# WonkyFolk: Year in Review - How Many Mulligans Does a Country Get?

How many mulligans does a country get before there are real consequences? In this year-end conversation, Jed Wallace and Andy Rotherham confront 2025's uncomfortable truths: neither party heard the message voters sent, ed reformers have gone soft on accountability, and we're spending another year arguing while kids fall further behind. They explore Virginia's accountability experiment, the problem with universal school choice that doesn't prioritize low-income students, and what made Rod Paige different—a leader with a "core of steel" anchored by clear beliefs. Plus: why Brandon Brown and Howard Fuller are calling for more courage in the charter movement, and whether public education can offer anything to compete with disruption.

**Episode Highlights:**

• Why 2025 was another year of missed opportunities

• The retreat from meaningful accountability—and why reformers are complicit

• Virginia's test: Will Spanberger build on Youngkin's reforms or tear them down?

• Universal school choice without income targeting: A problem?

• Revealed preferences: Leaders who oppose accountability but ensure their own kids get it

• Remembering Rod Paige and the power of vision and beliefs

• The courage question: Brandon Brown, Howard Fuller, and finding your moxie

**Show Notes:**

• CharterFolk Brandon Brown interview
• Hess and Rotherham on cell phones and student engagement
• Andy on cell phone bans as surrender
• Andy on what's next for education in Virginia
• Tennessee religious charter schools case