Good day, CharterFolk.
Today Andy and I are pleased to release a WonkyFolk discussion with Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform.
It was a timely discussion as we have seen several ed reformers of late sharing thoughts about how we can draw Democrats back into efforts to improve our schools. Here is a link to the podcast and a transcript of the conversation on the CharterFolk website.
You can also access the discussion here on Youtube. You can find us on Spotify here. And on Apple Podcasts here. An archive of all past recordings is available on our website.
Topics we touch upon include:
- Jorge’s journey from barely graduating high school to Providence mayor to DFER CEO
- What changed his mind about ed reform while in office — and his final press conference call to charterize the district
- Rhode Island’s most WonkyFolk fun fact: the Senate President is also the teachers union president
- How the federal scholarship tax credit actually works — and why it’s not a voucher program
- Why Jorge thinks governors have every reason to opt in, and what Jared Polis is modeling in Colorado
- The 30-senator push to sunset the program — and what it says about Democrats’ education reflexes
- Why “money follows the child” is a distinctly progressive idea, not a conservative one
- The generational change Democrats need — and why Pelosi/Schumer aren’t built for it
- Rahm Emanuel’s urgency, Mikey Sherrill’s budget address, and what real leadership on education sounds like
- Fake charter laws, fake science of reading bills, and the sector’s unwillingness to call balls and strikes
- Liberalism vs. illiberalism as the real ideological divide of the future
- Where DFER is headed: from a chapter/legislative model to executive/gubernatorial engagement
Show notes:
- Democrats for Education Reform (DFER)
- Jorge’s letter as Mayor of Providence, joined by two former mayors, calling for an all-charter system in the city
- Boston Globe article about Rhode Island Democrats trying to pass a charter school moratorium
- Jorge Elorza & Arne Duncan — Washington Post op-ed on the federal tax credit
- Jorge writing Democrats, This is Why You Haven’t Fixed Schools Yet in the NYT
- Jorge and Ben Austin writing in the Washington Post: America Faces an Education Depression. Why are Democrats Silent?
- Senator Mark Kelly — effort to sunset the federal scholarship tax credit
- Governor Jared Polis (CO) — opting Colorado into the program
- Charlie Barone writing about Dems at Education Next
- Thomas Toch writing about Dems at Washington Monthly
- Mike Petrilli going deeper on Dem matters at Schooled
- Matt Yglesias — Slow Boring
- Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson — Abundance
- CharterFolk Post – No One is Going to Write Abundance For Us