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More Wasted Union Dues - FEA v Florida DOE Lawsuit Explained · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: All right, great to be with you for the third
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: hour of the radio program affectually known as Common Sense Amplified.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Now you doing ruminators? He's oaia, I'm Preston. It's the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Morning Show with Preston Scott Show fifty six o six.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: But who's counting? Here's the headline. Teachers' Union sues Florida
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Department of Education. Sorry, I'm yawning. Oh, we've done this before,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: alleging constitutional violations and voucher and charter programs. To talk
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: about it with us is Erica Donald's. She's the founder
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of the Education Freedom Foundation. Erica, welcome back to the show.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm doing great?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Should I be yawning? I mean, isn't this getting old?
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Having to defend rightful actions on behalf of the tax
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: paying members of this state because of the teachers' union
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: getting their nose out of joint.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: That's absolutely the right reaction action when a teachers' union,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: especially here in Florida, is suing to block one million
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: of our four and a half million students in the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: state from being able to access the schools that are
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: working for them, chosen by their parents and many of
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: which that have existed for two decades now, talking about
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: charter schools, which they've included in this lawsuit as well.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: It is a waste of time, waste of resources, and
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: it's really just them putting on a show to try
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: to act like they're doing something to stop the downfall
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: of the public education system, which they've had the most
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: influence over.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no kidding. You know, I used to run a
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: private school way back when. I mean we're talking thirty
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: plots of years ago, and that school existed Erica because
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the public school system was failing in that community. It
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: was not offering a good education to all students, didn't
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: matter whether what the ethnicity was. That was just failing.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: And I'm trying to understand why there are parents out
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: there that think they're being harmed in some way. If
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: you want your kid to stay in public school, let
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: them stay. So how are they being harmed to even
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: file a suit and gain standing.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Well, this is what's so disappointing. You're absolutely right. We
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: believe in the right of every parent to select the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: schools that they believe is best, and if that's a traditional,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: government run public school, good for them. The problem is
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: that parents, six out of ten of them say that
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: they would choose something different than their zone public school
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: if they had the option, and Florida has stepped up
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: to the plate and given parents that option, and many
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: of them, as you know, or five hundred thousand have
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: chosen private school choice in the form of sometimes a
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: traditional private school, sometimes homeschool, or some other customized option.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And another four hundred thousand plus are in our charter
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: school system, which outperforms the traditional district run schools in
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: nearly every demographic, at every level, every subject area.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the program, founder of Education Freedom Foundation,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Erica Donald to Erica, I'm reading the complaint here that's
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: been filed with the Second Judicial Circuit. And before I
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: get it into deeper into that, is this circuit going
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to be sympathetic to the arguments? I mean traditionally, does
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: this circuit give give voice to these unions and these
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: frivolous complaints.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, we know that that's what they do, right,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: They forum shop so that they can get, at least
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: in their minds, a win at the very first level.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: We know, however, that this Supreme Court, if it were
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: to make it all the way to the Supreme Court
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: is very different than any Supreme Court that's made decisions
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: on school choice in the past, including what is actually
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: held up to be one of the worst Supreme Court
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: decisions in Florida history, Bush v. Homes. The one silver
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: lining about this case is if it does make it
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: to the Florida Supreme Court, we could actually overturn that decision,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: which I'm not kidding is used as an example in
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: our law schools as a bad decision. It's not even
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: about Republican versus Democrat. It is a terrible judicial decision
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: and precedent that absolutely needs to be overturned. It could
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: obviously get thrown out, and that's what many of us
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: would be looking to do because we don't want to
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: waste resources. However, if we can overturn Bush fee Homes,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: that's also a benefit to the people of Florida in future.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Eric is Stanbierkadonald's with us for another segment. We're going
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to talk some more here about this lawsuit that's wasting
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: your money, and it's so ironic the teachers pay union
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: dues for this kind of political activism, and I've questioned
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: for the twenty four years I've done this show Why
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: are you doing it? There are other organizations. You don't
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: have to be belonging to a teachers' union to get
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: legal protections. If you're worried about that in your classroom,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you're just watching your money go to frivolous lawsuits like
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: this and political grand standing. Whether you are listening on
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: ter Ustrial radio and the Big Ben in Panhandle of Florida,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: South Georgia, where you're listening across the nation and literally
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: around the world, we have listeners on iHeartRadio. Thank you
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: very much for joining us. I'm the Erica Donald. She
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: is the founder of the Education Freedom Foundation. Erica I
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: mentioned reading some of the statements here in the complaint,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and lawyer representing the union, Martin Powell, wrote that the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: state of Florida is creating a system that is inconsistent
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and unequal, one that inevitably leads to lower and uneven
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: quality of education across the state, and goes on to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: complain that they're just you know, you can't do this,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: that traditional public schools, charter schools vouch your programs. It's
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: just a free for all, and I would push back, No,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: it's kind of the inversion of that. This is giving
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: parents the right to say, know what that public school
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: is offering is not up to the standards that I
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: want and I like the standards of that school. Isn't
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that really what the freedom of education movement is all about.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, parents know their children best, and they love them
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the most. They are the best people to make decisions
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: about how and where and by whom their children are educated.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: We know that despite the fact that a positive correlation
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: between student performance and outcomes and school choice exists in
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: nearly every study that is done on this issue, parents
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: are increasingly making school choice decisions based on values alignment,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: based on safety concerns, and so it's not even only
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: about academic performance, but it's about how parents see what
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: they want their children to learn, how they want their
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: children to learn, and the values that they want their
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: children to learn day in and day out.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong. You've studied this far deeper
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: than I have. But I would think that this creates
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: a better, more competitive market for teachers out there, and
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: that the presence of these arter schools and private schools
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: are in fact creating greater opportunities for a teacher to
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: be paid a better wage. Am I missing something here?
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Or are teachers just being misled.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I'm so glad you brought that up. I talk about
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: this as well. School choice is not just for students
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: and families, it is for teachers also, And at the
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Education Freedom Foundation, we have an initiative called Starter School
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Initiative where we're helping a lot of educators realize their
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: own dreams of starting a school or some other type
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: of creative education program. It is amazing what some of
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: these teachers are able to do and to create. Now
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: that parents have purchasing power, parents are consumers, teachers can
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: go directly to parents and say, here's what I have
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: to offer, here's my expertise, here is what I have
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: creatively put together for your student, and they can get
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: paid directly by those parents using the scholarship funds that
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: the State of Florida has passed and enacted. It is
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: going to create an innovative free market and education that
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: we have not seen in that industry to the detriment
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: of America, in the future of our country and our
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: state Erica.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Before this became popular, when I first started this radio program,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: school choice was just kind of a rumor. It was
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: almost a dream. You know, are we going to get
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: to that point. We were talking about it in very
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: kind of nebulous broad terms. But now that it's happening,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I remember one of the original arguments was, you allow
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: school choice, you will inevitably, when you get past all
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the brush fires that the unions are going to set,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: you're going to get to a better public school system
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: because competition breeds improvement. Are we going to see that
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: right now? I don't feel like we're yet seeing it,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: because I feel like the public school system is wasting
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: resources fighting the private movement instead of embracing it and
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: saying how can we get better?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: We are seeing glimpses of it right when I talk
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: about this to people who really aren't involved in education
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: school choice, you know, you compare education and the progress
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: the innovation in the industry to every other industry in
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: America where we leave the world right in business and technology,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: where free market can in competition can really invite those
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: innovative processes. In education, as we start to open this
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: up in Florida, we've seen hundreds of new providers come
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: into the space and offer their educational programs on the scholarship.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: We've seen creativity abound. There's still too much red tape
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: to open a school or a micro school or get
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: approved on these programs, and we're going to start to
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: continue to eliminate that to really allow for that free
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: market force to take place. But I believe we cannot
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: recognize what education looks like in five years here in
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Florida if we continue to lead on free market principles
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: in that space and offering parents all of the customization
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: that they want when it comes to the education of
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: their children.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Eric, keep fighting the good fight. You've got a home
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: here anytime you want to chat it up. And I
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Eric Donald's with us and again founder
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Education Freedom Foundation, And yes, the wife of Byrn Donald's
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: congressman from central Florida and wants to be the governor
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of the state. I kind of get the idea of
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: what her initiative might be if she were to become.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: First lady, I'm just saying now, she's sharp, She's always
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: been sharp with policy, and this is a really good
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: lane for her.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Seventeen passed the arm