We're Momming Today! w/Lauren Simonetti · FOX News Podcasts

School Choice Expert On How To Fix Education Pipeline Post Affirmative Action

·26 min·1 clip

Erica Donalds says her son went from crying every day in public school to smiling after one day in classical private school.

The host sits down with Erica Donalds for a conversation about school choice that begins with the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling. Donalds says Florida has been working from a merit-based approach for years. She points to 1999, when the state removed affirmative action from its university and college system. From there, the discussion shifts to what school choice is meant to solve for families. Donalds frames the issue through parents who need real options and brings it back to how a better school changed one of her sons' experience of learning. The host keeps the pace steady with short follow-ups and practical questions. When asked what classical education actually means, Donalds answers in plain terms. She describes explicit phonics, explicit grammar, classic literature, geography, poetry, and the great books. She presents it as a traditional model that has been pushed aside by newer educational fads. The conversation does not stay abstract for long. Donalds talks about serving on a public school board in southwest Florida for four years and uses that experience to ground her critique of how schools work on the ground. She says she has started five charter schools. One of them is Optima Academy Online, a statewide virtual school in Florida that is now expanding to other states. She calls it the world's first VR school. The goal is to keep the classical curriculum while delivering it through modern technology. The host keeps pulling the discussion back to the family level. The result is a direct, practical interview about education, parenting, and what parents want from a school that finally works.

As heard by us

School choice is framed as a practical family decision, not an abstract policy fight.

Erica Donalds treats school choice as a family decision, not a policy slogan. Speaking as Optima Ed's CEO and a mother of three, she ties her support for the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action to Florida's move to a merit-based system in 1999, then lays out classical…

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A fast, parent-first conversation about school choice and classical education with Erica Donalds.

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