Take 15 minutes. Enjoy your break. The day long Education Forum hosted by republican senator tim scott from South Carolina is taking another break so the next panel can get in place. That third panel will include republican congressman luke masser of indiana. While we wait for it to get started, were going to show you a conversation on how americans view police. This is from this mornings washington journal. Were here to talk about a new poll on how communities are viewing law enforcement. The president in early march created this in early march the president s task force on 21st Century Policing will be delivering its report to the president. The president calling on put a group together to think of ways to better communities and policing. How challenging do you think that will be based on the poll . I think it will be extraordinarily challenging given the differences between plaques and whites and their views of the police overall. That task force is due to report in early march. What i decided to do atd ai with my colleagues is look at all the polls to see how they are viewed over time and how thats changed. What did you find out looking at the graphic put together, Top Institution in terms of trust. A great deal, quite a lot of confidence in police. Police get 52 compared to other institutes. Thats actually a pretty good rating. It hasnt changed much over time. What we look beneath is views of blacks and whites are very different in terms of having confidence with the police. What did you phoned out about that. Whites are much more confident than blacks. Its interesting to look at the National Data interesting to look at the state and local data and how people feel about the police an communities. They are generally a little more positive. Why is it . Whats behind numbers that whites tend to have more confidence in police . What did you find out . One of the things we looked at particularly was whether or not africanamericans face discrimination by police. Parents answered a question about this. They differed in responses, whites and blacks. They have moved closer together, more whites believe police discriminate against blacks. Also believe theres a gap between the races on that question. The recent situation like Michael Brown in ferguson and grand jury decision in new york what impact has that had . Certainly people followed those situations very, very closely. They followed events. Once again blacks and whites had very different views about this overall. There were more similarities in the eric garner case in new york city than there were about ferguson where whites and blacks looked like opposite ends of the spectrum involving grand jury decision. And how do views differ when it comes to Community Police versus this National Issue of policing. Looking at a poll about bankers in general and my banker, people were much more positive about their banker. Thats what weve seen in data pollsters have collected over time. People feel more confident about police in their community but theres still black and white gap. Explain that a little more. It almost seems like this would part of the task force solution. If the Community Knows their Police Officers, they are more likely to have confidence and trust in them. Absolutely. I think thats a very important point youve mentioned. People do believe more training of local police will be helpful in that regard. The police that walk the beat, most americans have confidence in Police Walking the beat in their local communities. So they need to address this overall. What kind of training . The kind of training the kind of things Public Opinion surveyed, whether or not police should wear video cameras and both whites and blacks think thats a very good idea, whether or not there should be special prosecutors. In cases where there is an event like happened in ferguson, yes, thats a good idea overall. Skeptical about mill tarization blacks and whites are concerned about the trend and think perhaps the National Guard and military should have these kinds of military weapons. So there are some areas of agreement that the polls are pointing to. What about this distrust coming from minority communities in how they what they see by Police Officers. A lot of criticism in the ferguson situation was what the police were wearing owned what they were doing and riot gear and militarization. How does that fuel lack of trust and confidence. Militarization in military uniforms or using military vehicles that just heightens concerns about the police in local communities and thats been especially true for africanamericans. Lets get the phone calls. Lines are lighting up. A fourth line set aside for law enforcement. Want to get your take on this as well. 2027488003. Well go to david first in albuquerque, new mexico, democratic caller. Good morning, david. Caller good morning. How are you doing . Good morning. Caller i have a comment and i kind of have a disregard for police. My reason for that is and its basically you can blame is on the media, because you know it seems to me like they put police on pedestals like they are better than anybody else. One instance of that is like whenever theres a cop thats shot, for instance, well then, they put everybody out in force looking for the murderer or whatever. If i get shot, that doesnt happen. So thats basically what my comment is. Okay. I think there is scepticism of the police for the reasons that you mentioned. I think that is something thats going to be that they will try to address with this task force on 21st Century Policing. Artie in new york. Hi, artie. Caller hello. Hello. Youre on the air. Go ahead. Caller my concerns are the western Lethal Weapon issue. Youve got police out there using stun guns, rubber bullets, tasers and not knowing the physical abilities or the extent of some of the victims they hit with these instruments do cause death. I mean, this is a Lethal Weapon. Why dont they clear the table for me to call what it is. Okay. My second point is the training that these police go through, okay take gardener in staten island. There were 10 policeman, not armed, nonviolent offense, selling cigarettes. Ten policeman put their Heads Together and decided the best course and outcome was for this man to be carried out on a stretcher and dead. Theres something wrong there. All right, artie. The caller did point to some of the things polls have revealed some of the weaponry Police Departments have been using. A poll that cbs did in december of 2014 83 of blacks and 61 of whites said that these weapons should be reserved for only military and National Guard. Again, there is agreement in that area overall. Why is that . Again, i think people think local Police Forces need to have certain weaponry. This increased use of military weapon has been made available as we learned from participation and work abroad. Just seems too much to americans overall. Then how Police Forces deal with confrontations and how they are being trained to handle them is another issue. This poll by cbs december 2014 most Police Officers need better training how to handle confrontations with civilians. Most Police Officers have the appropriate training in dealing with that already. What was the results of that . Again 85 of blacks and 59 of whites said both Police Officers need better training. I think thats what the caller is speaking to. You see majority of both groups, once again, big gap between black and whites. This issue will be addressed by White House Task force in 21st Century Policing. That group will release in early march to the president about what should be done, what sort of training should Police Officers get. We want to hear from all of you, what do you think . What sort of training should Police Officers get . How should this issue be handled . George in louisville, kentucky, democratic caller. Hi, george. Caller good morning. Maam, its not necessarily about training but my perception is what type of people are attracted to positions of authorities to begin w i think a lot of them might be good people. But i think underneath the surface, theres an emotional, psychological need for power over people. Its often narcissistic bullies that end up in these positions. Thats number one. Also the blue wall of silence. The next time a Police Officer testifies against a Police Officer in a court of law will be the first time. The next time a Police Officer confront a Police Officer about an altercation or verbal disagreement between Police Officer and citizen, next time they take up for a citizen against a Police Officer will be the first time. They will not go after their own. Other than that, i think grand juries are just prosecutorial misconduct prosecutors are not going to go after Police Officers they are a branch of. This contributes to my personal trust. I have been lied on police reports. I do see this as much of a problem. Thank you very much. Okay. Your point about the kind of people who are attracted to the job, actually several pollsters have asked questions about this. Would you approve of your children onor future children becoming Police Officers. Interestingly 60 of whites say they approve 43 of blacks. This is a question asked by reuters in a december 2014 issue. Another pollster asked whether or not a child think about as future profession 60 said they would want a child to think about becoming a Police Officer as a future profession. Its not the most highly ranked profession when people asked about it. An engineer, doctor, rank higher overall, Police Officers are above members of Congress Actors union leaders. Showing our viewer, engineer, doctor scientist. They are on top of the list of what parents would like to see children choose as their profession. Next to that, Police Officers rank after journalists but before bankers and farmers and priests. Athletes real estate broker, stockbroker, entertainer, member of congress coming in their last. Union leader actually union leader coming in last for future professions. Al in boston, go ahead. Independent caller. Hi al. Caller good morning. Very interesting since now the fbi did their investigation that the media has been very quiet on this ferguson thing. How come the question isnt about the media potentially inciting this country over the ferguson issue. Like many people have said, there are many, many black on black crimes. How come thats not brought up. Why, ferguson . Why . I wonder to incite the country before an election because we have a black president . Okay. What about the role of the media . Certainly many polls in the Public Domain about the media and people are very skeptical about the media these days. They think sensationalism. Michael brown led to that in ferguson, missouri, overall. There certainly are questions polsters ask about media and an enormous amount of scepticism. What about role of government in funding the Police Communities, giving Police Communities resources. What are people saying about that . Do they feel that is money well spent . I think they do feel money well spent and thats one of the issues the task force is going to be addressing, that is the amount of money available to police for the kind of training. Robert, st. Louis, missouri, independent caller. Hi, robert. Caller hey how are you doing . Good morning. Caller hey i really like cspan. Id like to say your last guest, the Washington Bureau chief, he mentioned something about benghazi and there were a bunch of cia guys ready. They are not military. So i just wanted to save the embarrassment for cspan. That guy didnt really know much about what he was talking about. In terms of ferguson, i used to live there. I live in the st. Louis city proper city limits currently and i used to get stopped by police all the time through the county. White guys. Thats what they do. If youre young guys they are going to harass you because they think and actually we are up to adventurous things a lot of times. I dont think its so much about race as it is about young people young males. If there were a lot of young white guys, they would be harassing them as well. Its unfortunate what happened. Its unfortunate about the Police Officer and the young man. Okay. Michael brown. Okay, robert. Okay. I think the caller makes a good point about young people in particular and police being particularly sensitive to the activities of young people. In this case it ended tragedy. Do polls bear that out . Young versus older how they view police. We havent looked at the differences overall. I suspect they are some. Big differences stand out with racial gaps on all these questions. Ohio, democratic caller. Go ahead roger. Caller good morning. I just want to ask one thing, how in the world can you justify a man being choked to death for selling cigarettes outside a store . And then the white jury, or whatever, when they took the case in they didnt even prosecute the police. How in gods name is this fair in thats all i want. Okay. Lets get to that question of how people view it, the policing of police as a punishment of police. Absolutely. Thats a good point overall. Certainly if you look at the polls on the eric garner situation in new york city whites and blacks were closer together about that situation overall. That does raise the question. It does concern americans, particularly africanamericans, about Police Practices overall. No question about it. How does that break down . Take a look at the poll, a verdict on the grand jury decision. As you may know a grand jury has decided not to bring criminal charges against white Police Officer in ferguson, missouri answer some questions. Ive got some questions. I didnt leave my spot the entire time we were gone. Ill tell you what what a bright group of kids with very important questions about their future. One of the things i like answering questions, your questions have to do with where you are, where youre going and how to get there. So i really do appreciate the questions. First question comes from jay yates. Will you stand up . Im going to acknowledge who asked the question. [ applause ] i would like shorter answers which is not necessarily my standpoint, jay. Ill give short answers so i can get to a couple questions so the panel can get started. Then ill come back at 3 15 and answer more requests if you have them. If you were younger today in society would your view on School Choice be any different . I would tell you if i were your age today looking at the world as you see it from my current Vantage Point im going to take my 50 years of experience, almost, september this year, praise the lord, and go back to how old are you . 16. 16. Jay is the one that led us in the pledge. All that experience in 16 years and look forward, School Choice would be one of the things that i would get strongly involved in for one reason. I think School Choice really opens doors. It opens doors to the American Dream in ways that very few other doors can open until the door of education is open. So if i were your age, i would be very excited about the choice option in education, and i would take advantage of it fully. Some of the schools i went to i went to four Elementary Schools right . You did, too. I cant tell you all four of my Elementary Schools were good. I dont think they were. They werent. People tried hard, im sure. I needed to find the right environment for me. Im not sure you found the right environment for you. I hope you have. I can tell you if youve been to four different schools like i have been, youve been to some schools youre happy to leave. Take advantage of where you are. Listen, there are no quick fixes in life. Almost everything that we want to do that is going to lead to amazing success requires a four letter word. Work. Work. Second question, lametra had a question on attitudes. How do you overcome bad attitudes. I was telling her earlier, one of my mentors i knew met him twice, zig zeigler. Those of us who are older we know zig zeigler. Everybody over age 20, shake your head at me. Thats good. Zig zeigler taught people like me was the necessity of overcoming stinking thinking a bad attitude. Oftentimes what they used to say is that success is 90 attitude. So make sure that you surround yourself with people who will encourage a positive attitude because stingking thinking will bring you down and reduce the level of your expectation. A low level of expectation leads to a low level of performance. Another question by victory. Is victory here . Will you stand up, victory and let everybody know who you are . [ applause ] these questions are real questions, which are sometimes you have to take a step back when someone asks a good question. All questions have been good. This one is particularly good as well. Victorys question was how do you focus in spite of your fears. Ive got to tell you, i mean this sincerely, how do you focus in spite of your fears. I will tell you the truth that very often i wake up and go to a position where we spend almost 4 trillion. We have more problems than you can shake a stick at. Sometimes i have butterflies on tackling the challenges of this nation. So i think the question is very important. And the answer is within the question. The answer is the word focus. Whatever you focus on, you get more of. And so even though i work in an environment that is sometimes fairly destructive, sometimes the goal is to tear you down. It kind of feels Like High School sometimes. You understand what im saying, right . And the fact of the matter is that i can focus on all the negativity in my environment or i can focus on the opportunity in my environment. So what i have to do is decide to focus on my opportunities and not my fears. Once again going back to zig zeigler, who was a great guy, tee the word fear you might wan to write this down. Fear is an across particular, fear. False evidence appearing real. False evidence appearing real. Most of the things that we are afraid of have not yet happened and likely might not ever happen happen. It will control our thinking in a way we dont find ourselves moving forward, we find our self slipping back. I have four minutes before the panel comes up here. Let me go to another question. Monet monet. Monet. Give her a stand. All right. Her question was what was the greatest accomplishment to become a senator. One of the things i told monet, i needed more role models. One of my challenges was where i find myself today, there werent a lot of folks who did what ive done. I found a lot of folks who created a path for me to walk on. I dont believe in overnight success, and i dont believe in selfmade people. Doesnt happen. Every single selfmade success had a lot of people helping them out. I am not a selfmade person. I have achieved because i put together the best team that was better than i am at something. Surrounding yourself with the best most tal endedented people who care about you and your vision is so important even in high school. Ill say most of the people walking with me today on this journey i met when i was 13, 14 15 years old. My best friends ive known for 30 plus years. You have people who care about you and the job. Ill tell you another thing ive told you too i believe. Being an entrepreneur created a flexibility for me to get involved in public service. Without that flexibility at work its sometimes hard to get invested in any real project. Thats why when you guys go back to your schools and you see folks volunteering at your school, that come in to help you out, those folks who are using their time for your benefit thats called love. Thats called commitment. Teachers especially in the choice movement, are typically underpaid. They are dedicated to a cause and that cause is you and your future. Let us never forget folks are with you whether you realize it or not. Some of the teachers i hated the most i hate to use that word hated the most in school, i learned later those are the ones that loved me the most. They were tough on me. I wanted the easy route. I wasnt bilingual. I wanted a pass. I had people who cared enough about me to provide a little discipline. Time for two questions and then ill sit down and get out of everybodys way. Where is darrick . Darrick is in the house. Darrick asked one of those tough questions. I had to think about it for a few seconds. All these questions are so good. Darrick said is the debt of education going to college is the debt of education worth the cost . I had to think give the brother another. Ill tell you this, my answer, darrick, is a simple answer. I think its like 70 of students when they finish college or when they dont take with them about 30,000 of debt. Education experts im looking at ellen because shes the smartest person i know on this topic. God bless her, god bless her, god please her. I think this is right i think its 30,000 average person 70 of people leave college with less than 30,000 worth of debt. But a College Education adds two commas, a Million Dollars to your lifetime income. So let me ask you a simple question. If you give me 30,000 and i give you a million back that is a good deal . Hallelujah, amen thats right. So it is hard. When i left college, i had 15, 16, 17,000 worth of debt. I had a little football scholarship to pay for part of my education. About 20 pounds ago, 20 pounds ago. Aint that funny. Anyway, so i did have some challenges. Tell you what paying back isnt fun but the in income is fun. You have to be temporarily uncomfortable to be comfortable. Last question is from asia. Asia here . Asia, please stand up. [ applause ] her question was basically if does improving your educational journey, does it really lead to more success . Is that about right . Here is what i hear in these questions, by the way. I hear this. I hear what youre saying. I know youve got these Beautiful People on the panel everybody talking about how great this is but what youre talking about, all jokes aside does it leave someplace where i will experience you, not me, where you will experience more success . Here is my here is what we tell you. Unequivocally, emphatically without doubt the answer is yes. Ill explain it to you a little differently. The average child who does not finish high school has an Unemployment Rate that is near 20 . The average kid who has a High School Diploma and is an africanamerican student with a High School Diploma has an Unemployment Rate around 12 . The average africanamerican, because theres so many africanamerican kids in the audience, virtually all thats left right now, africanamerican kids have with a College Degree have an Unemployment Rate under 6 . So thats a 50 drop. Now, for all the other kids in the room. The average Unemployment Rate with a College Education is under 4 . 3. 6, 3. 7 . So in other words, let me translate it into real numbers. What youre doing today leads to the type of success that tomorrow you decide where you live, what you drive, and where you go. Thank you. Its 1 30. I think we have the great doctor coming back up to moderate the panel. Are you going to introduce the panelists . Sure. Do you want to do it . No, ill let you do it. Ill get out of the way. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Youre wasted in the u. S. Senate. We really need you out in the schools, man. Come on up, guys. Lets see if we can emulate the senators example and keep this stuff as comprehensible and as useful as he just was. That will be terrific. Weve got an outstanding panel for the third panel of the day. We want to talk a little about the reality of School Choice how it works what are some of the obstacles how do the numbers work. Sitting next to me, we have former senator state senator of louisiana. Shes president of Louisiana Federation for children where she partners with local and National Policy leaders to promote educational options. She continues to work full time while she does this as Senior Vice President of liberty bank of new orleans. Oh, shes also chair of Louisiana State board of supervisors. Following Hurricane Katrina it was ann who authored a bill that allowed the state to take over the majority of schools in new Orleans Parish which led to the thriving Charter School movement you see in new orleans today. Next to ann is kevin a founding board member and executive council for American Federation for children and alliance of choice noted author and National Education reform leader. He helped shepherd Charter School movement into the nations capital. Hes chair of d. C. Council education committee, creating most prolific Charter School distribute in the country. Next up legal officer of Success Academy Public Schools which operates 32 schools in new york city. She also heads a Litigation Team that has led the way in defense of the Charter School movement in new york. Before joining Success Academy she practiced litigation in new york city and taught high school english. Finally back with us youll recognize from the second panel is bob enlo good friend and president of the Friedman Foundation for educational choice. Kevin, youve been doing this stuff in d. C. A long time. Let me start with you, as you all were pushing to give kids the opportunity to attend charters in d. C. , wondering if theres one or two moments where politics were especially tough or you were especially nervous about how this would work and how you guys addressed that. Thank you rick. Its good to be here. I want to thank senator scott. Lets give him another hand for putting this together. [ applause ] im impressed with him and his commitment to kids and young people are able to ask questions in this process. Its really important. When we started the Charter Movement back in the late 90s in d. C. , thats when i learned firsthand the politics of education, which i think is the biggest barrier to our children learning. Where i heard some of these great ideas for innovative and Creative Schools like those who comica to me and said they wanted to start a Residential School where kids could go and live and some came from home that didnt serve them well. I said thats a great idea. Some of the people part of the status quo said, no thats a bad idea because were not controlling it. Folks came to me and talked about hospital High School Math and science, cesar chavez some of those folks here. All these folks can with these innovative ideas. My thinking was why dont we give these new and in vittive and Creative Ideas a chance to succeed when the politics of education has been the biggest barrier to what works for kids. So i adopted a simple strategy rick and that is will this help a child learn. If the answer is yes, im for it. If the answer is no im against it. I think that is the yardstick frankly, which we should discharge our responsibilities as adults either as Public Officials or advocates, advocates or parents or policymakers policymakers. We should embrace any and all things that will help a child learn. The politics of education i think, has been a big barrier. One other thing thats been a big barrier, which i think is equally as troubling as the politics, that is the fact when you hear all this talk about even debates on standards debates on Early Childhood education, debates on all these policy thrusts, they are not grounded in practical reality of parents today. When i had a debate with randy wine gardener i asked a question, randy what do you say to the low income parent making less than 30,000 a year in harlem or the bronx or southeast d. C. Or crenshaw, l. A. , pick a city whose parents the parents knows their child is going to enter a middle school or high school where 95 of the kids are failing. What do you say to that parent waking up every day knowing they have limited option because of the zip code, they have to send their kid to a certain place, what do you say to that parent who wants Something Different . The problem with approach and responsibility we have to the kid, theres no sense of urgency with respect to the needs of that parent. Its all like numbers on a page. But all of these stories all of these individual stories, these individual challenges the individual frustrations to these parents, they matter. And for us to act like that its okay for us to plan the plan and study the study and debate the debate that doesnt work for parents on a practical basis. So one thing that i think we should do, the reason why educational choice is so important, it gives us an opportunity to meet parents where they are today, deal with the sense of urgency, the urgency of needs the parents have today as opposed to waiting for the system to right size itself for everyone to get it whenever that is supposed to happen. So i think the big option as i see or the politics of education and the fact everything we do in terms of talking about education and learning is a long range plan and theres nothing that deals with the immediacy of these parents needs and thats where we get to educational choice. As you work on these issues in louisiana some folks probably try to offer kevins argument in the opposite form saying look the School Choice stuff might have some possibilities downstream but right now youre taking dollars away from schools that are struggling with kids. How do you justify that and how do you make those numbers work . Thank you. Id also like to thank senator scott for putting this forum on. It truly is very important, and its very important for us to hear not only the issues but also some solutions. To you know, it was really funny. When i became an elected official i didnt think it was my job or my position to deal with the Public School system and the things that were going on at the local level. I was a lawmaker. You know, i was a state senator. That was for the local government to deal with. You know, it became evident to me rather quickly when my constituency told me loud and clear they didnt care if i was a state senator or local garbage collector, i was elected, and i was elected to help them with a problem. You know, when we looked at the issues that our Public School system is facing and then the challenges of taking money from the Public School system, i realized very fast that it doesnt matter that we were funding a bad thing. I tried to help folk understand that throwing money after something that was hurting our kids and hurting our quality of life and talk about what this means as a quality of life issue was not a good thing. So i didnt care about a system. I didnt care about funding something that wasnt working but i care about using dollars that we had in a more efficient and more effective manner. Bob, as we think about efficient and effective schools with the dollars we have, do we know much about how District Schools compare to Charter Schools compare to private schools . Yeah, i think we know a lot. Id like to add my comments as well and say thank you to senator scott. We know a lot about traditional Public Schools or what i would call staterun schools. We publicly fund schools through taxation but they are run by the state or local entities. Essentially the same thing youd have if you run a grocery shop with state entities. What do we know when that happens . The costs are extremely high. Revenue sources from traditional Public Schools come from three areas, local dollars through taxation, state dollars and federal dollars. All in depending on the state, somewhere an average of 13 to 14,000 a year. In some states like new jersey and some cities like District Of Columbia, thats up in the 20,000 range for traditional Public Schools. Right . So this is because theres a beaurocracy built up around supporting a system not students. All right. So the system has been made for the adults. The money has to flow that way. What School Choice and Charter Schools have done let me reflect on that for a second. What the ability of parents to choose a Charter School or private school using public money set aside for them has done, they started to see what does it cost to educate children. Charter schools are typically doing it for 80 or less. Private schools and vouchers are doing it for much less than that. In my state, Elementary School student receiving a voucher who is poor, gets 4800 to go to a private school. He can get 15,000 if he goes to a failing Public School or sorry staterun school. So what we do know, we know that the Current System is inefficient, Choice Programs Freedom Foundation did a study we found looking at the 10 programs enacted to 010, 1. 7 billion in savings to the states. The sad thing is we cant tell you where that money went. We know that the states have saved that money through School Choice programs because it costs less to educate a child in a Traditional Private School or Charter School. Bob, just to clarify on this, when you suggest it costs 13 14,000 to educate a kid in traditional District School, 80 on average in a charter and maybe less than that in a private school. Why is that . Where do the savings come from . Some of it is because they have been charging tuition they subsidize. In charter sect or you have multiple ways to bring money in. Lets say District Of Columbia or indiana, you can get the voucher, parents who can cough up if they are able to, a Child Tax Credit on that. You can get the schools themselves and their fundraising. Have you multiple sources of revenue which allows for a better price controls. So does that mean they are not actually running cheaper but cheaper to the families. Cheaper to the families. They cost the same to operate. Private schools and Charter Schools tend to not have the same debt and same amount of beaurocracy. In economic terms to be one of those suit pants again monotonous rent. When youre providing lower quality product for a higher cost someone is taking a cut. Where the market is supposed to draw a line of supply and demand basic economics right . This is what every student will know, cost you this for this to get this money. Thats what Public Schools have traditionally done charged more for a product not as good. Emily, Success Academy is a growing organization of Charter Schools in new york city you guys have performance. Talk a little bit about how much does it run to run success acadamies compared to other new york schools. What are some of the challenges of trying to grow and create more school sites and seats for kids. Sure. Thank you, rick. Id like to add my thanks to senator scott and his staff for this extraordinary day as well. Success Academy Schools has about 32 schools in new york city. Nearly 9500 scholars as we refer to them. The student population is about 95 minority and 80 free and reduced price lunch. Our scholars are in the top 1 in the entire state of new york in math and top 3 english language arts. [ applause ] were very proud of the accomplishments of our scholars. Just to add to what rob said, theres a tremendous funding disparity between what public Charter School students receive and District School students. In new york its about 6,000 between what doe spends and what charters are receiving. And to add to the disparity, we have a longer school year, a longer school day. And by the time our scholars will have graduated from high school, we will have offered about four years of additional education compared to the traditional district counterparts. So there is a profound disparity. What we are doing differently is were leaner on the beaurocracy as rob mentioned. Now, i will say that beaurocracy is as we get bigger is one of those Dangerous Things that just as the Charter Community in general we have to be very cautious that were not allowing beaurocracy to overtake what it is were doing. Its harder as we grow. Just counting up before i got here, i had my team count up the report that our schools were required to prepare over the course of a year. Its Something Like 60 major reports that request demands for reporting that we get. 25 of which from various sources, city, state federal that require hundreds and hundreds of hours of personnel time, thousands and thousands of pieces of paper that we would argue, first of all, i dont think anybody is really looking at. More importantly, its not relevant to whether our schools are doing well. We think that the authorizer should be the ones holding charters accountable and they should be holding them accountable at a very high level. If charters arent performing, they should be closed. With respect to the many reporting requirements and pure cease, we call it beaurocracy creep that is slowly entering into what charters do it is literally crippling the Charter School movement. I said this before, i believe that beaurocracy creep could actually take the Charter Movement down. If i may add a little bit tangentially, i do think opponents and Teachers Union is very much aware of that. What we find in the attacks that were getting, its along the lines of beaurocracy just as a quick little example last year there was sort of an arcane real estate law i wont get too much into it that we heard was sort of passing through the legislature more quickly than usual. We could have sort of it could have passed a notice but what it was was a new procedure that charters would have to now undergo through real estate law in order to get your facilities. And fortunately folks noticed this, and there was a little bit of an outcry. What it was doing was adding tremendous layers of beaurocracy in order to try to stop us in our tracks. I think beaurocracy is definitely a danger for charters. Ann, this is something obviously you all have to wrestle with because when people like beaurocracy they say its quality control. They say its a way to make sure children arent being done wrong. How do we make sure that doesnt get in the way of educators being able to work with kids and make good decisions. I think one thing we are very much in favor of thats accountability. Because thats what this is all about. How are we accountable to the quality outcomes were seeking. And so you know, what we have to do, though, is ensure that the measures and the policies that we put in place as weve all talked about, arent a hindrance to that schools ability to be unique. So thats what we like or what i love about the Charter School environment in louisiana is that our schools are allowed to be unique as it relates to operations and the methods by which they are educating our kids. One of the things i wanted to piggy back on, bobs comment about the cost savings if i may. We found, you know with regards to our Voucher School 9 the Movement Towards tax rebates, were finding that in our, in our state we, last year, actually, we saved over 24 million of taxpayer dollars. In the money that would be originally provided to a Failing School for a child that would give into a Voucher School to help educate. And when you say the 24 million was saved can you say another word of explaining how absolutely. So, in louisiana the kids are funded through the minimum Foundation Formula that creates the amount that is allocated per child. And its about 8,600. And so that 8,600 traditionally wouldve gone to a failing Public School. Or a Public School. In retrospect, if that child had a voucher, the average tuition at a private school or Catholic School that is participating in our program is about 5,000, 4,500 to 5,000. So when you look at the difference of over 4,000 per child, thats a huge tremendous amount of savings for the taxpayers. Emily, let me ask you to clarify when you talk about this bureaucratic, can you give examples to folks who dont do this stuff every day of what does it look like . And where are these hundreds of hours going that arent being spent working with kids . Sure. And i think you make a good point. Every hour spent recording. Since i see many Charter School students here and staff, i think you would agree with me that charters arek q staffing more lean ly ly. The local district[[ asked us to have one person at each of our schools to operate the atf system which is the Computer System that all Public Schools in new york city have to operate and its this dosbased system with a green blinking thing. From my understanding, you have to log in five different ways before you can get to the start screen, and then if you make a mistake and have to go back, you may be 30 out of 500 students in. You have to start all over. And the reason i say from my understanding is to the best weve been able to we have to now been able to resist using this ats. I think its called automate the schools, which is a little bit ironic to us. But they schools. To enter student by student attendance data. Which we cant do. Every Single Person in that school, for those of you educators know every Single Person is striving to have each child perform at the highest possible level. So that is the kind of thing that were faced with. The other thing i would add is amongst the reporting its incredibly duplicitous. And it would be okay if we could say, lets take this report from our authorizer and the state wants it, too, here, lets pass this over to the state and you can share. Other challenges that we face, they all have spent tremendous amounts of money in creating their own Computer Systems and it has to be entered in their own format. Has to be entered in their own format. Meaning you cant take the data youve produced elsewhere and share across the board. Youve got to enter student by student. And we have developed sort of a, what we call a bureaucracy busting arm in our organization where that is just as important to us to fight the bureaucracy creep, not quite as important as the education, but its part in parcel. This sounds disconcerting to me. Because it seems part of the whole rationale of charters was so educators could focus on working with students and not filling out paper. How common is this . How much of a concern is this for you . Well, i was whispering to ann, it reminds me of an expression. We look in the mirror and become the thing weve been fighting. E a natural tendency to overbur overbureracritize things. Im somewhat concerned about the fact that we do imitate and replicate the monopoly we tend to fight. By putting in rules and regulations that are unnecessary, putting in barriers for parents who want to engage in choice. And, look, the bottom line is what steve perry said earlier. Isnt steve perry great . Hes terrific. And this is not a jobs program. This is about education and learning. We have doubled education spending in this country over the last 30 years. In some states, weve tripled it. And you know this, rick. We now, even when we have socalled the Autonomous School model working in a lot of School Districts, we have principals that have to have four or five people check the box they want to rent out their gym, okay. So, you know, theres this tendency for us to overbur overbureacretize educate. When i was in texas a couple weeks ago, they asked me well how will School Choice affect the local district . And if youpy think about the tone and tenner of most of these questions we get, always say, how will it affect the system . Iyjn or the local School District . But we, the pivot is how will this affect the kids if we dont change. We need to start looking at how we staff schools how we fund schools, how we engage in this whole notion of education and learn ing learning. So this is the way i would look at it. And i know eva subscribes to this at harlem success. And has this great example. If youre going to fund a School System or a School District, you start with the most important thing. Lets imagine you have a child, call that child a student. You put them in a room call it a classroom and an adult who is going to teach and call that a teacher. You put other children in there. And everything you do should be tailored toward funding that interaction between those, those students and that teacher. Where only 60 of the dollars in some states, 50 go into the classroom. If we spend it on everything. We need this. This is the assistant to the assistant to the deputy of the assistant. Its important, essential personnel. And we cant do without it. If you ratchet it down to that dynamic thats most important. The children and the teacher in the classroom, theres no way. If you have a School District, this is the first thing any superintendent should do. K where you have less than 90 of the dollars going into the classroom, then youre not funding Education Teaching and learning. Youre funding a bureaucracy. Thats part of the way to get rid of bureaucracy creep this notion that we ended up you know replicating the thing were fighting. Its to make sure that we keep tabs on how were funding those. And i think thats a discipline that politically is hard. Kevin i mean youre right when you talk about big business. But this is big business. The education is big business. We are fighting money. We are fighting tradition. We are fighting peoples jobs. And so, until and unless we can get past the issues that this is some tradition that we must maintain. Until we can have people understand that, we need to create new traditions. Until we can get past the jobs that were talking about are not jobs we need to protect if those jobs arent protecting our kids. We have to get past that. And unless we can get our elected officials to understand that, this will all be even more more ifu continue to be more of a challenge. But this is why i totally agree with it. And this is why School Choice and particularly vouchers are so important. In every single state, at least half if not more than every single dollar goes to k12 education in your state. Its a huge business. Yes, it is. And were talking about fighting the power of that business. And the problem is if you create this relationship who is the largest employer in the rural and suburban areas in most cases . The schools. Thats right. They have the power and the legislative power, therefore they have the pack and money that goes to candidates. And theres this incredible relationship that goes to half the state budget and the same people benefitting. We would call that other states and areas maybe corruption. Right . If you think about it. So this is the reason why all the dollars have to follow. Youre never going to change the structure of the monopoly that has so much money, my favorite example on the regulatory creeping is who here knows what the letter is . Fa theyre required to have a hard copy of that letter. You know, this is the 21st century, so hard copies are required. Remember, this is a system thats built itself up over a long period of time. And its not just the legislators. Its not just the Public School bureaucrats. Its every single committee. Its every Single School committee. Its every single level of this government. So so, but just to stay with this. Then, are you suggesting that this regulatory creep concern that emily flagged1 is not just Charter Schools but private Choice Program . Yeah, theres an absolute move for people who oppose School Choice to make all of the Charter Schools and private schools receiving public money just like Public Schools. And by the way, i think its we as reformers also are a little bit to blame for this. Well accept anything sometimes to get a bill passed. Right . Instead of saying this is a line in the sand. And when we say accountability, we mean accountability for results. So in our state of indiana, when you fail, rated d or f after two years, you can get no more new money for new kids. Right . The way to change that for us was starve the money out. But right, so but weve accepted a bunch of other things like chief seattles letter. Its the reporting. Its okay to report, even if private schools dont have the personnel to do it. One sec. While were on this weve got an audience question. Wayne, are you here with us . There we go. And asked how can private schools better demonstrate to the Public Sector especially the business sector the Important Role they play. How can private schools demonstrate the role they play . Theres a ton of ways they can do that. Obviously showing their graduation rates. But to me, i look at mine. I have two children, right . And theyre 18 and soon to be 16 in about a week. Really, i love them to death. I only care about one thing. Are they going to become tax paying citizens . People who have a job and pay taxes . And one of the best way private schools can show their value isou to show how much money they bring back into the system. As a result of their education. Emily, you were talking before about some bureaucracy busting in order to let the educators focus on educating. What are some of the things you guys have done or folks can learn from yall about how to make that happen . So, i think one of the things that we do actually, i can tell youve spoken a lot with eva. For our mantra and folks who come into our organization, the first thing they ask, is it good for children. If its not. If its going to take away what we offer to kids, we are going to take a position to try to push back. This is natural for most organizations, the regulators are coming. And they just want one little thing. And its easier to kind of scribble it out or type it out and write it the way they want. And just send it over. And before too long as kevin described, it becomes a monolithic bureaucracy. And we resist every single point. Not resist, but we look very carefully and ask and enter into a regular conversation with our authorizer and our regulators and to understand do you actually have the time to look at this . And what is it that you actually want to achieve . Lxnt uaq maybe we can shortcut that for you and give you the qpn information and the documents you need. And for the most part, those that are interested in focusing on children and outcomes theyre willing to have that conversation because theyre not funded sufficiently to go through thousands and thousands of pieces of paper. Its a real danger because when people are afraid. When people talk about accountability from Charter Schools, the answer, the easy, easy answer, especially when it comes to politics and the noise that Charter Schools face, the easy answer is to sort of slap additional paper on there and say, oh were actually checking for that. See, we asked for that information and weve got it now. And its very hard to disabuse people of that notion. I want to give one example of a piece of paper that we really, truly dislike. And its every year theres a requirement that teachers that are not certified have to send home in the backpack folder for their scholars a piece of paper saying just wanted you to know, parents, im not highly qualified. So, yes, ive been teaching for 7iz years and my scholars are in the top 1 of the state of new york, but i wanted you to know i didnt havezu that thing called highly qualified and somebody thought i should write you and tell you and let you know. Its to a level thats truly, truly absurd. Whereas we would want the teacher to write home and say, look this is what we were doing to get your scholar to the highest potential. And ive been doing it for five years successfully. oel they are motivated at school. And we have to do the other thing instead. What can private schools do. This is the education of choice. At the end of the day, at the end of the day if you run an Elementary School and the learning in the eyes of those boys in fourth and fifth grade, youre running a good school. J, hn unfortunately, weve got you know nearly 2,000 dropout factories. And those are schools where 90 of the kids are going to drop out of school. And if parents want to go there because they know that nurturing and learning is taking place and youre demonstrating you can teach these babies in a way that will meet them where they are and accommodate their needs and not force the circle in a square, youre doing great work. Going back to this bureaucracy thing, you know i remember several years ago when i was in office here in d. C. And, youre right, eva and i used to talk a lot. Was chair of the new york city council, education committee, and we were both getting beat up upjw around the house and everything, we used to talk all the time. But, you know, at the end of the day, d. C. Had 146 schools, d. C. Public schools. They had nearly 2,000 people in Central Office. Had 110 schools and they have about ten people in Central Office. And their outputs were better. At the end of the day, we know that you dont need a large Central Office to run good schools. And i think that parents know that. So why not find ways to continue to give parents those opportunities as opposed to telling parents you have to do it this way because the system works this way. The focus on the way the system is used to operating thats thats old thats gone. I mean, right now with this new way of living, if you are a 5yearold today, chances are you will work in a job that doesnt exist today. So weve got this whole approach to school and learning to try to develop kids for careers that aint going to exist. And now weve got systems in place to run School Districts that are going to be outdated over the next 10 to 15 years. I think part of what we need to do5 is step back and say you know what, weve got all these different kids no one, talking about choice. No one responds to the same learning modalities. So figure out just like that menu in the restaurant or the buffet line. I tell people all the time. Rze÷ chicken fried steak i aint eating. I dont like chicken fried steak. But you have all these menu options for parents. And they tell you, no, you can only have it this way and this is the only way youre going to get it and the only way youre going to take algebra in ninth grade even if youre not ready for it or if you should have taken it a couple ofta years before that because your grandmomma took it in ninth grade. If you try to change it, theres something wrong with you. No i think that private schools can continue to do what they do and feature that because parents are demanding something other than what theyve been getting for far too many schools. So if you want to build on that, thats fine. But also imw| curious, you know, you have done a lot of the work on the ground. Curious, given the challenges and questions, how do you bring people together . How do you build that coalition where folks who maybe have different conditions cane find enough Common Ground to pass Choice Legislation and make this happen for kids . Yeah, and that, you know, in early years of us in louisiana introducing choice and vouchers and expanding Charter Schools. Again, we had to fight with the tradition of Public Schools. It was it was very hard and difficult at the time to convince my colleagues, especially my colleagues in the caucus in the black caucus that what it didnt matter that it was perceived that this whole movement was a movement of white republicans. But, you know, the thing i used to tell my colleagues was that doesnt matter. Ajx;q end of the day, whos benefitting . Our kids. And i dont care whos writing the check i care who is benefitting from that check. And so at the end of the day we had to begin to show. And i can ho are getting much more, many more of our colleagues and our in louisiana to understand that youre right. This is not about whos writing the check. But it is about who is benefitting. You know, i really would like to say one other thing about to the person who raised the question about what can private schools do . What you can do is continue to do what you do. And that means continue to demand excellence. Continue within your own organizations. Continue to be unique because thats the beauty of choice. The beauty of choice we found and what i hear from parents. Even if their kid is in a performing school is that i need a school that meets my child where i have three beautiful daughters. And i have three gorgeous granddaughters. And if i could have had them first, it would have been wonderful. But [ laughter ] but each one honestly, each one of my girls and each one of my granddaughters and two are twins, have totally different personalities. And we hear this and we know this. Every single one of them learned differently. And are learning differently. And the ability for my girls to choose or to find a school that not only met the academic needs but also met the personal and the nurturing needs. So what you have is a unique opportunity to create that brand, to create that family of learners that is unique and is important and will be important to somebodys child. So continue to do what you do. Continue to build excellence. Speaking from, and build your brand. Speaking from the perspective of higher ed. As mentioned, im the chairwoman of the board of supervisors. And when we look at the kids that are applying to lsu, and when we look at you know, and we ask and some of the questions what school did you attend, certain schools just stand out. You know, and so when we hear that dont want to mention schools, when we hear of certain schools that a child is coming from, we know that child just because of the brand. Just because of the excellence that school has maintained within their own organization and try to be another school. Their school. We go after them. And thats what i could suggest to the private schools who have that opportunity to create your own brand and to continue the excellence in your own unique fashion. I think we have time for one more question. Im kind of curious. Kevin mentioned earlier the president of American Federation of teachers. And hes sparred sometimes over School Choice questions. And we know that the unions are often portrayed or often portray themselves as concerned about School Choice. Im curious about why. I mean, it seems to me that so much of what School Choice does for students, it also does for teachers. It gives them a chance to find schools where they want to work. It gives them a chance to maybe get away from some of the paper shuffling and find schools where they can find more time teaching kids. Can you help me understand a little bit where, why it is either teachers at the association might push back on choice and whats going on there . Well, rick, you stuck me with a challenging question, and if i may, you know, look, Teachers Unions are not and we dont have we are we think theres room for everybody. But i dont think that view is shared on the other side. And i think the reason for that is because they are very interested in protecting sort of the lowest common denominator. So rather than in new york state, for example, probably across the United States, its extremely, extremely challenging to take a teacher who is, as you know, who is not performing and to remove them from the classroom. And for some reason, we believe[ . W demanding extraordinary performance and quality from teachers, that elevates the teaching profession. Its respecting teachers as the professionals they are. For some reason, thats extreme extremely threatening to the Teachers Union that we demand excellence and then we that we think if youre not executing for children that you sgxueju be in this profession. So theyre very interested in protecting the lowest common denominator, which we just wont do just as we wouldnt for our scholars. We teach to the highest common denominator and the same way we expect for ourl teachers to meet a very very high bar. Am i wrong . School choice can empower educators . Well it can, common denominator, traditional unions have fought against the firing of u teachers who molest kids. Thats the lowest form of common denominator, lets say. At the end of the day the only people who are fighting against educational choice. The only people that fight it are the ones that already have it. Okay. If you have educational choice, you have the luxury to say well, i can see my kid, ive got money, ive got the resource, the neighborhood, the zip code, i can send my kid over here, but i dont want you to. Theres something something, frankly, not right about that. And we need to distinguish between the political arm of the organized Teachers Union and teachers. When we had that rally a couple weeks ago, 3,000 parents and teachers. We had a bunch of teachers who marched right across the street from the union headquarters. And said i want to put my kid in a we have to distinguish the politics of education, which is held out there in front by the union forces, the bureaucracy, the status quo, and then those folks who are fighting against that to try to get Something Better for their kids. And thats not the teachers. I think the School Choice as said, when they did that study was would increase teachers salaries by up to 12,000 to 15,000 a year. And ive heard so many people who run Charter Schools. There are folks who taught in a traditional system. So many Charter School teachers and principles said for the first time they could do their job because they had the freedom from the bureaucracy to do their job when they got you know im right. Ricks trying to stop me. So, no i do think we have to distinguish the politics of education swayed by the union as the rank and file teachers. I think thats a strong place to close and a great transition. Next panel. Please join me in thanking the panel. Please take a little break and the next panel will start in a few minutes. s. An allday forum hosted by South Carolina republican senator tim scott will resume in about 15 10, 15 minutes or so. We expect at 2 30 eastern and on the next panel is the chairman of the Senate Education committee, Lamar Alexander, tennessee, who along with his ranking democrat patty murray on friday announced they would come to a bipartisan agreement on a draft rewrite of the no child left behind education. Writing about that Education Bill theyre working on saying that it represents departure from statements alexander made as recently as last wednesday indicating he would bring his own draft to the committee. Maybe well hear more from Lamar Alexander again. And until that discussion gets underway at about 2 30 or so, part of the earlier conversation has senator scotts forum. Its worth noting im a School Choice advocate not simply a Charter School advocate. Ragged schools are raggedy schools. There are some raggedy traditional schools that need to be shut down a couple of years ago. Simply because a Charter School struggles, doesnt mean Charter Schools struggle. We need to get pastd charter or traditional. We need to get past private or public. We need to get down to what education is about which is providing differentiated instruction to children to meet them where they are and take them to where they need to be. We spent too much time having a conversation about the ends of the conversation. Its not a jobs program. Its not a tenure conversation. You hear so many times, people talking about, well, the traditional schools need more resources. its not the issue of money. The amount of money that the traditional schools get. And if money were the÷ [ issue, the best place to send a child one to prison. If the issue were money then we would already have those parts of the conversation. Where the issue is quality of instruction and quality of leadership. Simply because you have a certification that says you should be a teach erer this is a calling. Cz just because somebody called you with a job offer, doesnt mean you were called. Our communi1n we have been trying to find a way to claw our way out of poverty through education for quite some time. And for a long time, the Catholic Schools were there for us. You see whats interestingvv baptist will go to au school just to get out of the raggedy school at the end of the street. They have to wait until they get out of church around monday evening. But when they get out, theyre going to go to school. Children will lie, families will lie about a childs address and if race is considered, theyll lie about their race. So if necessary to get the child out of the circumstances that are literally robbing him of his life. This is america. A place you can go into a store and find so many different types of gum that your head would spin and were supposed to only choose from the school thats closest to a house . Its an absurd notion. You cannot under any circumstances think that the best indicator of a schools compatibility to a child or the family is because its close to the house. You know, its interesting that people call themselves liberals and say theyre prochoice but theyre prochoice when it comes to e having a child but antichoice when it comes the way you send a child to school. Its interesting to say that somebody calls themselves a liberal who is so focused on making sure social programs are in place but the greatest social program of all time is education. But thats not what they want. What they want to do is maintain the status quo. So i submit to you that if youre not willing to fight then get out the way because theres a fight going on. She is praying for me as we speak. Right here. You know, he talked about it being a calling, right. And so your schools, theres a calling. What makes your schools unique in the catholic sector . And what do you offer that other schools dont . In the catholic environment we offer jesus christ preach in the gospel. And that is the fundamental reality of our schools. What we believe, the individual within our schools is dignity. And because of that dignity, we owe them within an excellent education that will help them flourish as an individual, a human being. And therefore, all of the things that make up good education are part of the conversation for our schools. And good teachers, community excellent governance good use of resources, all of that is part of the larger question because it matters to who the children are. We believe that education has two ends. And the churchs teachings on this have been very clear for many years. Both the flourishing of the person here and now as a citizen of this world and the eternal end is a citizen of the world to come. And so the mission and the vision of our schools, we try to keep that very much within our minds because it matters to the children who are in front of us. So thats what makes our schools different. Im going to assume thats exactly the same as a Charter School sector, right . What do you offer . Its a Diverse Community so depending on the state law that allows for the creation of charterw schools, youre going to have very different types of Charter Schools. One of the things we do at the national alliance, based on their strength. And last year, we also produced a document that looks like a movement and the quality of the movement. How innovative is the Charter School space in the different states . And the thing we base it on whether as a entrepreneur, youre able to open a school and come up with you know different types of curricula, different modes of delivering that curriculum and different ways of attracting families and running your schools. The more freedom you have to do that, the more, the stronger your law is so to speak. Here in washington, d. C. And states like louisiana they have some of the strongest Charter School movements because youre able to create online Charter Schools. Youre able to create Charter Schools that are focused on math and science on bilingual education, on character b 9 and whatnot. So depending, again, on the strept strength of the law, were agnostic to what type of education, as long as the school is held accountable, and held accountable to making sure that all of the students are achieving, graduating and going on to college. Thats great. Go ahead. Ive got another one for you but go ahead. Great. Ill just add. I think you asked earlier, whats happening in our schools and our communities. And in many schools and particularly in urban and working class communities, our kids are dying. They dont have hope. Theres teachers who dont believe in them. They dont see going to and through college or having a career and family is Something Real to them. So this problem is urgent its real, and we have to have a threesector approach to it. Sometimes i hear, its all about having great Charter Schools. We have a panel left. So how many of yall would agree it would be inappropriate for me to give my Closing Remarks with a panel left. Would you agree with me . Amen hallelujah. Getting me excited about that. I love it. Heres what im saying. Im not going to do my Closing Remarks now. But i did want to give some of the kids that have to leave right now a couple of them an opportunity. They were going to sing God Bless America at the end. But because of the getting reunited with parents. You dontgnm want me to sing let me call up here, please. Sandy thomas and victory lawrencerc these two young ladies are going to sing God Bless America and thank you for stayinging on long enough for them to make this special presentation presentation, opportunities you may want to stand here. Why dont you stand here . And then im going to have you stand right there and this is our microphone. Well pull it down a little bit. Okay. youre going to moderate it. Are you ready . Yeah. Thank you for your willingness to share the melody with all of us. Okay. God bless america land that i love beside her and guide her through the night with theyb light from above from the mountains to the prairie to the ocean let me get a picture with the stars. Theyre going to be charging me in a couple of years. I want to get them now while theyre still free. Yeah, yeah. P÷ all right. One more. One more. Lets give them one more hand. ;faz thank you very much. Sandy and victory, thank you very much for entertaining us and being willing to not only sing to all of us, but sing to all of those folks watching live by tv. I know thats exciting part of the experience. Thats why we didnt god bless you. All right. So thank you, all, for allowing us to improvise with the schedule. Now well move on to the final panel, which we have a fantastic group of folks on the way up kara will moderate and introduce the panelists along the way. So were looking forward to this panelist and, thank you guys for being here. God bless. All right. Before we get started our panel is about marketing excellence. And i think it would be really appropriate. All of you, if you have your book or i could just read it to you. But we should thank thank senatortimscott for hosting this event. And dont forget the the choosingexcellence and School Choice. Its really important as we talk about how toe market School Choice and Parents Choice to understand how we should engage. Lets get going. My name is kara kerrwin. Simply stated at the center we are in the business of creating opportunity for families. Over our 21year history have worked alongside lawmakers and have also helped to encourage and educate parents about the choices and opportunities available to them. I trust parents, thats kindu of something we really feel strongly about at the center for education reform. Were about empowering parents. And thats been it for a long time. Were going to be talking about implementing a marketing and Public Relations plan that empowers more families. And we have a fantastic panel, its really a pleasure to have these colleagues and senator alexander with us today. But to kick it off i want to introduce helen weaver. Who previously worked in the office of senator jim demint. Serving a numerous roles, both in d. C. And in South Carolina. Shes now the president and ceo of the palmetto policy forum. An independent state based action engine. Im going to explain that in a bit. But dedicated to bringing citizens together to implement policy solutions that expand opportunity for every south carolinian. fq has been in thecs pages of investors business daily wall street journal, Washington Post and Washington Times and across the opinion pages in South Carolina. Shes extremely passionate about expanding educational choice and has experienced its power in her own life. The gosh cant really introduce senator Lamar Alexander, hes so known for many of us as being a champion of educational freedom for so long. But if i have to read the bio, i have to read the bio. He is the son of a kindergarten teacher. Elected governor and u. S. Senator. Hes also served as the u. S. Secretary of education and president of the university of tennessee. Three times his colleagues have elected senator alexander chairman of the Senate Republican conference. The third ranking republican position in the United States senate. Hes currently the chairman of the Senate Health education labor and pensions committee. That committee is responsible for helping our schools. And, you know, senator alexander is married to and hes also a presbyterian elder. Very accomplished man. My dear friend is the founder of phone to action Civic Engagement i should be wearing my glasses. Im like squinting, i cant figure it out and theyre on my head. Im going to use them. Im sorry. As a founder of phone to action, a Civic Engagement platform that organizations use to power their support as the tools to connect with government. Im proud to say that i the center for education reform were a proud partner of phone to action. Prior to this, was appointed by mayor adrian fenty and Michelle Rhee as the deputy chief for teaching and learning where she led academic reforms that helped to substantially improve d. C. s historically low graduation rates. In c2010, former washington, d. C. Public schools chancellor she cofounded students first, an organization focused on enacting education policies for k12 educational performance. And finally doug is the president of stepup for students. Prior to that he was a teacher in florida. A former high school teacher, a g. E. D. Instructor, a college professor, and the former president of two local florida Teachers Unions. Dont start throwing things at him, thats okay. Because today he runs stepup for students. A nonprofit Florida Organization that administers educational savings accounts for over 1,400 special needs students and provides another 69,000 lowincome families with scholarships to attend private schools. Lets give a hand to our panel. All right. So as we start to talk about marketing excellence. I think the most appropriate, important place to start is with you senator alexander. As somebody whose ha the opportunity to observe the state of education. Youve been an unwaivering supporter. Q what is it weve done right and where do you see the ed Reform Community improving . Fighting for what is right . Is it data . Stories from real people or a combination of both . Well, thanks very much for the question. This is one case where thek rnn weve got the message right. I think we need some some more effective messengers. If i wanted to give yozx÷i an example, id say more people like tim scott. Tells a story about his legislation to expand parental choice. It doesnt sound like its somebody saying now this would be good for you. Based on my lifes experience, this would help people. He makes a very compelling story, for example when he talks about a friend whose child has down syndrome and is found right first grade for the child. And why not let the federal disability dollars follow that child to the Parents Choice of that school to the second grade and to the third grade and to thezg fourth grade. Tim tells that beautifully. And too often3 r the choice argument is made by people who sound like theyre talking academically or saying, this would be good for you. This is the right thing to do. This is ideologically correct. I dont think thats the most effective thing. I think of poly williams 25 years ago. She demanded it for the children that she lived with and for her own children in milwaukee and with governor tommy itll thompsons help, they got something done. That would be the first thing. The second thing in terms of marketing, i think its really wise not to order people to do it. Particularly from washington, d. C. When youre adopting a new idea it doesnt work very well if somebody makes you do it. We found that out, for example, with common core, didnt we . The governors were working together to try to raise standards, washington got involved, all of a sudden, whammo. Tennessee was the first state to pay teachers more for teaching well. When washington starts telling you how to do teacher evaluation, its too complicated to do. We dont know enough about it. You have to own it. You have to want it be a part of it. That would be the second thing id say in marketing it. And then the last thing well two other quick things, ill listen to the others. U] i would use the examples we already have in federal law of vouchers that work. I remember talking to one of my colleagueskch reminding her the pell grant is a voucher. She said no its not. And i said, yes, it is. Probably the most successful social program we had in the federal government since 1944 when we gave the gi bill for veterans to gave scholarships to veterans and could go to notre dame or high schools, wherever they wanted to go. And now we give child care vouchers for child care. Youve got choice for Community College and choice for preschool. Why is it so hard. And its worked both places, why is it hard to to do it for schools . And finally, while the ideal would be to say any School Public or private made a lot of progress in the last 25 years by expanding choices for parents in Public Schools. And the more that happens the more likely we are to get to the point where we can understand that were talking about any School Public or private. We now have 5,000 Charter Schools and we didnt have any when i was education secretary. Wrote a letter in 1992 asking them to try this new idea. Which was in minnesota then and there were only about 10 such Charter Schools. Every state now has expanded opportunity for parents to choose among schools. And ive always wondered why nashville didnt ask parents, give me the three choices of schools youd like for your child to go to. Public schools im talking about. And say well do our best to make that happen. The more people that get accustomed to the idea of choice among Public Schools the more likely they are to do with any school. 40 i think the short answer to the question is more people like tim scott. Amen to that. Okayo[w doug, with over 69,000 students participating in the Tax Credit Program in florida, clearly youve done something right to engage families about their educational options. And while the merits of the program are compelling enough to sell itself, clearly, theres something more you had to do. So what has been the most successful way to engage families. And are there lessons to share about what didnt work. Well i had several points i wrote down. And senator alexander went through every one of them. I also want to thank senator scott. Ive been meeting with washington politicians since 1979. And youre an amazing breath of fresh air. Youll have a huge impact on this country so congratulations. Thank you. Xq and senator, in florida, 42 of all the children are attending the school other than and increasing dramaly every year. Youre absolutely correct. What happens is a huge Culture Shift going on and choice is become normative across the state. And as that picks up steam. So you always see in this huge cultural shift. And i think its really the nature of Public Education, shifting from, you know, the 19th century factory model we adopted when we started to go to universal Public Education and now its about customization. I think the technology is driving the cultural change. You know, all of us have, you know, teenagers or kids in college, see how they interact with the world rally differently than some of us for the technology. They customize everything. Their cell phones, websites you know, how they watch television. Everything is customized and thats translating now into how they think about education, how families are thinking about education. I think youre right on that as it expands into District Schools, its also expanding across the continuum. I also think the face is really important. We have an award with the Teachers Union in florida. They think its exploited when we have children talking about the scholarships and parents talking about the scholarships. But those are the people who use they dont want the families to be the face of choice. They are the face of choice. Theyre the people using choice. And so thats the fight is School Choice really is a plot by wall street Hedge Fund People to somehow make profit off children or, in fact, is it a way to empower families as a way about equal opportunity. The families that use the scholarships, the children that use the scholarships. Weve got to constantly get those people telling their stories. Thats what the story is about. And our opponents want to change the subject. They want to make it about something other than the children, other than the families. And that really is critical. Equal opportunity. Im a democrat and a former Teacher Union leader and it sort of blows peoples minds im leading the Largest Organization in the country. But theres a long history going back to Daniel Patrick moynihan in the Democratic Party of supporting empowering families of supporting equal opportunity. And its heartbreaking to me as a democrat that my Political Party has given up the fight for equal opportunity in this context. Senators right. Housing vouchers are okay. I was debating the Teacher Union president the other day in dade county. Telling me how terriblel it was that kids in k12 in our programs could take scholarships to faithbased schools. I said, what about notre dame . Well, notre dames okay. Well why is notre dame okay but k12s not . He couldnt answer it. And so the ideas are on our side also. We have a long history in this country of av of empowering people, equal opportunity and this is all just part of that. Our message has to be its about equal opportunity, its about empowering families. Its about the transformation, by the way, of hope. One of the most mazing parts of this work for me is watching a watching a child get a scholarship and watch how it impact it is the entire family. I have example, example, example of a grnd mother raising her grandchildren. One of the kids gets a scholarship and the grandmother gets so excited about whats happening in her grandchilds life that she goes back and starts working on her ged. Or an older sister who is 35 years old, working at walmart, doing okay she sees her younger brother get a scholarship and goes back and works on a College Degree. These are things in my neighborhood i know. You see the whole family being transformed. Its about hope. When people really think its possible to transform their lives. People who are living in poverty really see a way out, its transformational for the entire family. Thats another part of the message we have to get out is that choice and freedom really is transformational. When people really believe that its possible, you see fantastic things happening. We need to talk more about that. Let the grandmother talk about how its changing her life as well as the grandparents life. Finally, its just the facts. We talked earlier today in other panels. Our scholarships, this year is 5,275. The average kid in florida were saving taxpayers about 5,000 per child on our program. In addition, the local District Schools, in which are being most impacted by kids coming into our program are also receiving academic achievement increasing. The parents are desperate for a change so reducing poverty in the local District Schools, were also finding local District Schools are competing. They improve the quality of the program. Independent researchers, not me but Northwestern University who stud idea the program found out we save money, we help District Schools improve their academic achievement. Whats not to love, right . So thats the kind of message. We had the facts on our side, the value on our side and real human beings looking into the camera saying, this is transforming my life pipts the only way thats consistent with our country and culture and we have to keep getting that message out and i think well ultimately win. Great. Thank you, doug. I think that makes for a good segue to our next question. Allen, you brought a whole new think to. How do you leverage data to market School Choice to families . And then is there a data that matters more to families and the policymakers . Is it a little bit of you know what have you seen being the most important in their decisionmaking process, both for parents and for policy makers . Thank you very much. Cant tell you what an honor it is to be able to be here joining representative scott representing the state of north carolina. Im proud to be from a state that has a National Champion like him that is the transformational issue our time. Its an honor to be here today and talk about the great things happening in the palmetto state and our vision for the future. When it comes to School Choice. When you talk about data great thing about where we are in the discussion now is that this is no longer a speculation. We know how choice works. I have to say, thank you to doug for all the great work that hes doing in florida because i think people in South Carolina are tired of hearing me talk about how great florida works. I said guys this is not not a question of a matter of speculation or ideology. We know that where there are morrow bust choices, Public Education itself gets better. Stop telling me this is about destroying Public Education and being a shell for private schools. This is about giving every child in our state the opportunity to do better. And florida is a wonderful benchmark and example to the rest of us. Thats one way we use data is by looking at what is happening in other states, reporting on those Success Stories and even reporting on the Success Stories we have in our own state. We now have 66 Charter Schools up from 69 last year. Our Charter School laws have moved us into top ten in our nation because of great legislation that was passed with senator larry grooms help last year. Thank you, senator, for what you do for our state. And so in terms of date tashgs we see more in school option, be it Magnet School Charter School, Virtual School home school. Our job as an action engine is to pull all of these people together, we have our individual preferences of how education should be done. The principle that unites us is we believe parents are fundamentally the one that have the best interest at heart and are going to make the best decision. Thats why the next leg of our journey in South Carolina is really going to be building a Parent Power Network because its parents who really have the passion and the energy and the interest in advocating for what is right for their child. So one of the things we have done to really rally parents to your question about data and stories, is to actually tell stories of families in South Carolina who are accessing all of the choices. What weve done is put together an education options catalog called empower opportunity. And in this catalog which senator scott is very familiar with he was kind enough to write the foreword to it we talk about families accessing each option currently available in South Carolina and then we give a couple of quick bullets about how a parent can learn more about this option and if it might be right for their child. Because, honestly, can you have all the options in the world. If parents dont have information on how to access that, it wont matter at all. Everything has moved online as well as to have done a publication of it now in spanish, which is the first time weve been able to do Something Like that. Our goal is to get this into the hands of every South Carolina parent. The hook s we have all of these great growing options in South Carolina. Wonderful. Guess what . There are other states doing more than we are and here are the successes were seeing. Why cant we do this in South Carolina . Thats legislators are responding more and more. So many who have been in the trenches for years. I feel like the time is right. An energy growing all across the states. I can feel it in South Carolina. Thats why im excited to be engaged with this distinguished panel. Thank you very much. It frustratings you to change your whole career trajectory deplete xlooetly. Can you please, briefly talk about the evolution of how you came to build action and then what role now do you see social media playing in market choice to family. Do you see where do you see the next sort of opportunity to reach a Critical Mass of families with this message . Thank you for having me. I really appreciate to be here. And i used to be in education for a long time. I was a school principal, superintendent of instruction and then department of parks and recreation director so i had a career in government. Because of these things of life that kind of change your path i moved all the way to sacramento we founded an Organization Called students first. That organization was designed or created to really put the interest of kids first, which is the goal the common agenda of everybody in this room. But by moving to sacramento, a couple of things happen. I was in charge of membership. I was the one traveling to the different cities, talking to parents, helping them inengage in Public Policy et cetera. By doing these town halls, something i realized it was all the tools we were using to engage with parents were the wrong ones. We were sending emails to parents and knowing emails were going 14 and down. Knowing parents did not necessarily have a computer at home. Knowing many of our parent didnt have internet neither at job nor at home, and knowing these tools were geared to a population that didnt actually have the choices other ones had. And at the end of the speech it was call to action. Parents, number one, many times didnt know who their legislators were. Number two, many times were asked in what form to input their ninedigit zip code. I dont know my ninedigit zip code. It was all of these obstacles for them to engage in policymaking policy
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