In the @FT today, I explain how President Trump, the Treasury Department, and @SenJoniErnst are working to save tens of billions by strengthening the Do Not Pay system, which President Obama created in 2010. This reform should have bipartisan support. @SenatorDurbin @RonWyden @SenGaryPeters sponsored similar reforms last year.

Great post by @AlliAldis on the popularity of Education Savings Accounts, even among registered Democrats. There are almost 2 students using an ESA for every voucher student in the U.S. informedchoice1996.substack.…

Reagan > Nixon. nationalreview.com/magazine/…

I spent over an hour on the phone with @JenBerryHawes explaining that IDEA only gives access to a SWD's zoned district school (no open enrollment), that for decades families of SWD had often pulled a mistreated child out of their zoned public school to home-school them with zero assistance whatsoever out of pure desperation. Oh and that the ESA program in AZ enrolls a higher percentage of SWD than the AZ public schools-19% vs. 14%. Also I think I explained that AZ public schools shamelessly discriminate against students with disabilities in open enrollment. Oh also that ESAs give families options outside of attending private schools-that we have families in AZ for instance teaming up to hire their own teachers, that if they do do multivendor education that they would at least have resources to help them do it. ESAs are more than vouchers. I mentioned that if what she wanted to do was to write a story of families complaining about not finding a spot in a private school, she could write that story, but it would be a huge oversimplification of a complex reality- ESAs are an incredibly useful innovation for many families of students with disabilities, but do not alone dry every tear or cure the world's pain. They also don't harm anyone- districts have complained about not getting enough SPED $ for decades- so if a kid leaves with their share they can either spend more on the remaining kids, or do less of an xfer from gen ed to sped ed. Districts win either way, so long as the $ story they have been telling for 50 years is true. Sometimes journalists seem to struggle with fitting a complex "this makes the world better but not perfect" narrative into a superhero versus supervillain comic book framework. I may have missed it, but none of the above information seemed to make it into the story, which instead went with the standard "GRRRRRR school choice STRONG BAD!!!!" predetermined narrative. JBH did not ask me about the "toe hold" strategy also included in her story, but if she had, I would have noted that whether or not legislatures take any further action on choice is entirely up to the normal democratic process. Mississippi for instance passed an ESA for SWD about a decade ago but to date has taken no further action on private choice in the state. Others may choose to do the same in the future. That's democracy for you, imo. ESAs for SWD stand on their own merits regardless. propublica.org/article/schoo… @HeritageOnEd @JasonBedrick @RobertEnlow @RonMatus1 @ClarkRimsza @jandrewclark @AdamPeshek @propublica @KathyVisser1 @LevesquePat @alexanderrusso @JebBush @rickhess99 @MrDanielBuck

This is the Republican nominee for statewide office. Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized. This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad.

Kid, the thing that none of the documentaries will show you was how that morning, after the first reports, nobody knew anything. CNN had reported about a fire on the National Mall, which turned out to be people seeing smoke from the Pentagon and not understanding what they were seeing. There were rumors of a car bomb at the State Department building, a bomb at the U.S. Capitol building, and one at the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House. “The USA Today building in Rosslyn was supposedly enveloped in smoke,” per one report. You name the Washington landmark, chances were somebody had heard it had been hit.

Onward!

Parents can honor Dolly Parton by reading one of the more than 300 million books her charity @dollyslibrary has distributed to kids. What a legacy.

Thank you @cubs @tyrone_taylor15 for making my son's summer by tossing him a ball between innings! What a beautiful tradition between baseball players and little boys who dream of playing professional baseball. Go Cubs go!

Great post by @donsoifer on the SC budget deal and how it protects homeschooling families’ ability to participate in the state’s private school choice program, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund. microschoolingcenter.org/new…

In August 2020, we warned that prolonged school closures were unnecessary and would cause long term harm on the nation's students, and that the nation's at-risk children would suffer the most.

I haven’t been able to watch today’s #Fauci hearings. Will watch them over the weekend. But what we knew in 2020, and know today: Fauci was the #1 driver of school closures and lockdowns. He takes credit for it in his diaries and revels in politicians who took his advice. (1/2)

In NYC, a 2021 Comptroller audit used Do Not Pay to identify 39 dead people who had been receiving adoption subsidies from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services. Altogether, the audit revealed almost $3.5 million in improper payments. The Comptroller recommended that the agency routinely use Do Not Pay or similar services. Mamdani’s new Commission on Government Efficiency should consider these findings and apply this recommendation to other city agencies, @DanLips writes. city-journal.org/article/do-…

A free federal tool helped stop or recover ~$12 BILLION in improper payments last year, in part by flagging dead people still drawing benefits before the checks clear. But only 19 states use it. "Do Not Pay" has been open to every state since 2019. Oregon saved $15M since 2020, with every $1 of staff time returnimng $126. In Alabama, auditors ran unemployment data through DNP and found 302 dead people drawing checks worth $1.3M. NYC's former Comptroller, @scottmstringer, after catching $3.5M in adoption subsidies paid on behalf of the deceased, told the city to start using it in 2021. The DNP screening costs states nothing. Any Governor or Mayor that isn't using DNP should start. With NYC's new COGE initiative, @MarkLevineNYC and @ZohranKMamdani can adopt DNP for the Big Apple today. @joinfai's @DanLips for @CityJournal city-journal.org/article/do-…

Has any sports franchise or league ever bungled a generational opportunity like the @IndianaFever and the @WNBA have managed to do over the last two years? Revoking reporters’ credentials for doing their job is bush league.

Yes, @DanLips! Today’s the day to celebrate financial freedom for the next generation 📈

Happy #529Day! 🎓 529 accounts started as college savings plans. Now they cover K-12 tuition, apprenticeships, job training, and more. They could become America's engine for education choice and lifelong learning. @mctoth @FREOPP @NationalAffairs nationalaffairs.com/publicat…

This is great news. One opportunity: use Treasury's Do Not Pay tool to screen benefit payments. A 2021 NYC Comptroller Audit used the tool to uncover that the city paid $700k to 39 adoptive parents who were dead.

This is beautiful.