelve education in our country. So I do
think I've seen over the past twelve years that I've
been involved in education reform, so much more attention to
it from the mainstream, both the media and as you mentioned,
(15:15):
candidates who are either running for statewide office or even
presidential candidates. At this point, I've talked about it more
than ever in the past.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And I do think people pay more attention than they
have in the past about you know, school board, particularly
since COVID talk about the significance and the role that
you know, our school board can play on your child's future.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah. I really learned a lot on the school board
about how much power that they have over what kind
of materials you're buying for the students, what kind of
standards do you have for performance in the classrooms, What
do you let go that teachers can sort of get
away with. I mean, there's a lot of bad behavior
(15:55):
in schools, and I've watched teachers help students cheat and
get a slap on the wrist and absolutely no time
without pay. I saw a lot on the school board.
It's a lot of it is driven by unions. But
when you have a majority, now that's really important. That
you have a majority on the school board. You can
change policy, you can improve curriculum and accountability and transparency.
(16:19):
You can punish the bad actors and set a tone
for a better culture in your school district. So all
those things are important. I definitely think that it's a
worthwhile endeavor to serve on school boards and to keep
careful watch of them, like Mom's for Liberty, the Leadership Institute,
which I'm also involved with, train school board members to
be effective. I have a lot of hope for the
(16:41):
new school boards that are coming in and being trained
by these great groups. However, I'm also a huge proponent
of school choice. I think that school boards are running
a monopoly, and it doesn't matter who's in charge of
the monopoly. The monopoly is the problem, and we really
have to break the monopoly. In the meantime, our friends
to be running it instead of our enemies or the
(17:04):
enemies of our country. But school choice, education freedom and
putting that power further and further into the hands of
parents is really the answer.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Quick break more in the state of education. And we're
not even saying, you know, not just the importance of
sort of the lack of education kids are getting and
why we need change on the school front, but also
just from a values standpoint. I mean, we're seeing schools
get involved with changing kids pronouns and encouraging transitions and
(17:36):
you know, hiding and concealing this information from parents. So
you know, it's not just an educational impact, it's a
values impact.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I say this all the time, Lisa. It used to
be when I first got involved with school choice, it
was all about kids are in failing schools or the
schools not working for them. It was about academics and
improving academics for children, and that was a lot of
the focus of charter schools and school choice options, including
private school choice. Today that conversation has changed and parents
(18:06):
are making these choices more based on a difference in
their value systems and trust. They simply do not trust
the schools that they are being forced to send their
children to to teach according to the values that they
have at home, or simply just not teach any of
these cultural or political ideas that just don't belong in
(18:27):
K to twelve public schools. So there's definitely an issue
with trust, with ideology and values that parents want to
be able to choose that and safety is another major
one that has changed over the years. That is definitely
a reason that families are wanting to choose something else,
and it could be safety in terms of physical safety
(18:48):
obviously school shootings and fights and things that we see,
but safety in terms of also bullying, cyber bullying, the
things that administrations let students get away with and the
lack of discipline creates a safety issue for parents that
they want to get away from.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
What's your hope on the school choice front? You know,
what would you like to see happen in the next
few years.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, my dream for school choice is truly an a
la carte marketplace for families. I want to see more
and more states adopt education scholarship account essays where families
can put together the best academic program for their child
that meets their students' unique needs. And what does that
possibly look like. It means that if my child is
(19:31):
really good at math and they could be taking college
mathematics in the eighth grade, I can go to the
community college and have them take a course there for mathematics.
They could take a course on history at my local museum,
because that museum has all of these great artifacts and
it's a wonderful place for them to learn history from
the people who have studied it their entire lives. Then
(19:54):
maybe they're just really good at reading and literature. They
don't really need a lot of guidance there. So they're
doing an online class that. And they're passionate about music,
and so I get them a one on one music
instructor so that they can really excel in that area.
And that's how I decide to use my essay for
my child to build out an experience that they wake
(20:15):
up every day and they love learning, they love going
to school. And we also have the flexibility as a
family to interact and allow me to be a little
more involved even as a working mom with my children.
People will always continue to choose some form of full
time school, whether that's public or private or charter and
whatever it is. But I want families to be able
(20:36):
to look at all the options out there and make
the choices. And really, I think we are. We have
no idea what is possible in terms of education innovation
because the marketplace has never been open. I think innovations
are going to come about that we can't even imagine
right now when people have the capacity to make those purchases.
(20:57):
Through these essays, Eric.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Anything else you'd like to leave us with.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, I like to say too, that universal choice is
the only free market choice. You know. I've watched policies
in various states, including my home state of Florida, put
limitations on school choice. Well, maybe we should start with
only low income students, or maybe only students who are
in failing schools. I truly think that we need to
(21:21):
advocate for universal choice because the larger the market, the
larger the customer base, the more innovations are come into
the marketplace, the better access and quality for everyone, including
those who are the most disadvantage and have currently the
least number of options for education. And then, secondly, we
(21:41):
need to make sure that our politicians, our elected officials,
our leaders are serious about academic excellence across our country
and holding people accountable to that, because as a country,
we are not competing right now with the rest of
the world, and we may not see that as much today,
although I would argue if you look at the national
leadership and the way things are going, you can pretty
(22:03):
much tell how our schools have done over the past
several decades. But it's going to get worse and worse
as these children move through the system and are going
to be the leaders of tomorrow, or we'll have a
lack of leadership.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Where do you hope to take the Optima Foundation? What
are your personal goals with that?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, Optima ed exists in order to make classical education
available to every family tuition free, and right now we
do offer Optima Academy online in every state in the
country and even internationally, but some people have to pay,
and I don't believe in that. I really want to
make sure that it is a tuition free, high quality
option that anyone can access, and so we're working on
(22:41):
that every single day. We're going down the list of
states that are offering essays or virtual charters or some
other form of public funding to just navigate that landscape
and make it available for free for any family. And secondly,
we are building brick and mortar school with a classical
model of education. We've created our own classical curriculum and
(23:05):
I want to make that curriculum available to any school
who would like to infuse classical education into their current
model into their current classrooms, using virtual reality or not.
I just love the classical model. I think it gives
students equips them with the knowledge and the virtue that
they need to be successful and of course to be
American great American patriots and leaders of the future.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I always love talking to problem solvers, and that's very
cool what you've done. So appreciate you taking the time.
Erica Donalds, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Thank you so much for having me, Lisa. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
That was Erica Donald's guest faculty at the Leadership Institute's
school board programs. Also the CEO of optima Ed. Appreciate
her making the time and what she's doing to make
a difference. Appreciate you guys at home for listening every
Monday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week.
I dont think John Cassio, my producer, for putting the
show together. Feel free to drop us a review on
(24:00):
Apple Podcast or give us a rating. Always love looking
at those. Thanks so much.
We have seen record breaking illegal immigration under Joe Biden.
He's allowed so many legal immigrants into this country that
we could create entire new states out of the people
who have come here. But one thing that doesn't get
discussed enough is what's the impact going to be for
your kids? What impact is this going to have on
K through twelve in America now that you have all
(00:20):
these illegal immigrants that are going to be going to schools.
We'll talk to one woman who's sounding the alarm on this.
Her name is Erica Donalds. She's married to Congressman Byron Donalds.
She's also guest faculty at the Leadership Institute's school Board
programs and CEO of Optima Edge. She's launched five charter
schools here in the state of Florida, and she also
(00:42):
launched the world's first virtual reality charter school, Optima Academy Online.
We're going to talk to her about her concerns about
this influx of illegal immigration and also talk about her
fight for school choice in America. Stay tuned for Erica Donalds. Well,
(01:02):
Erica donald it's great to have you on the show.
You're doing a lot of great work here in the
state of Florida. So I appreciate you making the time.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh I'm so happy to be with you, Lisa. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You know. So before we get into this big topic
of how this just massive influx of illegal immigrants is
impacting our schools, how'd you get into this fight?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, definitely accidentally and just as a mom. I have
three boys, as you probably know, and I discovered with
the second one that they all learn differently, and it
doesn't matter if you buy an expensive house in an
expensive neighborhood so that you can go to the best schools.
Not every school is going to work the same way
for every child. And I discovered school choice when I
(01:41):
found out I didn't have it right. I needed a
different option for my second child. At the time, you know,
we were young parents. We couldn't afford private school. There
were no charter schools in our community, and we really
had to rearrange our lives to get my son into
a school, driving him back and forth, and it completely
changed his outlook on learning. He went from being absolutely
(02:05):
miserable in school to loving what he was learning in
a classical environment, talking all the way home when we
were driving him to and from about what he had learned,
and it just made me think how many other Darrens
are out there that I could perhaps help, you know,
if I get involved in this school choice movement. So
that's what got me started. I ran for school board,
(02:25):
learned a lot about the system and all the things
that are broken about it, and I've just gone about
and creating optima ed and starting charter schools and virtual
schools to just try to give options to families like
mine who need something else for their children.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You put together or created five charter schools across Florida,
and then you launched the first virtual reality charter schools.
So you didn't just take this on. I mean you
really really took this on and actually launching these schools.
So I mean that's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well thanks. I don't know how to do anything small,
as my husband will tell you, and I do find
it to be a national emergency. I know that with
my own children. I felt that urgency because you know,
these kids don't get another chance at first grade, they
don't get another chance to read on grade level because
they don't catch up if you don't teach them at
(03:18):
the age of you know, kindergarten, first grade. And I
just know how it felt as a mom how desperate
I was for another option, and so I feel like
we can't build them fast enough. I wish I could
do it faster, but we are going as quickly as
we can while maintaining the quality that our families deserve.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
You know, I had Betsy de Vas on the podcast
I guess it was like a year ago, and it
was remarkable because you know, she gets vilified, but she's
trying to help people. It's like, why do you think
you know, school choice gets criticized so much. Is it
just the teachers union influence or why do you think
that is.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I definitely felt that hatred. As I mentioned, I was
on the school board here, not the union's favorite school
board member for because I did advocate a lot for
options for families. Free market. You know, the monopoly doesn't
like competition, and for one hundred years, the public schools
and government run schools have enjoyed a monopoly in this country.
They don't like reforms, they don't like innovations, they don't
(04:15):
like being held accountable for their performance in any way,
whether it's top down accountability from the state or accountability
in the form of giving parents another option. And so
they're going to fight against anyone like me who just
wants to do what's best for kids and for families.
And frankly, my mission is to bring a free market
into education and force them to compete for students. And
(04:37):
they definitely don't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well, you know, and parents want this. I mean, you
can see pull after a pull where you know, the
majority of parents of Americans support the concept of school choice.
And you look now, I mean, students aren't proficient in
anything across the board, and COVID obviously had a big
part of that learning loss, but kids are not being served.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You're absolutely right. And there were just a poll that
came out and printed in Politico seventy three percent of
parents support ESA's education savings accounts, which we're seeing pop
up all over the country. Well, why is that Because
you look at Baltimore, for example, where forty high schools,
(05:19):
forty individual schools have no students who are operating on
proficiency on grade level in math and reading. You know,
in New York City grades three to eight thirty eight
percent proficient in mathematics. And this is where some of
the smartest people in the world live and work. You're
talking about thirty eight percent. Twenty seven percent is that
(05:40):
number in Illinois? It's abysmal. In Oregon, they just got
rid of their standards for high schoolers to pass a
proficiency test in order to graduate high school. I mean,
we can't even call them graduates anymore. They're simply finishers.
They got through, they aged out, but they're not prepared
to succeed, and they're certainly not ready to help America
(06:00):
compete on the global stage.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And I wonder if some of it's intentional. I mean,
some of those scores seem to be bad enough where
you know, it doesn't seem like the intention is to
learn in some of these schools.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, it's not accidental. When you look at the teachers'
unions that we mentioned earlier, you look at what they
talk about in their conferences and their professional development. It's
not how to help children read. It's not how to
help them to be proficient in mathematics. It's about how
to indoctrinate them. It's about social justice and DEI and
all of these political and cultural issues that the union
(06:35):
has decided to prioritize over the reading, writing, and arithmetic
that parents want their children to learn in schools, and
so it is intentional. There is a priority given to
those ideas instead of teaching our children the history of
our country, the history of the world, so that they're
not doomed to repeat it. As we're seeing in the
streets right now when you're looking at these pro Hamas,
(06:58):
anti Israel, anti Semitic protest, including one from New York
City students k to twelve students who are walking out
in support of Hamas. It's unbelievable, But it's because they're
not being taught history, and they're not being taught how
to decipher these things through the lens of the history
(07:18):
of this world.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It certainly paints a grim prospect for the future. And
you know just what we're up against and just basic
common sense and even just basic decency. We see utter
Joe Biden, just I mean historic floods of illegal immigrants
to the United States. I mean so much so that
we could create entire new states out of the illegal
(07:39):
immigrants who have come into this country. What's been that
impact on schools across America.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, this is a huge concern that no one is
really talking about. This massive, uncontrolled influx of migrants coming
across the southern border is putting an unmanageable strain on
the public education system, which is just further damage the
quality of education that our children deserve. It's completely unfair
to American families and children who deserve to have a
(08:07):
top notch education. And by nature of adding these students
to our system, the teachers are going to have to
pull away their time and attention to the students who
are not speaking English. They're already very far behind academically.
The teachers are slowing their pace to accommodate the limited
(08:27):
proficiency of these students, and we're having to use resources
to hire social workers, other special services, more guidance counselors
for these additional students. Inevitably, that takes resources away from
Native students who are already behind because of the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, I mean, how many schools have you know, bilingual
teachers or have teachers that you know. I mean, we're
seeing people come into the United States not just from
you know, Central and South America. We're seeing people come
in from around the world, So, you know, how do
you accommodate Yeah, you're talking about people from math, you know,
so many different countries or in continents. How does a
school even address.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
That dozens of languages are coming across the border. It's
estimated that about three million people have come through just
this year alone. If a third of those are students,
a million K to twelve students, that's larger than the
largest school districts in America New York City or LA Unified.
(09:26):
It's the largest school district. Think about how much money
it costs to educate those children, and that it's going
to be more than what it normally costs to educate
an American child because of all the deficiencies that they're
coming in with. And so, yes, you're right, it's not
just about hiring an ELL teacher, an English Language Learners teacher,
(09:46):
because they're not going to speak all of these languages.
You're talking about Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic that are coming across
the border. So it's an immigration problem, a mass influx
problem that is going on at the southern and border,
and no one is talking about how unfair this is
to our American students who absolutely need these resources to
(10:07):
get caught up after the learning loss that they received
in COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Let's take a quick commercial break back with Erica Donald's
what kind of impact do you think that's going to
have on the proficiency and math and reading and some
of these different subjects that we've already seen fall dramatically.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
We're losing a generation, Lisa. We just saw a study
out recently that students are going to need four months
of additional math instruction to get caught up after the
pandemic and the closed schools. Well, we look at LA
Unified and you mentioned school unions earlier, they wouldn't allow
(10:48):
an extra ten days of learning in the school year.
I think they got it down to three days that
were optional. How are our students going to get four
more months? And that's four months with the tension that
they need from their teachers, and we're also battling a
teacher shortage. I'm telling you the only solution here is
(11:08):
a free market that will help to solve these problems
using the latest innovations technology bringing other players into the space.
We're talking about micro schools, online schools, different ESA programs
that allow you to allakarte the education experience for your child.
So if they're just deficient in math, you can find
(11:30):
that math tutor and use those ESA dollars a little
extra money towards whatever it is your child needs. The
free market is the only way to solve this problem.
We know for sure that the monopoly is not going
to reform itself. It's not going to solve this issue.
And the Biden administration frankly needs to solve the real
route problem here and stop the massive illegal immigration at
(11:52):
the border. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I feel like it's not discussed enough, just the impact
and the damage that COVID had on children. Even as adults,
it was difficult. I mean, I moved down to Florida
for the end of it to be free, but you know,
when I was in New York, it was difficult. You're isolated.
I live by myself. But you know, you've got these
students and these young people who you need to be
(12:13):
around other kids, who who need to be seeing people
smile and interacting with other humans, and you know, they
need to be learning, and instead a lot of them
were stuck at home by themselves and forced to and
adequately learn online. And it's you know, it's not just
the intellectual damage to these kids. I mean it's emotional,
it's you know, personal, and I just feel like these
kids are sort of irreparably harmed by all of this.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
A lot of them are Lisa, and we've also seen
where the mental health crisis is really rearing its head
in the public school system. We're having to hire many
more mental health specialists in the schools, and this just
goes back to the limited resources that are available to
address these concerns and having to stretch those resources even
(12:59):
further with this in flocks of students. You know, they
had their own issues, I'm sure in their native countries
during COVID. The problem is we're not looking to buckle
down and solve these problems. America is not serious about
competing globally on academic excellence. We haven't been for decades now.
(13:19):
So we have to get serious as a society, as
a culture, and frankly in our leadership that this must
be a priority. We have to hold people accountable and
the best way to do that is through a free
market system where parents are able to vote with their
feet and the transparency that's necessary so we see how
(13:40):
the students are performing in various school environments, and that
will allow people to make informed decisions so long as
they have the freedom to do so.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
You know, we've seen in previous elections that you know,
education can be a driver of the electorate. I believe
it was in twenty eighteen Governor DeSantis school choice was
impactful for him electorally. And then you know, you look
at virgil Ya with Governor youngin Should this be a
centerpiece of whoever ends up being the Republican nominee and
around some of these states, I.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Think it absolutely will be. And we've seen a huge
influx of moms and regular people like myself. Right, I
got elected in twenty fourteen to the school board. You know,
I say, like before it was cool to be on
school board. I was kind of out there by myself,
just a handful of us in Florida. But now hundreds
of members of like Moms for Liberty are getting elected,
(14:31):
and people who are just finally waking up to the
issues in our education system and taking back control of
our local school boards of schools and even in state
legislatures where you see people getting elected whose focus is
on education reform. I think that's a great movement. I
do think we've seen even the presidential candidates talking about
(14:53):
what needs to be done at the federal level, including
getting rid of the Department of education who has not
proven to have any possible to impact on the trajectory
of K twelve education in our country. So I do
think I've seen over the past twelve years that I've
been involved in education reform, so much more attention to
it from the mainstream, both the media and as you mentioned,
(15:15):
candidates who are either running for statewide office or even
presidential candidates. At this point, I've talked about it more
than ever in the past.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
And I do think people pay more attention than they
have in the past about you know, school board, particularly
since COVID talk about the significance and the role that
you know, our school board can play on your child's future.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah. I really learned a lot on the school board
about how much power that they have over what kind
of materials you're buying for the students, what kind of
standards do you have for performance in the classrooms, What
do you let go that teachers can sort of get
away with. I mean, there's a lot of bad behavior
(15:55):
in schools, and I've watched teachers help students cheat and
get a slap on the wrist and absolutely no time
without pay. I saw a lot on the school board.
It's a lot of it is driven by unions. But
when you have a majority, now that's really important. That
you have a majority on the school board. You can
change policy, you can improve curriculum and accountability and transparency.
(16:19):
You can punish the bad actors and set a tone
for a better culture in your school district. So all
those things are important. I definitely think that it's a
worthwhile endeavor to serve on school boards and to keep
careful watch of them, like Mom's for Liberty, the Leadership Institute,
which I'm also involved with, train school board members to
be effective. I have a lot of hope for the
(16:41):
new school boards that are coming in and being trained
by these great groups. However, I'm also a huge proponent
of school choice. I think that school boards are running
a monopoly, and it doesn't matter who's in charge of
the monopoly. The monopoly is the problem, and we really
have to break the monopoly. In the meantime, our friends
to be running it instead of our enemies or the
(17:04):
enemies of our country. But school choice, education freedom and
putting that power further and further into the hands of
parents is really the answer.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Quick break more in the state of education. And we're
not even saying, you know, not just the importance of
sort of the lack of education kids are getting and
why we need change on the school front, but also
just from a values standpoint. I mean, we're seeing schools
get involved with changing kids pronouns and encouraging transitions and
(17:36):
you know, hiding and concealing this information from parents. So
you know, it's not just an educational impact, it's a
values impact.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I say this all the time, Lisa. It used to
be when I first got involved with school choice, it
was all about kids are in failing schools or the
schools not working for them. It was about academics and
improving academics for children, and that was a lot of
the focus of charter schools and school choice options, including
private school choice. Today that conversation has changed and parents
(18:06):
are making these choices more based on a difference in
their value systems and trust. They simply do not trust
the schools that they are being forced to send their
children to to teach according to the values that they
have at home, or simply just not teach any of
these cultural or political ideas that just don't belong in
(18:27):
K to twelve public schools. So there's definitely an issue
with trust, with ideology and values that parents want to
be able to choose that and safety is another major
one that has changed over the years. That is definitely
a reason that families are wanting to choose something else,
and it could be safety in terms of physical safety
(18:48):
obviously school shootings and fights and things that we see,
but safety in terms of also bullying, cyber bullying, the
things that administrations let students get away with and the
lack of discipline creates a safety issue for parents that
they want to get away from.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
What's your hope on the school choice front? You know,
what would you like to see happen in the next
few years.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, my dream for school choice is truly an a
la carte marketplace for families. I want to see more
and more states adopt education scholarship account essays where families
can put together the best academic program for their child
that meets their students' unique needs. And what does that
possibly look like. It means that if my child is
(19:31):
really good at math and they could be taking college
mathematics in the eighth grade, I can go to the
community college and have them take a course there for mathematics.
They could take a course on history at my local museum,
because that museum has all of these great artifacts and
it's a wonderful place for them to learn history from
the people who have studied it their entire lives. Then
(19:54):
maybe they're just really good at reading and literature. They
don't really need a lot of guidance there. So they're
doing an online class that. And they're passionate about music,
and so I get them a one on one music
instructor so that they can really excel in that area.
And that's how I decide to use my essay for
my child to build out an experience that they wake
(20:15):
up every day and they love learning, they love going
to school. And we also have the flexibility as a
family to interact and allow me to be a little
more involved even as a working mom with my children.
People will always continue to choose some form of full
time school, whether that's public or private or charter and
whatever it is. But I want families to be able
(20:36):
to look at all the options out there and make
the choices. And really, I think we are. We have
no idea what is possible in terms of education innovation
because the marketplace has never been open. I think innovations
are going to come about that we can't even imagine
right now when people have the capacity to make those purchases.
(20:57):
Through these essays, Eric.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Anything else you'd like to leave us with.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, I like to say too, that universal choice is
the only free market choice. You know. I've watched policies
in various states, including my home state of Florida, put
limitations on school choice. Well, maybe we should start with
only low income students, or maybe only students who are
in failing schools. I truly think that we need to
(21:21):
advocate for universal choice because the larger the market, the
larger the customer base, the more innovations are come into
the marketplace, the better access and quality for everyone, including
those who are the most disadvantage and have currently the
least number of options for education. And then, secondly, we
(21:41):
need to make sure that our politicians, our elected officials,
our leaders are serious about academic excellence across our country
and holding people accountable to that, because as a country,
we are not competing right now with the rest of
the world, and we may not see that as much today,
although I would argue if you look at the national
leadership and the way things are going, you can pretty
(22:03):
much tell how our schools have done over the past
several decades. But it's going to get worse and worse
as these children move through the system and are going
to be the leaders of tomorrow, or we'll have a
lack of leadership.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Where do you hope to take the Optima Foundation? What
are your personal goals with that?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, Optima ed exists in order to make classical education
available to every family tuition free, and right now we
do offer Optima Academy online in every state in the
country and even internationally, but some people have to pay,
and I don't believe in that. I really want to
make sure that it is a tuition free, high quality
option that anyone can access, and so we're working on
(22:41):
that every single day. We're going down the list of
states that are offering essays or virtual charters or some
other form of public funding to just navigate that landscape
and make it available for free for any family. And secondly,
we are building brick and mortar school with a classical
model of education. We've created our own classical curriculum and
(23:05):
I want to make that curriculum available to any school
who would like to infuse classical education into their current
model into their current classrooms, using virtual reality or not.
I just love the classical model. I think it gives
students equips them with the knowledge and the virtue that
they need to be successful and of course to be
American great American patriots and leaders of the future.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I always love talking to problem solvers, and that's very
cool what you've done. So appreciate you taking the time.
Erica Donalds, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Thank you so much for having me, Lisa. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
That was Erica Donald's guest faculty at the Leadership Institute's
school board programs. Also the CEO of optima Ed. Appreciate
her making the time and what she's doing to make
a difference. Appreciate you guys at home for listening every
Monday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week.
I dont think John Cassio, my producer, for putting the
show together. Feel free to drop us a review on
(24:00):
Apple Podcast or give us a rating. Always love looking
at those. Thanks so much.
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