education. our guest is paul, joining us from indiana. explain what you do that and choice and how you go about accomplishing your mission. guest: thank you for having me. it launched in 1996 and we are a bipartisan nonprofit organization. our mission is to advance freedom, opportunities and choice for all as a pathway to the successful knives and a stronger society we seek to build understanding of the ecosystem that empowers every family. we inform and educate policymakers and a number of areas, public affairs and

litigation. we also have a research program. host: how do k-12 -- what percentage are in public school versus private school, charter school were homeschooling how does that break up? guest: that is a great question and we have seen movement in recent years, but especially to the pandemic and after. right now, approximately 10 to 11% are in school, five to 6% are in public charter schools and right now we estimate homeschooling is probably around 5% to 6%, which is double what it was before the pandemic.

host: what do you find in the surveys? how different is it from what you have described? guest: we have been conducting surveys for about 12 years and we see this disconnect between what parents tell us in a survey, what they prefer in terms of the type of school they would like to enroll their child in and the patterns that we see. in contrast with the numbers i shared a moment ago, we see about one third of parents sending their child to a private school, if they had the opportunity. about 35% to 40% would send them to a public district school and roughly 10% would like to homeschool and others would like

to enroll their child in a charter school. host: when it comes to your mission, what are the ways to go about it? what is the difference between a school voucher versus a savings account and doing it on a credit account? guest: what drives our mission is that funding should follow the child to obtain the best education learning environment for that child's specific needs. the funding mechanism has taken the form of an education savings account which has been around for more than a decade. first lodging in arizona and now in more than a dozen states today. school vouchers provide to

offset tuition and public charter schools allow families to enroll their child into public school that is chartered with a different set of rules and regulations compared to a lot more freedom to have more autonomy in public district schools. we fully support funding following the child. that is the key driver to give the most flexibility to parents and their children and to adapt to the needs of parents of a sixth-grader and an eighth grader. flexibility is a key word when you are a parent, and we see these programs now more than 80 programs around the country

affording that flexibility to families, 32 states. host: is there a way to do this through the individual states or even the local level? guest: we believe that local is best. our focus has been at the state and local levels. we were founded more than 25 years ago. we think that the closer policies can be set for those families that are being affected. state and local is very focus as an organization. host: what have you been able to accomplish on school choice and expanding the choice? guest: the last two years have been really big years for the educational choice smooth.

we saw just this year seven states and programs and four of those are universal programs. in arkansas, iowa, oklahoma and you -- and utah, they are now eligible for an education savings account. that builds on the momentum that we have seen, going back the last couple of years, where we have seen arizona and west virginia launch universal programs. i own state of indiana, we have expanded near universal for choice scholarship program and so, we have seen these new programs launch this school year and we have also seen them expanding the eligibility for students in the last couple of years which, it is an exciting

time to be in this line of work, and we expect to continue to build as more families are enrolling their children in these programs. being able to have that kind of flexibility, whether they want to stay in the school that they have currently or circumstances dictate a need for a change, i think a lot of parents can relate to that, the need for flexibility. this is really an exciting time. host: many are familiar with the president of -- one of the questions we asked was the question of school choice. this is what she had to say. >> over the course of decades

between 85 to 90% of parents send their kids to public schools, and that is with lots of different charters and things like that. this new voucher movement right now about universal vouchers that you see in florida that pay for disney trips and things like that -- most people would think that was inappropriate, but this movement to defund public schools is very recent because what will end up happening is that if public schools do not get the money that they, they are going to fall behind. i think it is not just the privatization. it is the sense of taking money away from kids who really need it and making sure that we have that for all kids.

that is a fight that we have to have. host: comments from her? guest: i, this as a researcher and a. . i we a couple different had. what you see is the flexibility that. need right now. i do not mind addressing those comments or needs. i think that point of view that she shared is very system driven and not necessarily taking into account the turbulence and disruptions that were felt over the last few years, so lawmakers and policymakers in a number of states have really started to

address the needs to give parents more options, to give students more options and flexibility, whether it is the public system as we know it, which is totally fine. the schools are working for those students, or to give more flexibility to attend a public charter school or to use an education servings account for online courses to send their child to a different private school. even if it is only for a year or more. i think that those comments in some ways -- it is not adjusting

what families have been speaking about more and more of the last couple of years. we have seen programs launching in the last 10 to 15 years. and these programs will be serving a wide range of students. largely students who are in disadvantaged situations, however you define that. i think that parents want to have maximum flexibility, more options to provide the best school environment, learning environment for their children. host: talking school choice.

the phone lines are a little different for educators and teachers. it is (202) 748-8000 for parents. teachers at (202) 748-8001. all others can call at (202) 748-8002. caller: one of your last segments asked if there was any institutional racism and it is staring us in the face, it is the public education department. the moment we need to -- decide -- the fact that we know that there is a school district that is better than the other is exactly what is wrong with the american school system.

i think it is a joy i think it is a joke. evidence has come out that it has not really helped the kids that much. there needs to be a complete paradigm shift or overhaul and on the federal level, we should be committing as many resources as possible. my slogan is to over fund public education. we need to have a system set up where we are looking at the best teachers, using the best methods we can across the country. that is the only way we will get rid of all of this crime and all the problems that we are having. take the time to see how children actually learn. stop with the private schools in the charter schools. host: we got your point. let's let paul respond. guest: i appreciate those comments.