Freedom to Learn

When Arkansas’s Education Freedom Accounts went universal last year, enrollment soared by 212% to 44,524 students. Dr. Patrick Wolf joins the podcast to discuss who’s participating, why families choose the program, and how the funds are used. Dr. Wolf’s new report on the program also examines rural access to education options, participation among students with disabilities, program accountability, and early academic achievement results.

Arkansas Education Freedom Accounts: https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/offices/office-of-school-choice-and-parent-empowerment/education-freedom-accounts

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The new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit could reshape the K-12 education landscape faster than most people realize. American Federation for Children senior fellow Patrick Graff’s new research reveals who can fund and who can receive tax credit-funded scholarships. Ginny Gentles and Patrick discuss how the new federal tax credit works, the 52 million students who could qualify for tax credited-funded scholarships, the 121 million taxpayers who are eligible to claim the tax credit and fund scholarships, and why state participation will determine which families benefit. They also explore the program’s potential to generate billions in new K-12 education funding.

Who Can Receive a Scholarship? The Eligible K-12 Student Population Under the New Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC): https://www.federationforchildren.org/new-estimates-project-that-52-million-k-12-students-eligible-for-the-education-freedom-tax-credit-eftc/

Who Can Fund a Scholarship? Updated Donor Estimates under the New Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC): https://www.federationforchildren.org/who-can-fund-a-scholarship-under-the-eftc/

Federal School Choice Could Be Huge: Possibly many billions in scholarships, even with modest donor uptake, The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/federal-school-choice-tax-credit-donations-patrick-graff-report-3044cba3

EFTC participating states for 2027: https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-governments/federal-scholarship-tax-credit-fstc

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🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

Texas families are demanding more education options and expecting more of the education system. Ginny Gentles talks with Mandy Drogin, host of the Parent Empowerment podcast, about the 120,000 students benefiting from Texas’s education freedom accounts this year, the huge demand from families of students with special needs, and the growing marketplace of schools, tutoring, therapies, curriculum, and more. Mandy also makes the case for classical education and the Great Books, exposes what she calls the “education cartel,” and previews her upcoming book, Classroom Comeback: How Americans Can Make Education Great Again.

Texas Education Freedom Accounts: https://educationfreedom.texas.gov/

Classroom Comeback: How Americans Can Make Education Great Again: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/classroom-comeback/?srsltid=AfmBOor8PeL5Gbm7C9vRBz7Og_qFgna3E71qM9jN5LCA5TzDxMblsWcN

🔗 Links & Resources:

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If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

This week on Freedom to Learn, DFI Guest Host Angela Morabito is joined by Daniel Buck, American Enterprise Institute Research Fellow and Director of the Conservative Education Reform Network (CERN). Daniel breaks down the student behavior crisis facing America’s K–12 classrooms, explaining how persistent low-level disruptions contribute to teacher burnout. He also reveals the progressive ideological imbalance facing teacher preparation programs today and what can be done to fix it, defends the importance of standardized testing, and shares how schools can restore the parent-teacher divide.

Pedagogy of the Progressives: A Review of Syllabi from Graduate Schools of Education, Sept. 9, 2026, by Daniel Buck: https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/pedagogy-of-the-progressives-a-review-of-syllabi-from-graduate-schools-of-education/

Colleges Train Future Teachers to Push Woke Agenda, Aug. 11, 2026, by Angela Morabito: https://www.realcleareducation.com/2026/08/10/colleges_train_future_teachers_to_push_woke_agenda_1199374.html

🔗 Links & Resources:

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If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

We’re back with another episode of Freedom to Learn, with DFI’s Angela Morabito filling in for Host Ginny Gentles. This week, U.S. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent joins the podcast to give an inside look on how the The Department of Education is bringing transparency to higher education’s foreign financial ties, partnering with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to better manage student loans, dismantling the accreditation monopoly by encouraging competition and ending administrative bloat, and the Education Department’s efforts to implement Workforce Pell to expand alternative pathways to education outside of the traditional 4-year college degree.

🔗 Links & Resources:

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📩 Contact Us:
If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

This week on Freedom to Learn, we’re re-releasing our conversation with Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush on the Florida teachers union's lawsuit targeting the state's education freedom programs and why he believes it is destined to fail. Governor Bush reflects on the bold reforms that transformed Florida from one of the nation's lowest-performing education systems into a national leader in student achievement and parental choice. He also makes the case for returning more authority from Washington to the states, tackles persistent myths about school choice and accountability, and shares the philosophy that guided his work for the last three decades: "Success is never final. Reform is never complete."

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If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

Intersectionality has quietly become the unseen driver behind today’s divisive education policies, anti-American sentiments, and campus radicalization. This week on Freedom to Learn, we are re-releasing our episode featuring William A. Jacobson, Cornell Law School professor and founder of the Legal Insurrection Foundation. He sounds the alarm on this dangerous ideological “mother’s milk” that feeds critical race theory, DEI, and even some acts of domestic extremism and describes how teachers unions and colleges of education pushed intersectionality into K-12 classrooms. He also provides concrete actions policymakers should take to confront intersectionality directly, including executive orders and guidance, federal funding oversight, and congressional hearings.

Intersectionality: The Rise of a Dangerous Anti-American Ideology and How to Stop It: https://dfipolicy.org/report-intersectionality/

The Root Cause: DEI Won't Disappear Until This Is Stopped: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/4611193/dei-wont-disappear-until-intesectionality-is-stopped/

🔗 Links & Resources:

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📩 Contact Us:
If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for women and girls, ruling in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox that schools may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex without violating Title IX or the Constitution.

DFI filed an amicus brief supporting West Virginia and Idaho and has been at the forefront of the fight to restore Title IX to its original promise. DFI filed the first-in-the-nation lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s unlawful Title IX rewrite and helped secure the first preliminary injunction blocking the rule.

But even after this important Supreme Court victory, the Title IX regulatory ping-pong is far from over.

This week on Freedom to Learn, we are re-releasing a June 2025 episode featuring DFI Senior Policy and Regulatory Counsel Paul Zimmerman. Paul explains Title IX’s original purpose of ensuring equal educational opportunity on the basis of sex, the law’s regulatory evolution and the policy whiplash of recent years, and efforts by federal regulators to inject gender ideology into schools while weakening parental rights, due process, and free speech.

The episode concludes with a permanent solution: DFI’s RESPECT Title IX Act. The comprehensive model law would end the regulatory whiplash by codifying enduring protections for women’s and girls’ sports and intimate spaces, campus due process, free speech, religious liberty, and parental rights.

DFI's RESPECT Title IX Act: dfipolicy.org/titleix

DFI Amicus Brief: West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox: https://dfipolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/BPJ-SCOTUS-Amicus-Brief-9.19.2025.pdf

🔗 Links & Resources:

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📩 Contact Us:
If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

A new federal tax credit could dramatically expand educational opportunities for millions of students next year. Jim Blew of the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Coalition and Peter Murphy of the Invest in Education Coalition join the podcast to describe how the new “Education Freedom Tax Credit” will incentivize private donations to scholarship granting organizations (SGOs), empowering parents to choose the schools and services that meet their children’s needs. Together, they tackle the biggest objections from critics, walk through how coalition-building helped pass the law and shape the rulemaking process, and make the case for why governors should opt in so families in every state can benefit. The conversation also covers public school student participation, homeschool student access, what needs to happen before implementation, and, of course, pervasive myths.

Treasury Previews Education Freedom Tax Credit Guidance: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0527

Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit: State Participation Status: https://dfipolicy.org/education-freedom-tax-credit/

🔗 Links & Resources:

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📩 Contact Us:
If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!

Over a million Florida K-12 students attend a school of choice through magnet programs, open enrollment, career and technical academies, and charter and lab schools. Over 500,000 Florida students participate in the state’s education savings account and tax credit scholarship programs. Ron Matus, director of Research & Special Projects at Step Up for Students, joins the podcast to share the stories of the families and educators driving innovation and expanding opportunities across the state. We explore the growth of the ESA programs, how students with disabilities benefit, rural school choice options, the rise of specialized à la carte options, and the surprising growth in Catholic school enrollment. 

Catholic School Update Brief 2026: https://nextstepsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Catholic-school-update-brief-2026-final-approved.pdf

Next Steps Blog: https://nextstepsblog.org/author/ron-matus/

🔗 Links & Resources:

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📩 Contact Us:
If you have feedback or suggestions for future podcasts, please reach out to us at [email protected].

🎧 Thank You for Listening:
Freedom to Learn is a production of the Defense of Freedom Institute. You can learn more about DFI at DFIPolicy.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and subscribe for more insights into education law and policy. Thank you for your support!