It's a Numbers Game: The State of Education in America

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode: "It's a Numbers Game: The State of Education in America"
Release Date: March 31, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosted by Premiere Networks, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve deep into the current state of education in the United States. Accompanied by special guest Ryan Gradusky and Aiden Bozzetti, the hosts explore the multifaceted challenges facing America's educational system, from governmental restructuring to performance metrics and racial disparities.

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Dismantling the Department of Education

The episode opens with a significant announcement: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE). [04:16] Aiden Bozzetti explains the implications, highlighting concerns from parents and educators alike about the future of federal funding and support.

Aiden Bozzetti [04:16]: "President Donald Trump signed the executive order directing the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to begin dismantling the Department of Education."

Ryan Gradusky raises questions about what this means for services like special education and student loan management, emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding the redistribution of these responsibilities. [04:27]

Ryan Gradusky [04:27]: "What happens to the federal money and what's supposed to go to districts for things like special education, who's going to be handling student loan debt."

Aiden counters the narrative that this move is purely politically motivated, suggesting instead that it aims to localize education control.

Aiden Bozzetti [14:00]: "Realize what the Department of Education does and doesn't do. The DOE's primary function is to provide financial aid to students, collect data on American schools, make recommendations on educational reform and enforce anti-discrimination laws."

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Education Performance Metrics

International Assessment: PISA Rankings

Aiden Bozzetti provides an in-depth analysis of the United States' standing in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. ranks significantly higher than often portrayed.

Aiden Bozzetti [06:41]: "Only 81 of 195 countries in the last 2022 test participated. So according to the 2022 PISA numbers, the United States ranked 9th in the world on reading, just behind Canada and ahead of New Zealand."

He clarifies that while the U.S. performs admirably in reading and science, mathematics remains a concern, with the country ranking 34th globally.

Aiden Bozzetti [07:22]: "Our worst score was in math, where we're actually behind. International averages for 34th, behind Malta and ahead of Slovakia in every category."

National Assessment: NEAP Rankings

Transitioning to national metrics, Aiden discusses the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) results, revealing stark contrasts between states and highlighting how even top-performing states like Massachusetts experience significant challenges.

Aiden Bozzetti [10:39]: "In the fourth grade, 41% of Massachusetts fourth graders were reading at or above proficiency level with 15% being advanced. 59% though were behind with 32% being severely behind."

He underscores the impact of COVID-19 on student performance, pointing out that the pandemic exacerbated existing educational deficits.

Aiden Bozzetti [12:38]: "The 2024 NEAP scores showed us that the COVID lockdowns devastated students. The percentage of students below basic reading levels grew to 33%, the highest in 30 years."

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Racial Disparities in Education

Aiden addresses the sensitive yet critical issue of racial gaps in educational outcomes. Drawing on data from 2003 to 2022, he highlights how Asian and white students outperform their peers from other racial backgrounds, yet the overall diversity of American schools brings down the national averages.

Aiden Bozzetti [08:37]: "Asian Americans outperformed all other Asian majority nations. White Americans did better than every white majority country. Hispanic Americans outperformed all Latino majority countries. Black Americans outperformed all black and Caribbean majority countries."

He emphasizes that while diversity enriches the educational landscape, it also contributes to lower aggregate performance metrics.

Aiden Bozzetti [09:18]: "Our diversity brings us down, though, in overall testing when you parse through the data. But Americans are not at the bottom of the barrel, not by a close margin."

---

Impact of COVID-19 on Education

The pandemic's repercussions on education are a focal point, with Aiden detailing how remote learning exacerbated existing disparities and led to significant declines in student proficiency, particularly in reading.

Aiden Bozzetti [12:44]: "It's not like we don't have high performing students. They're still doing well. What kids that were on the cusp have fallen behind, and those that were already failing are now way behind."

This deterioration in student performance is attributed to increased absenteeism, with nearly a third of students missing at least three days of school in the last month.

Aiden Bozzetti [12:44]: "Part of what's fueling this crisis is the percentage of kids chronically missing school has skyrocketed, with nearly a third of kids missing at least three days in the last month."

---

Local Education Issues and School Safety

Shifting focus to local education, Aiden discusses prevalent concerns such as school safety and literacy rates. He notes a growing parental awareness and anxiety regarding their children's inability to read proficiently.

Aiden Bozzetti [29:05]: "I think number one, the biggest concern that we've seen is concern over school safety. Not just from outside threats, but inside threats as well. But also generally students can't read."

The conversation underscores the importance of robust local governance in education, suggesting that decentralization could address many of these issues more effectively than federal oversight.

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Structural Obstacles: School Boards and Teacher Unions

Aiden critiques the current structure of school governance, highlighting the challenges posed by bureaucratic obstacles and the influence of teacher unions. He argues that unions often prioritize the interests of administrators over those of teachers and students, hindering meaningful educational reforms.

Aiden Bozzetti [32:28]: "Teachers unions defend their interests, which is, you know, the really the union administrators, not necessarily the teachers, which I think has been problems with, or the problem with a lot of these public sector units."

Additionally, he points out that outdated teaching methods, perpetuated by teacher training programs, continue to impede educational progress.

Aiden Bozzetti [31:12]: "Teachers colleges are the root of so many educational issues."

---

Solutions and Recommendations

To address these multifaceted challenges, Aiden offers several strategic recommendations:

1. Comprehensive Curriculum Review: Ensure transparency in curriculum development and financial allocation within school boards.

   Aiden Bozzetti [34:12]: "Do a comprehensive overview on what exactly is in their curriculum and how much are they paying people to pull it together."

2. Enhanced Accountability: Implement rigorous tracking of superintendent performance to foster administrative accountability.

   Aiden Bozzetti [34:04]: "Set up a way to track progress with the superintendent and introduce a little bit more administrative accountability."

3. Parental Engagement: Actively involve parents in educational policymaking to restore trust and ensure that policies align with community needs.

   Aiden Bozzetti [35:47]: "Make sure that the school board actually engages parents on a regular basis."

4. Reformation of Teacher Unions: Advocate for policies that provide teachers with more autonomy and reduce union overreach in educational decisions.

   Aiden Bozzetti [32:48]: "Florida has started to require teachers unions to recertify, giving individual teachers more power over union affiliation."

---

Ask Me Anything (AMA) Segment

The episode also features an AMA segment where listeners submit questions about various topics. A notable discussion revolves around Ron DeSantis' political future and the strategies for effective presidential campaigning.

Aiden shares his personal experiences advising political campaigns, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and a national vision over regional focus.

Aiden Bozzetti [43:27]: "I told them your whole message is about Florida. I don't ever want to live in Florida. I don't like humidity."

He critiques DeSantis' approach, suggesting that a lack of connection with the broader American populace hinders his national appeal.

Aiden Bozzetti [47:20]: "If you want to run, you have to sell a national vision for where you're taking this country. It can't only be Florida, the free state of Florida, over and over again."

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with a reaffirmation of the belief that while the American education system faces significant challenges, there are clear pathways to improvement through localized governance, accountability, and community engagement. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, alongside their guests, underscore the importance of understanding the data behind educational narratives to foster informed discussions and effective reforms.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Aiden Bozzetti [04:16]: "President Donald Trump signed the executive order directing the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to begin dismantling the Department of Education."

• Aiden Bozzetti [08:37]: "Asian Americans outperformed all other Asian majority nations. White Americans did better than every white majority country..."

• Aiden Bozzetti [12:38]: "The 2024 NEAP scores showed us that the COVID lockdowns devastated students..."

• Aiden Bozzetti [34:12]: "Do a comprehensive overview on what exactly is in their curriculum and how much are they paying people to pull it together."

• Aiden Bozzetti [43:27]: "I told them your whole message is about Florida. I don't ever want to live in Florida..."

---

This episode serves as a critical examination of the current educational landscape in America, blending statistical analysis with firsthand insights to provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand and the potential solutions looming on the horizon.

Transcript

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[Ryan Gradusky]

Welcome back to A Numbers Game with Ryan Gradusky. I want to thank you all for joining me yet again. I have some big news to share.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Because of your support, many of you have subscribed or you're planning to.

[Ryan Gradusky]

After you hear this episode and giving.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Me a five star review on Apple or Spotify or you're planning to after.

[Ryan Gradusky]

This episode, I can announce that beginning next week, this podcast podcast will go.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

To two days a week instead of just once. I am very excited.

[Ryan Gradusky]

It's a lot of work.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

But I'm here because I want to bring you all the numbers behind the.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Narratives and I want you to be.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Able to form a different opinion than.

[Ryan Gradusky]

What you're just hearing on the news or social media. So I hope, I hope that beginning.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Next week, you'll join me twice a.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Week beginning in April. And once again, please like and subscribe this podcast.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

It really, really means a lot to.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Get us out there and hopefully you will never miss an episode twice a week starting the April, the April episodes. Speaking of episodes, let's get to this one.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

In 1972, Alice Cooper sang the lyrics of his most famous and iconic song, schools out for the Summer. Schools out forever. And on March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying the.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Department of Education is out forever.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yes, President Donald Trump signed the executive order directing the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to begin dismantling the Department of Education.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Now, I was walking in the park.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

With my best friend who's a schoolteacher and a pretty conservative Republican and a Trump supporter, and he said that he's nervous over what happens when the department.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Ends, what happens when it starts dismantling.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

What happens to the federal money and what's supposed to go to districts for things like special education, who's going to be handing, handling student loan debt. And then I have older relatives who are, you know, very conservative and they're like, this will end far left wokeism in our schools and we won't be behind other countries in math and reading anymore.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I think that it's important in.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

A time of big change to take a step back and evaluate the data. Where are we? What are we doing? And where are we going? I want to remind listeners that in the last four years, I founded the nation's largest super PAC dedicated to electing conservatives to school boards, the 1776 Project PAC. We supported hundreds of people across the country. So this is a very important issue that I'm actually decently informed on on America's education.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I hate the fact that people.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Bring it down to talking points because.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I think that there's a lot that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

We could do to improve education if.

[Ryan Gradusky]

We just really worked on it.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And I think the first step is to understanding it. So first, what is the state of America's education? This is an important part of the equation because both people on the left and the right of the political aisle say that education.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I'm talking about like K through 12, I'm not talking about college, but that K through 12 education is just.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Blatantly failing our kids and that we spend the most money in the world and that we're way behind everybody else. Are we? That's the question. Are we actually behind the rest of the world? This narrative that America is behind the rest of the globe comes from an international study called the Program for International.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Student Assessment, or pisa.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

It's run by an intergovernmental organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

[Ryan Gradusky]

You don't need to know that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

You need to know about Pisa. Pisa evaluates 690,000 15 year olds on their scholastic ability from different participating countries in a two hour long test and engages their skills in math, science and reading. Now, the important part of that sentence.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Is participating countries because all countries do.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Not participate in the pisa. In the international studies that sit there and say who's up and who's down, for instance, India, the second largest nation in the world, does not participate. The last time they did was in 2009 and they scored second to last. So they chose not to do it ever again. And I think it was actually just two of their most educated providences took the test and they still scored second.

[Ryan Gradusky]

To last, I think behind Kazakhstan.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Aside from India, almost all of China, I think, except for one or two.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Provinces do not take the exam.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Russia, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, Syria, almost the entire continent of Africa and a lot of south and Central America.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Pockets of south and Central America also do not participate in the test. So when we say it's a global test, it's missing most of the world's population.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Only 81 of 195 countries in the last 2022 test participated. So according to the 2022 PISA numbers, the United States ranked 9th in the world on reading, just behind Canada and ahead of New Zealand. We ranked 16th in science, ahead of Poland and right behind Great Britain. And our worst score was in math, where we're actually behind. International averages for 34th, behind Malta and ahead of Slovakia in every category. All top 10 countries are either from.

[Ryan Gradusky]

East Asia, Europe, or North America, with.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Singapore coming in first in every category. From 2000 to 2022, the best years the US scored internationally in reading and science was in 2022. Like, it's gotten better over this time, but we have fallen behind in math pretty significantly. Now, what I'm going to say next is extremely politically incorrect and very sensitive, but it is a reason. It is a very, very, very important reason why our test scores look different than other developed countries, and that is.

[Ryan Gradusky]

The racial gap in outcomes and the.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Racial gap in testing. From 2003 to 2015, white and Asian students basically scored close to the same number in math, around 500 points. Hispanic students scored 440. And black students were closer to 415 in reading. Once again, whites and Asians were close to the same, around 530 points, depending on the year. From 2003 to 2015, Hispanics were 460 and climbing. I mean, Hispanic numbers have been getting.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Up in that, but they still lag.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And so do blacks with around 440. The same is also true for science. So when the Pisa score in 2022.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Split the races of Americans races and.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Compare them to other countries. Asian Americans outperformed all other Asian majority nations. Outside Singapore. White Americans did better than every white majority country. Hispanic Americans outperformed all Latin American, all Latin countries, Latino majority countries. Black Americans outperformed all black and Caribbean majority countries. Our diversity brings us down, though, in overall testing when you parse through the data. But Americans are not at the bottom of the barrel, not by close. Asian Americans score the second highest in the world, as I said, only behind Singapore. And white Americans are seventh in the world. And one of the six ahead of them are Asian Americans.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Just, just Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and the one province in China really score ahead of them. I think it's important to highlight when discussing the United States, how the United States competes globally.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

It's not that our education system is perfect in any stretch of the imagination, but we are not ranking low globally as some people suggest. It's just not true.

[Ryan Gradusky]

But let's get to the States.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

When it comes to ranking how individual states performed, we're going to look at something called the National Assessment for Educational Progress, otherwise known as the neap. It tests kids in fourth and eighth grade reading and it just came out in January.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Their their annual Our best days for.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Reading and Math in both 4th and 8th grade is Massachusetts, with Florida, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Utah, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut and Minnesota all making the top five.

[Ryan Gradusky]

In either fourth or eighth grade reading. Which states perform the worst though?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And that is New Mexico. New Mexico is in dead last in.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Every category with other states like West.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Virginia, Alaska, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama, Delaware and Oklahoma also making the top five worst performing academic states in either fourth or.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Eighth grade, either reading or math.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I mentioned Massachusetts was number one in.

[Ryan Gradusky]

All categories, but what does that look like?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

It means that in the fourth grade, 41% of Massachusetts fourth graders were reading at or above proficiency level with 15% being advanced. 59% though were behind with 32% being severely behind. That's our best state is where 1 and 3 are severely behind. And in the eighth grade math, 13% of students were advanced, but over 60%, 60% of students were either behind or severely behind proficiency.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Once again, that's our best state.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

The 2024 NEAP scores showed us that the COVID lockdowns devastated students. The percentage of students below basic reading levels grew to 33%, the highest in 30 years. And while some students who are top achievers are still top achieving, remember when they do the Math Olympics, math Olympiads, whatever it's called, I was never invited to it. But the Math Olympics, America is always competing and we're winning a lot. So it's not like we don't have high performing students. We still do. They're still doing well. It's that kids that were on the cusp have fallen behind and those that were already failing are now way behind. They're at historic lows. Basically the median has declined because those on the bottom have fallen further from.

[Ryan Gradusky]

The bottom, while those at the top.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

End are still performing well.

[Ryan Gradusky]

They're still, they're still getting the gr.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

In fourth grade reading, students who score below basic NAEP like levels, proficiency levels cannot sequence events from a story or describe the effects of a character's actions. In eighth grade, students who score below basic basic comprehension cannot determine a main idea of a text or identifying differing sides of arguments. And while there are some improvements in math, it wasn't enough to offset what was lost in reading. Part of what's fueling this crisis is the percentage of kids chronically missing school has skyrocketed, with nearly a third of kids missing at least three days in the last month. And that brings me to my original premise with kids falling behind. Not, not in the rest of the world.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Not as bad as people sit there.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And say but they are falling behind in America. Especially since COVID What does it mean for education? As President Trump is preparing to close the Department of Education, many parents are.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Worried that these services that provided by the government will be cut and that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

States won't be able to do.

[Ryan Gradusky]

States will be able to do whatever they want. So like blue states will be hardcore left wing socialism and red states will.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Teach you that dinosaurs and humans walked.

[Ryan Gradusky]

The earth 2,000 years ago. I think that in order to take a breath and have a break from that kind of rhetoric, it's important to.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Realize what the Education Department of Education does and doesn't do. The DOE's primary function is to provide financial aid to students, collect data on American schools, make recommendations on educational reform and enforce anti discrimination laws. The Department of Education does not set.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Curricula, it doesn't set national standards and.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

It doesn't make academic standards. Anyone telling you that all woke ideology is coming out of this bureaucracy in Washington D.C. is not telling you the truth. There have been suggestions, it's made, there's been recommendations that it's made, it's attached to some aid.

[Ryan Gradusky]

But everything that is primarily happening in.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Your kids school, including standardized testing, is at the discretion of the states, the school board, the administrators and the individual teachers. So what's going to happen with it shutting down? Secretary McMahon did an interview with Face the Nation where she said the department's going to move its primary functions to other departments.

[Ryan Gradusky]

She said that the oversight over special.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Needs education move to the Department of Health and Human Services. Small Business Administration will take over federal student loans she said she believes will actually cut red tape and make and make it so that schools and needy students will get money faster than they had at the Department of Education. For those who can't imagine a country.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Without a Department of Education, I think.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

It'S important to remember that we didn't have one until 1979 when President Carter.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Created it as a gift to the.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Teachers union for backing him in the last election, the 1976 election in certain parts of the federal government's functions on education predates the creation of the Department of education. Like Title 1, Title 9, the education education for All Handicapped Children act data collection, all that happened way before Carter created the department. 1979. While I imagine there could be some disruption in the immediate change with federal department shifting gears and different departments taking over new roles that were part of the doe. I don't think there's going to be fundamental change like people think someone will dole out money for Title 1. Some department will protect Title 9 most. This issue of Education will remain local. In all of my experience of the 1776 Project PAC, speaking to literally hundreds of school board members and parents and.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Educators and everybody, there's a lot to.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Do in education that's essential. We we need to tackle the accreditation system. We need to have alternative associations for school board members. We need to review the technology that comes into classrooms and sells your kids data. We need to address the safety concerns and we need to focus on the science of reading and math and not about teaching that American history is something to be ashamed of. That's what's essential. That's not coming out of the department. That's going to be your local swamp, not the swamp in Washington, D.C. you're listening to it's a numbers game with Ryan Graduski.

[Ryan Gradusky]

We'll be right back.

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[Ryan Gradusky]

With me this week is my friend and colleague Aiden Bozzetti. He runs the non profit that I.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Sit on the board of the 1776 Foundation.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Aiden, thank you for being here.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Thank you for having me on, Ron.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Of course. So Aiden, let's start with the Department of Education. It's ending or it's closing its doors. Trump can't end it by executive order, but he's dismantling it.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

What do you think the biggest impact.

[Ryan Gradusky]

If any, will have on local school districts?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I think the majority of the impact on school districts in particular will be fairly limited to the grants with a lot of these DEI initiatives attached to them in the first place. A lot of the department's activity is focused on loans and state and local funding accounts for the vast majority, over 80% of funding for school districts. So I think as they start winding down certain programs in the department that will see less of an incentive for school districts to pursue equity policies and restorative justice policies that were tied to federal grants. But that's about it.

[Ryan Gradusky]

What, like can you. And if you don't know any top of your head, then that's fine. But do you know of any equity policies that the government spends on?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Well, the Prior administration, they. They listed equity as one of the broader requirements for all federal grants coming out of the department. And then some of them had more specific initiatives. I wouldn't be able to name all of them, but it is not uncommon for the federal fundings to have grants focused on equity or reviewing disciplinary practices with a focus on restorative justice and things like that. But those are mostly holdovers from the Biden.

[Ryan Gradusky]

That's what happened under Obama.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Right. And a lot of it did begin under the Obama administration, then continued with the Biden administration.

Well, specifically with the restorative justice. There was this old liberal notion that.

[Ryan Gradusky]

There was a pipeline, prison to school pipeline, that basically, you know, like the liberal Rhettic was like a black kid got detention once and now he's spending life in jail for smoking marijuana. Like, this was like the overall ridiculous narrative they were putting out. It wasn't exactly true. But the restorative justice thing that you're.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Talking about was they were saying if.

[Ryan Gradusky]

A student is Hispanic or black because there's a higher percentage of them to their overall population in prison, to be more lenient on them. And this is like the famous case now, is the.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Was the Sandy Hook shooting, right?

[Ryan Gradusky]

No, it's in Sandy Hook. It was the one in Florida, the Stone. Stone Douglas.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yes.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Memorial, whatever it was. That was in the Broward county shooting. That was the case where the student had multiple, multiple, multiple in fractures, including.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Bringing dead pets to school, talking about.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Abusing animals, talking about, you know, attacking other kids. And it was never. He had no disciplinary records.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

So when he went to go buy.

[Ryan Gradusky]

A gun, there was no, there was nothing for cops to sit there and.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Flag and say, oh, this kid could.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Be a problem, because it was all.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Brushed under the rug.

[Ryan Gradusky]

So that way, if he went on.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

To be arrested for something lighter later.

[Ryan Gradusky]

On, there would be no record of that he was. Had a history of problem, problematic behavior or anything.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And that philosophy, unfortunately, happens across hundreds, hopefully not thousands, but potentially thousands of school districts where they. They intentionally decide not to punish students, oftentimes because or due to their ethnicity, because they're worried about some kind of disparate impact or suspensions leading to a lifetime of them in prison for whatever particular reason. And that's one of the problems that school districts are dealing with now. Just these massive disciplinary issues with their students. It's something that we found everybody cares about, whether they're a parent or a teacher or a student. The disciplinary situation in a lot of schools across the US is horrible right now.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Before Aidan ran the 1776 Foundation.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

He worked for me at the 1776.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Project PAC and we would, Aiden was in charge of like meeting all the people who wanted to run for office. So he has talked to thousands of people about local education, which is, he was a godsend for me for taking.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

That on for me.

[Ryan Gradusky]

But what, what, what would shock us.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Often is how many red states and red districts have this problem.

[Ryan Gradusky]

There was one in Florida, super Republican county. Now I'm thinking of it.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Red, Red rip. Was it Red river or something like that? Red for county, I forget. Indian River. Indian River. Indian River, Florida. Yes.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Aiden is also got the only part of a brain that's working because mine doesn't anymore.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Indian River, Florida.

[Ryan Gradusky]

They had this, they had a desperate disparate impact on, on students based on.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

The race was not the case, right Aiden?

It was, it was racially based. They, they wanted, they wanted to do a one to one ratio on disciplinary infractions based on the race of the students. So, and I think that that district had a, had a higher proportion of minority students. So functionally it would mean that they would punish the non, non, minority students more or the minority populations less.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Overall. It's an Asian specifically more than blacks and Hispanics. It was, it was crazy. But it happens in red districts too. You know, you talk to, I said before, you talked to thousands of people who, running for school board who care local education.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

What's in your opinion the biggest misunderstanding in terms of rhetoric coming from talking.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Heads both liberal and conservative to what actually frustrates teachers and principals and parents at school boards?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yeah, I think on the conservative side, especially because of what a lot of parents saw during the pandemic, they have a large scale mistrust or distrust in teachers and administrators. And what we found is that especially in states like Louisiana, who I think was the only state really that defied the general decline in education in the United States, they actually gave more flexibility to teachers in the classroom. So they, they had, they overhauled their curriculum, but they also allowed the teachers to be a little more flexible and how they taught that curriculum in addition to providing other services. But a lot of teachers rebel on very strict rules, which is fine, and a lot of parents don't understand that. But I also think that in general people don't understand just how much the school board and the individual members and the administrators run the day to day operations and set those policies. Just because, for example, President Trump is doing all this action and sending out all these executive orders regarding the Department of Education does not mean that the issue has gone away. It has always been a local problem and people need to understand that it's going to take local solutions to root out a lot of these divisive issues.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Right. And I think that that's the. You mentioned it, mentioned it in your answer. Administrators and the frustration around administrators is what I would always hear the most often about people who are unelected, hired by.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Hired by superintendents to sit there and.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Make broad decision that really impacts teachers ability to teach in the classroom. And that would seem overwhelmingly frustrating that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

No one really ever talked. But people think it's always like the teachers being like the super progressive ones.

[Ryan Gradusky]

When in fact it's, I would say.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Nine times out of ten administrators making teachers do things they don't really want to do.

That's why having school board members who know how to oversee the superintendent and the administrators is so important. Because the superintendent is basically the CEO of a school district. They're doing most of the day to day work. School board members in their current form do oversight. They're basically the board of directors. Right. So they can set the policies and make sure the school district is going in the right direction. But the superintendent has a lot of flexibility and if you have the wrong person then they can lead to a lot of damage trickling all the way through the system.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I like the way you put that. Yeah. In school districts, school boards hire the.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Superintendents or renew their contracts. What is, from talking to parents, what.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Is the biggest concerns in local education today?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I think number one, the biggest concern that we've seen is concern over school safety. Not just from outside threats, but inside threats as well. But also generally students can't read. And I think more parents are waking up to the fact that their children can't read. And that's concerning. I mean we, we have to be able to read. We're a very, I would say so society. And, and you know, talking earlier about the. The school to prison pipeline, if your kids can't read, they're more likely to commit crime and end up in jail. So I think there's a broader awareness now with parents that one, schools aren't as safe as they used to be or should be, and two, that schools by and large are starting to fail.

[Ryan Gradusky]

We have had poor performance and we're not even in a situation where the kids are too big to get inside the school. Like what is this, a school for ants? How can the children learn to read if they can't inside the building? That's from Zoolander. If anyone's under the age of 25 and has never seen the movie anyway. Yeah, I completely agree with that. But what are the obstacles to innovation for most.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Let's say you have a great person.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Who wants to run for school board. They get elected.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

What are the biggest obstacles and the hurdles that we always see that you're.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Hearing now from running the foundation that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

School board members, well intentioned ones who.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Want to do the right thing are, are dealing with?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yeah, that's, that's an interesting question. I, I think, I would say from a structural standpoint, the education community has dealt with a lot of fads over the last couple decades.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Fads that haven't necessarily talk about some of these fads.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I mean.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Well, we, we used to teach site learning.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yeah. We used to teach teachers, you know, three cueing where they, they would point out, you know, the word on the page and connect it with a picture. And we know that doesn't work. It was the subject of a lot of debate several decades ago, but a lot of teachers still use it. So, so there are parts of the education system and teachers colleges that are still using outdated methods. But because. Right, because those stuck around so long and were so damaging. There's also some resistance in the, the community or the, the communities that are focused on education reform to looking at new opportunities as well. So that's a little bit of.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Wait, so what Aiden, what Aiden. Wait, wait. So what Aiden is talking about right now is in the 2000s we used to have something called phonics in a lot of classrooms back in like the 80s and 90s.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And then in the 2000s Bush was all about phonics.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And because Bush was evil, you know, to a lot of liberals, a lot.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Of liberals embrace something called sight learning, which is what Aiden mentioned.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And that's basically where kids would memorize the word and that's how they would apply it, but they wouldn't actually learn.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

The building blocks of sentence structure and word structure. It was a terrible form. We put it in all the teachers colleges.

[Ryan Gradusky]

We've adopted it in most of our states. It set kids back tremendously in reading. And teachers colleges, as Aiden said, still do it.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Teachers colleges are the root of so many educational issues.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Teachers colleges and teachers unions, because the teachers colleges are the woke progressive places and the unions are what, in my opinion, thorough a lot of innovation. Because unions represent their workers, they don't represent their students.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

That's true. And you know, Florida's done something interesting and that they, they've started to, I think they passed a bill that required teachers Unions to recertify. So it gives the individual teachers in the district a little bit more power on whether or not they want to affiliate with the union. And then if they don't hit a certain threshold, then the union has to dissolve. So that's one way that Florida in particular has been pushing back on the teachers unions, which has been really interesting to see. But yeah, the teachers unions, they, they defend their interests, which is, you know, the really the, the union administrators, not necessarily the teachers, which I think has been problems with, or the problem with a lot of these public sector units. In the first place, they haven't really pushed for substantive reform. They want to make sure that teachers are protected in their jobs. So when conservatives try to fix the system by introducing a bit more personal accountability for teachers, they start screaming and fight really hard against it.

[Ryan Gradusky]

If you were advising a school board, let's say all five members, or seven members, whatever the number is, were elected and came to you and said, hey.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

We want you to help us change. What are three things a local government.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Could do, a local school board could do to make their education policies better? And I know everything's personalized and different.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

But an overall thing.

Yeah, that's a good question. I think the first thing that we're actually starting to see now is I would tell them to do a comprehensive overview on what exactly is in their curriculum and how much are they paying people to pull it together. A lot of these school boards have massive budgets, sometimes in billions and billions of dollars. So making sure that they know where the money is going and what exactly they're paying for is very important when you're looking at the progress of the school district. I would also inform them to set up a way to track progress with the superintendent and introduce a little bit more administrative accountability. Like I said before, the superintendent really is the CEO and the board is just there to make sure that everything stays on track. But I think that they can really introduce a culture of accountability and progress that a lot of school districts. And the third thing is I would make sure that the school board actually engages parents on a regular basis. That's not necessarily strictly a policy change, but having parental input in the school board is extremely important, especially now because so many people don't trust public schools. And if you're able to engage parents and see how certain policies affect the day to day lives of those families and their kids, then you'll be able to get a really good handle on what exactly is and isn't working district.

So what does the 1776 foundation do.

[Ryan Gradusky]

What is your goal from the nonprofit?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yeah, so our goal on the nonprofit is to really form a foundation for attorney school districts around in a positive way. We have when I was working with the 1776 Project PAC and I was talking with parents and school board candidates from coast to coast across the country, we found that basically everybody is dealing with the same problems. It differs of course from state to state depending on the laws there. But broadly speaking, everyone is dealing with the same issues. And so our goal is to get school board members from across the country connected. We want to get them mentorship and start providing them resources to actually turn their school districts around and take that successful model and make sure other people can adopt it as well.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Aiden, that's great. Where can people go to read more about what your stuff and the foundation?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Yeah. So I visit the foundation's website, foundation176.org and you can follow me on Twitter at Aiden A I D E N Bazetti B U Z Z E T.

[Ryan Gradusky]

T I the great Aiden Bezetti, one of my favorite people I've ever worked with. Aiden, thank you for being on this week's podcast. Hey, we'll be right back after this.

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[Aiden Bozzetti]

Now it's time for.

[Ryan Gradusky]

The Ask Me Anything segment of the show where I take questions from my audience about literally anything. And if you want to be part of the Ask Me Anything segment, you.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Can email ryan@NumbersGame podcast.com that's Ryan. Numbers. Plural numbers. Numbers game podcast.com and maybe next week I'll be reading your questions. Our question this week comes from Julie.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Which is hi Ryan, I found out.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

About you through your appearances with the Buck Sexton show, which was great leading up to the election. Thank you Julie. I read your article, your article in the Spectator about the Desantis failed presidential run. My question is whether you think he has another shot in 2028. What would need to change and do.

[Ryan Gradusky]

You think he can rebound? So what? Julie first of all, Julie, thank you.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

For listening to the podcast. Thank you for reading my articles.

[Ryan Gradusky]

What I would say what Julie's talking.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

About was in 2023 I was invited.

[Ryan Gradusky]

To a meeting with or was the.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Beginning of 2020 no coming 20. It was 2023. 2023. I was invited to a meeting in Tallahassee with, quote, unquote, influencers who were thinking about supporting DeSantis. This was in, I think, March of 2023. March or early, early April, but it.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Was one of the two.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And she was.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I was invited, along with like a.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Dozen or so, quote, unquote, I hate the term influencers.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I don't call myself an influencer, but.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

They did, so I'll use the term. I was invited to Tallahassee with a bunch of influencers to meet the governor, meet the team, and talk about what running for president was like.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And it was supposed to be a.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Completely off the record meeting.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I went there and I was a loudmouth like I always am.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I can't help myself. I do this for a living, running elections and campaigns.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And what I have learned from being.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

A consultant for the last two decades.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Is that you have to be bluntly honest with people.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And I don't mince words, and I don't have time.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And if you want someone who will just be a yes man and kiss your rear end, there's a million people you could hire. But I. I'm not one of them. I, I would be much further along.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

In my career had I done that, but I just don't do it. I don't have the time or the energy.

[Ryan Gradusky]

So, anyway, we go to this meeting, I meet the team, they sell me on their big bag of nonsense, and then we go to meet the governor. And I was like, the sec.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I told all the influencers when we.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Walked in the room, listen, the governor's.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Not where he was in November when he was leading in the polls against Trump.

[Ryan Gradusky]

You have to be very honest with.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Him that things are not going well and that he neither needs to run, like officially run and run hard or not run.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I told him that he looks. I, I used the word. I said, you look like a.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

As Trump attacks you and you don't say anything back to him.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I told him that his book was not good because it did.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Was not aspirational.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I told him that he needed to connect more with working class people.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

By talking about his background as a working class person.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I think I specifically said to him.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

As smart as you are and as.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Good at playing baseball as you were.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

When you were younger, you would probably not get into an Ivy League school.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Today because you're a white straight man.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And they are discriminated against white straight men at these universities. And you should address that by speaking about Your own experience.

[Ryan Gradusky]

This is pre Harvard case. And anyway, we had the meeting, then we had a dinner afterwards with the team. The governor. The governor was lovely, by the way. His wife was lovely. I have nothing bad to say about them. He's a great governor.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

But that was the meeting.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And then we went to the meeting.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

With the team afterwards. I was very unimpressed by what the team was saying.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And the general consultant said to me, like, during dinner, was like, so what do you think?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And I said, I think we're at.

[Ryan Gradusky]

An Irish funeral, waiting for the body to drop.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Like, I was not optimistic about what was going on. I was like, this is not. Like, I have no idea why anyone's.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Like, celebrating right now. So. And then I had one more call.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I never worked for the Santa's campaign, by the way.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I think it's important to say, like.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

People have accused me of working for Desantis. I never did that.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I never took him check.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I never. I went to two meetings and I just gave them my best advice.

[Ryan Gradusky]

That's the only thing I ever done. And that's what I think people. And I gave them the professional advice I would give anybody. The meeting ends. And then I got a call from.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

The reporter several months later, basically repeating what I had said during this meeting. It was an off the record meeting.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I had told, by the way.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I told all these. All these quote unquote influencers who love Desantis. Hey, you need to be harsh. You need to tell them the truth. And the minute after I was speaking, I was the second person to speak. Speak. The minute after I was done speaking.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Everyone was like, you're so great.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

You're so wonderful. You're so great. You're so wonderful.

[Ryan Gradusky]

No one was telling the truth, and no one was having an honest conversation. One of the influencers were like, we.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Need to talk about trans children. I'm like, what the f are you all talking about?

[Ryan Gradusky]

Like, immigration, crime, the economy, like, rinse, cycle, repeat, anyhow, whatever. Deeply frustrated.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And the reporter had called and knew.

[Ryan Gradusky]

What I had said and wanted me to go on record.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

So I said, f this it with everyone's leaking about what I said. And I didn't leak anyone's name. I'm going to just tell the story from my perspective, what I actually said. And that's why I wrote the Spectator article. That's a very long winded way of saying of what happened.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Anyway, we do. I think he has a chance to run in 2028. No, because people's window to run for.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

President is Very, very small. Had Chris Christie not run. Had Chris Christie run in 2012, I don't know if he would have been the party's nominee.

[Ryan Gradusky]

He would.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Had a very good shot of being the party's nominee. He had virtually no shot by 2016.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And he had really no shot by.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

2024 when he ran again.

[Ryan Gradusky]

20, yeah. 2024, when he ran again.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Your window to be the new kid in town, to be the shiny new toy, to be the one who has.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Earned it, is literally very minimal.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

You have to know when it happens, and you have to do it. Had George W. Bush waited four years or done it four years during Bill.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Clinton's time, he likely would have never become president. You know, it's just if it had.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Clinton done it right after he was defeated in his first gubernator, second gubernatorial election, he likely wouldn't have gotten it. So there are just times you have to do it, and you. If you don't do it when. When it's the time. And I think DeSantis's time was 2024. I don't. I. I think if he wanted to run, that was his only time to run. But he ran, and he didn't do well. And I think he didn't do well because. And what I said to his team and what I said to him was, your whole message is about Florida. I don't ever want to live in Florida. I don't like humidity.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I really like cold weather.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

I'm a Northeasterner. I talk fast. I'm aggressive.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I'm abrasive. I am a Northeasterner.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

That's who I am. It's part of my identity. I want to live in the Northeast. What are you going to do? For me as someone who lives somewhere like Pennsylvania or Michigan or New York or wherever, you have to sell a national vision for where you're taking this country. It can't only be Florida, the free state of Florida, over and over and.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Over and over again.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And I think that that was missing.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I think that his failure to connect to people in a way that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Made them feel like they knew him.

[Ryan Gradusky]

You know, everyone says, oh, he's so.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Icy, or he's so smart and so he's a little cold. I would have leaned more heavily into that when he. There was a time, the campaign trail.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Where he said to a kid like, oh, that.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

That ice cream is a lot of sugar.

[Ryan Gradusky]

People were like, oh, you know, look at him. He's so autistic.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

No, I would have leaned into it. I think that's great.

[Ryan Gradusky]

I think that's actually who he is.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

And he should have leaned into that, but it was very weird and he just didn't do I mean, Nikki Haley outperformed him and she, her campaign was on just absolutely nowhere in, in the summer, in, in 2023 when she first ran. So I don't think that he can rebound. I think that history is littered with great men who would have been great.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Presidents, and Ron DeSantis will be one.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Of them because he would have been a great president. But I just don't see that that's possible in the future. And I, from my knowledge, there's only been one former vice president who sought out his party's nomination and didn't get.

[Ryan Gradusky]

It, and that was Mike Pence in 2024.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Every other time a vice president has sought his party's nomination, he's it.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And J.D.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Vance, if he pursues his party's nomination, he's most likely going to receive it. So that would push the can back to at least 2028 or further.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And by then, no one's going to remember Covid.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

No one's going to remember any of these things or the war on woke.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Or, you know, they're just not. It's just time has passed and I.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Wish him well, I wish him the best and I think he'd be, you know, great in almost anything because he's.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Such a fabulous governor.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

But I just don't think being present is probably in the cards for him.

[Ryan Gradusky]

And I don't think that he can rebound from that. But who knows?

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think I am. But that's my best. My, that's my personal take on that. Anyway, thank you so much for your email, Julie. And once again, if you want to.

[Ryan Gradusky]

Be part of this segment and this.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Show, please email me. Ryan numbers game podcast.com thank you again.

[Ryan Gradusky]

For listening this week. Like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Aiden Bozzetti]

Thank you.

[Ryan Gradusky]

See you guys next week at David's Bridal.

[Clorox Representative]

Love is in every stitch. From the initial sketch to the final details. Each style is designed with exquisite craftsmanship. Every wedding gown, bridesmaid look, prom dress and special occasion style. In between features handcrafted details filled with love. Come see the magic in person. Book an appointment and sign up for diamond loyalty to save 15% on your first purchase, earn points towards special rewards and [e-mail].

[Thrivent Representative]

For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves, loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent Where Money means more Connect with [e-mail] Stop hitting snooze on new tech.

[Colgate Palmolive Representative]

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[Clorox Representative]

Clorox Sentiva smells like grapefruit, cleans like Clorox, and feels like y.

Okay, we could be here all day. Try Clorox Scentiva for a trusted clean with long lasting freshness. Also available in lavender and coconut. Use as directed.