The Learning Curve Alisha Searcy
[00:00:00] Albert Cheng: Well, hello everybody and welcome to a brand new episode of the Learning Curve podcast. I’m one of your co-hosts this week, Albert Cheng. Co-hosting with me is Helen Baxendale. Helen, nice to have you back on the show. Thank you Albert. Always fun to spend time with you. That’s right. Well thanks for, uh, taking some time to do this. As I understand it, great hearts has started school, at least in at least some of the schools in various states.
[00:00:44] Helen Baxendale: Yes, in Arizona, we’re back this week and then I think Louisiana School this Thursday as well, and Texas next week. So this poor kids, their summer’s already over.
[00:00:54] Albert Cheng: That’s right. The seasons are changing, so wish everybody listening.
[00:00:57] Well, if you’re starting a new school year, hope it’s a smooth start. And if you have kids starting a new class, we’re hoping for a good year. We’ve got an exciting show, Helen. Actually, you know, one of the reasons you’re co-hosting, we’ll just let the cat outta the bag is because Alisha Thomas Searcy is our guest. We’re gonna get to interview her and learn about a new enterprise that she’s just started a center for strong. Public schools. So I’m looking forward to hearing more from her.
[00:01:25] Helen Baxendale: Yes, it’s a, a fun change of roles to have her in the guest seat this week. And, uh, I saw her new initiative, got a little coverage in the New York Times yesterday from ah dana Goldstein, so it’ll, it’s very topical and timely to have her in and learn a bit more about this new center.
[00:01:44] Albert Cheng: Speaking of the New York Times, Helen, I know you and I have both seen the opinion piece by Dr. Jennifer Frey, who we both know. This is who’s really driving the decline in interest in liberal arts education, and so I think she is provoked several readers to even respond and write letters to the editor.
[00:02:01] I have some thoughts about it. I know, I’m sure you do too. You know, I’m actually, first of all, I was just unfamiliar with all the things that have transpired at the University of Tulsa where Dr. Frey, just a few years ago, kind of re restructured and revamped the Honors College to do a, a strong, you know, great books and liberal arts education program.
[00:02:21] I mean, you can read about the kinds of things that she did there, and it seems to be exciting endeavor I’ve met. Several parents who were excited to potentially send their kids to the University of Tulsa if that program was still going like that. But I don’t know about you. I was, I was surprised to learn that she’s parted ways with the University of Tulsa.
[00:02:41] And you know, this is probably the first. Public piece, I guess I’ve seen about the situation. So I’m actually less familiar than, than probably some others. But I don’t know if you were in the loop about this and
[00:02:53] Helen Baxendale: I certainly followed it closely because as you mentioned, you know, professor Frey is a, uh, prominent advocate for liberal arts education, great books, education, and she has been a great friend of K 12.
[00:03:07] Classical liberal arts education as well. So she has been in the Great Hearts orbit and a frequent guest at our national conference over recent years. So we followed what happened at the University of Tulsa with, with some interest and certainly sadness, like you mentioned, our, but we’ve certainly had students who have both gone to the Honors College under her, under the period where she presided and had excellent experiences and, and we’re hoping to send more.
[00:03:35] So I don’t have any special insight insights other than to say what appears to have transpired is, you know, a change in administration. I think there was a president who was a sort of a patron of the honors college who left, and then I think also a provost who may have left. There’s been turnover in the administration and then under the new dispensation, they, they don’t seem to have the same level of support.
[00:04:00] An investment in the Honors College. And so unfortunately, professor Frey and her, in my view, you know, superb model have sort of been moved on. I’m sure she will land on her feet. She is a, you know, a great talent with a significant national following, but it is a, in my view, a unqualified loss for the University of Tulsa.
[00:04:21] Albert Cheng: Yeah, well, you know, I’ve been a part of this kind of churn and turmoil that that happens in higher ed more than once, where, you know, changes in leadership, changes in direction, and these are always challenging to navigate. And Dr. Frey has articulated. You know, quite the, the amazing vision of what she’s done.
[00:04:40] And I guess there’s people debate and, and quibble over, you know, to what extent that she realized that vision. But, you know, if we were to take her word for it as, as is described in the article, that seemed like a very special program where, you know, she mentioned, uh, the students, you know, living together in an intentional community gathering around books and, you know, small seminar style classes where, where you have a chance to.
[00:05:03] Really dig into the text. I mean, I know this is a great hearts model. Um, you know, so I’m sure it’s something you’re, you’re very familiar with. And so I, I think this kind of underscores the challenge of one, the effort it takes to build new institutions to pursue some of these ideals. And then the secondary challenge of sustaining them and, you know, how do we ensure that the things we build last, not just for a couple years or with the changing of leadership, but are things that will last from generation to generation. So I think, I think that issue certainly came to my mind.
[00:05:41] Helen Baxendale: Yes, certainly. I mean, especially when you’re doing something that is counter-cultural as I think it’s fair to say what she was. Doing was its longevity is is always a question. There’s interesting, the, the article, her op-ed in the Times provoked quite a bit of response in the letters pages, broadly very sympathetic.
[00:06:00] Albert Cheng: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:06:01] Helen Baxendale: You know, I think across the board, conservatives, liberals, those at private and public institutions recognize that something. Sirius has been lost. Mm-hmm.
[00:06:11] In humanities education in particular in recent decades. You know, there are these outposts, you know, throwbacks to an earlier era, and I think to some extent what Dr. Frey was doing was a sort of revival exercise, but there was also an interesting letter from someone at the University of Tulsa. That’s right.
[00:06:29] That’s making. Making, I guess the predictable argument that the finances of such a model where you have, you know, smaller group teaching, intensive seminar and so on, make it a harder program, a more expensive program to run. I am somewhat skeptical of this line of questioning, and so far as I don’t think these programs have to be especially expensive.
[00:06:53] Yeah. But I hope that, you know, we can see that there is superior value here. Yeah. And that’s really should be the question is are we getting value for money? Yeah. As opposed to just what is the spend per pupil and Sure.
[00:07:05] Albert Cheng: Well, look, Helen, I mean, I think there’s, there’s lots to talk about here, but I’ll, I’ll give you the last word on this.
[00:07:11] Helen Baxendale: Well, thanks Albert. I think probably the most interesting aspect of this whole saga and Dr. Frey’s op-ed is her contention that it wasn’t students who had forsaken liberal arts study and serious contemplation of, you know, big ideas and great books. It was in fact the administrators who were, I suppose, easily demonized as a kind of faceless carter of utilitarians.
[00:07:35] But I suppose also her argument plays to my, you know, biases on all of this. But. An interesting case study, certainly, and he’s hoping she’s right that that amongst the current crop of students, there is a hunger for these sorts of programs, and I hope more of them crop up in that she finds a birth at another institution and can start doing this good work again.
[00:07:56] Albert Cheng: Yeah, we wish her and the University of Tulsa the best of success in the forthcoming years. Pleasure talking about that story. But coming up, we’ve got the main events, uh, our very own Alisha Thomas Searcy, who’s gonna come talk to us about her new enterprise, the Center for Strong Public Schools. So stick around after this break.
[00:08:17] Alisha Thomas Searcy is the founder of the Center for Strong Public Schools and a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute. She was the 2022 Democratic nominee for Georgia State School. Superintendent Alisha is a former six term state legislator in Georgia, was co-author of the state’s constitutional amendment to create a state charter authorizer and author of the state’s inter-district transfer law.
[00:08:54] Alisha is former superintendent of Ivy Prep schools in Atlanta. She was featured as an expert in major publications, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, cspan, Georgia Trend, Marie Claire, Ebony, and Essence Magazines. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Kennesaw State University. Well, Alisha, welcome to the show, but this time in the guest seat, real treat to have you here.
[00:09:23] Alisha Searcy: Thank you. I am super excited about being the guest and I appreciate the opportunity to be here.
[00:09:28] Albert Cheng: Alright, so as we usually do, I mean, look, some of our listeners probably know a lot about you, but let’s do it just in case some don’t.
[00:09:35] So look, you’ve described yourself as a product of public school choice and have said in the past that those educational opportunities changed the trajectory of your life. Share with our listeners, what were those formative educational experiences and how have they shaped your passionate advocacy for public education reform?
[00:09:56] Alisha Searcy: For sure. So many people don’t know that I grew up in Miami, Florida, product of Miami-Dade public schools, and I got a great education and my parents, my mom in particular was very big on, you know, exposure and making sure that my brother and I had access to opportunities. And she may not have used that language, but that’s really what it was.
[00:10:17] And so I am a product of public school choice from the middle school. School, or I should start with elementary. I went to an elementary school that was probably 15 or 20 minutes away from my house. It was not the one I was zoned to go to, but I went on what was then called a minority to majority transfer.
[00:10:35] And so it was a predominantly white, actually Jewish school. And I learned so much about other cultures, other religions, had a great public education. Elementary. That’s where I discovered my talent for the art. And I went into middle and high school doing performing arts, so middle school was a magnet school, high school was performing arts.
[00:10:56] We had to audition to get into both of those programs, and again, in addition to having that exposure to the arts and really getting top training in theater and musical theater, I got exposure again to different cultures and religions, languages. And so it really shaped who I became as a person. My appreciation for lots of different people and of course gave me a great public education, so I was very prepared for college.
[00:11:25] And so those are the experiences that really shaped how I see public education and the possibilities for kids, because I’m sure that if it were not for those public school choices, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
[00:11:38] Helen Baxendale: Alisha, it’s great to be with you again. I wondered if we could continue the biographical background just for a little bit.
[00:11:46] Again, if our listeners aren’t aware, one of the more remarkable things about you was that you were just 23 years old when you made history as the first African American to be elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from Cobb County. You know, most 23 year olds are still kind of. Working out how to make their way in the world.
[00:12:04] And yet you, you got yourself elected to the Georgia House. What prompted you to do that at such an early age, and could you tell us a little bit about the lessons you learned during your six terms in the house, and particularly the time you spent working on education policy questions.
[00:12:20] Alisha Searcy: Sure. While I was in high school, I got involved with the NAACP.
[00:12:25] You know, there’s this pattern here of my mom saying, Hey, you’re now gonna do this. So literally one day she was like, put on your shoes. You’re going to the NAACP meeting. And I was like, the what? So I took a book. I’m like, I’m sure I’m gonna be bored from all these old people. Let me just, you know, go and do what my mom says to do.
[00:12:43] But I got there, Helen, and my mind was blown because it was. All young people, they were running the meetings and the so-called old people were sitting in the back as advisors. And so my mind opened up then to leadership, community engagement, voter empowerment, education, juvenile justice, all of those things.
[00:13:03] And so I later became the president of that youth council and we went to our first school board meeting because I was trying to get an African American heritage club at my high school. My principal wouldn’t let me, so I went to the school board like, doesn’t every 16-year-old go to the school board when they want something?
[00:13:22] These are the experiences that were shaping me and my mindset about using my voice and getting involved and understanding how politics and policy work. I didn’t get the club while I was there, but it did come to the school once I graduated, so I’ll consider that a victory. But after I left high school and came to Atlanta to go to college, I stayed involved with NAACP and other groups, and then I moved to Cobb County once I graduated college, got involved in the community and was at that time doing a lot of like voter registration, voter empowerment type work.
[00:13:59] And then Helen, it just came together for me. I remember being in a community meeting. And they kept talking about education, how the schools weren’t working and we needed something done, and they couldn’t get the elected officials to respond to their, you know, messages. So I just said, you know what, even though I’m, you know, 22, 23, I think I need to run for office, I need to be in that seat to press that button and to help create policy that’s gonna work for the kids in our community.
[00:14:29] One day I’ll be a parent and I’ll want some options. And so that’s how it started. And ran and at the time did not realize what a feat that was going to be On another show, I’ll talk about like the residency challenge that I had and we lost and then won on appeal and it was crazy, but you know, it was a group of.
[00:14:49] People under 25 that were, you know, helping to run my campaign. And we did it knocked on a lot of doors and convinced people to vote for this young girl. So I ended up being elected and the first African American, as you said, and served for six terms and I spent most of that time working on education stuff.
[00:15:10] Did a little bit of juvenile justice work, but mostly education. I learned a lot of things. One is that all parents, regardless of their income zip code, they all want their kids to have access to a high quality education. And that was my driver for doing public school choice for any of the other things that I worked on.
[00:15:30] Like what can I do to make sure parents have options and have access to high quality schools? I learned that. Education policy is made with the best of intentions, you know, regardless of the party affiliation. I think we all want schools to work. It’s how we approach it, you know, that’s different. I also realize that even though we have good intentions, if you’re not really engaging in schools, like in the moment, you may not know and understand what teachers.
[00:16:01] You know what administrators, what students are dealing with. So that was an important lesson for me to learn, which I learned the hard way once I became a superintendent. Another lesson that I learned was that education can really be political, and that it sounds naive to say, of course it’s political, everything is, but even when you have the right intentions and want to get good policy passed, the politics gets involved.
[00:16:27] And I think of public charter schools as an example. That when you look at the thousands of kids who are on waiting lists to get into public charter schools, you would think that both parties would be supportive of that policy and wanting to see more schools open. But that’s not the case because the politics get involved.
[00:16:45] ’cause there’s a question about are there gonna be teachers unions at the schools and are they gonna have more flexibility and where are they gonna be located? And all of those things end up being political conversations and it takes away from. What’s best for kids. Another lesson that I learned is the importance of bipartisanship.
[00:17:03] And again, in this day and age, that sounds really naive, but I found that I had a lot of success as a legislator in a Republican controlled legislature because I was willing and able to work with Republicans and get things done on behalf of kids. And so I think bipartisanship is really the key to getting things done.
[00:17:25] And then the final lesson. Is that the state board plays a really critical role in state policy because you can pass really good laws, or at least the best you can do after it’s gone through the sausage making process. But if you have a state board that doesn’t agree with that law, they’re not passing the right rules around it, it’s not being implemented correctly.
[00:17:47] You could run into some serious problems.
[00:17:50] Albert Cheng: Well, I mean, Alisha, you learned quite a bit and I got to just interject here and say, you know, Aristotle would be very proud who, um, it is. Wichita Nicom ethics said he prohibited young people from studying political science because they had not experienced enough life.
[00:18:05] But, uh, you seem to have, uh, acquired lots of wisdom quickly. Yes. In your tenure there, let’s keep talking about your tenure. We’ve talked about how you’ve authored some of Georgia’s most important education laws, the in district transfer law, and then the State Charter Commission discuss some of these policy wins.
[00:18:23] And in particular, I wanna, I wanna bring in your new center here. How do these policies demonstrate the kind of student centered leadership you’re trying to cultivate at CSPS?
[00:18:35] Alisha Searcy: Yes, thank you for asking that. What I didn’t mention yet, and should mention now is that this week we’ve launched two new national organizations Center for Strong Public Schools and Center for Strong Public Schools Action Fund.
[00:18:51] So the Center is a C3 non-partisan tax exempt organization that we are focused on policy on convening thought leaders and convening elected officials. And on the C four, which is the action fund, we are a political organization. We are lobbying, we are helping folks get elected, et cetera. And so when you talk about these policy wins that I had in the legislature, whether it was for the charter schools in terms of creating a state charter commission, which was a constitutional amendment, whether it was passing inter-district transferring.
[00:19:28] Those became controversial issues and very political as I mentioned before. One quick story I’ll share is when we were working on the inter-district transferring law, at one point when the bill got to the Senate, someone had added inter-district where you could go outside your school district, and one of my colleagues said to me, and he was on the other Sydor, the aisle.
[00:19:53] He said, Alisha, I’m just gonna be honest with you. I can’t vote for this because the folks back home don’t want certain kids in our schools. And I will never forget that moment. I was stunned because you kind of hear that these things happen.
[00:20:07] Albert Cheng: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:07] Alisha Searcy: But he was. You know, bold enough to say it to my face, and I appreciated the truth and the honesty to help me to understand what the real barriers were for his particular district.
[00:20:19] Doing that kind of work was hard and sometimes it was isolating and when in my case, you’re a Democrat in a Republican controlled legislature, at the time there was more bipartisanship and Republicans were kind of leading more on the. Quote, unquote, reform issues. I was isolated and lonely. I didn’t necessarily have a place from a policy standpoint to go and say, here are the best policies.
[00:20:45] We are an organization that is aligned with your values in terms of being center left. Here are the policies that would work. I didn’t really have anywhere to go. And so I had to figure out whether it was Alec, an organization that works with conservatives or some other group, how do I take what they’re doing, make it work for my district?
[00:21:03] Mm-hmm. Or align with my values. And so this work with the Center for Strong Public Schools is exactly that. It’s a home for elected officials where I get to do things for them that weren’t done for me. I get to say, here’s a place where as a center left person, or you sort of subscribe to the progressive values.
[00:21:25] Here’s a place where we can give you good policy that it is equitable. It is about access. It is about making sure that every child has access to high quality public schools regardless of their background. So that’s the C3. Work. On the C four more political work. I also get to say. Hey, you’re a Democrat and you took that tough vote and you might’ve had to vote with Republicans, or you might’ve had some consternation from your members of your caucus because you voted on this particular bill.
[00:21:56] But here’s some political support. I’m gonna donate to your campaign. I have resources to do independent expenditures. You are gonna know that somebody has your back. And so those policy wins came with a lot of. Now there are scars because those wounds have healed, but I will never forget what it felt like in those moments, and I don’t want folks to feel like that again.
[00:22:20] The last thing that I’ll say, Albert, is the state constitutional amendment, which was probably the biggest political feat I’ve ever been a part of, was also very bruising. And some could argue that I probably would’ve had a better chance, if not one state school superintendent the first time I ran in 2014.
[00:22:40] But I couldn’t make it out of the primary because of my support for public charter schools. Hmm. And now it feels different because, you know, they’re more accepted. But I always say that I would much rather the thousands of students who now have access to public charter schools have those opportunities than a new title for me.
[00:23:01] Or a new political position. I recognize that my legacy is not about how many elections I’ve won or lost. It’s about how many kids’ lives will be changed forever because of public school choice.
[00:23:14] Albert Cheng: I spoken like a true statesman.
[00:23:19] Helen Baxendale: Let’s pick up on that, Alisha. ’cause in fact, it did result in a new title for you, just not a political one.
[00:23:25] You moved out of the legislature and you became school superintendent and led a network of public charter schools in metro Atlanta. What did that experience teach you about the day-to-day realities of running excellent schools and how does that. On the ground experience now inform the work that you’re hoping to do at C-S-P-S-N-C-S-P-S action.
[00:23:46] Alisha Searcy: And thank you for saying that because yes, it did lend to a new title during that period of my life. And I went through Broad Superintendent’s Academy and really trained as a superintendent, and it was one of the best experiences of my life and one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had. And what I learned from that was, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, the importance of understanding what actually happens in schools.
[00:24:09] While I had the best of intentions in the legislature to pass a really good teacher evaluation law, when we had to implement it when I was superintendent, I realized that how it was implemented was not what we intended, and it ended up being. You know more about, let me just check the box. Instead of giving teachers real feedback and improving their performance.
[00:24:31] And the same thing for school leaders. And so what I learned from that experience is again, making sure that policymakers understand what happens in the day-to-day operations of schools. I also recognize that, and this is gonna be controversial to some folks, having the experience as a superintendent.
[00:24:52] You really need to understand not just schools and instruction, you need to understand business community engagement budgets. And one of the reasons why we were able to be successful in the network of schools that I ran is because I had that other experience. So I could put someone who was an instructional leader, you know, as leads of all of the schools.
[00:25:15] I could focus on the structures, how to make sure we had the right curriculum in place, board management, community engagement, making sure that the laws, you know, were being followed, that we were raising student achievement and we had the leadership in place, the vision to move students. And so. One of our elementary schools, for example, their state, we call it the C-C-R-P-I, college and Career Ready Performance Index.
[00:25:42] Their C-C-R-P-I score was a 43 when I got there. By second year, we got that up to an 85. We did that because again, I knew the things to focus on. And so what I learned from that experience is when we talk about superintendents across the country, having classroom experience is really important, and that’s great.
[00:26:02] Having leadership experience as a principal is great, but when we’re hiring superintendents, we need people who also have that business experience, that leadership, that budgeting. Community engagement, all of those experiences that also help you to truly lead a business and institution. And I know we don’t like using the word business when it comes to education, but those skills are very important for you to be successful.
[00:26:28] Albert Cheng: Alisha, I mean, you’re, uh, observing and describing something that I’ve, I’ve always shared as well. I mean, we gotta beef up our ed leadership training programs to cover some of these other skills. Yes. You know, I want to get into some of the more nitty gritty of what you’re gonna be doing with CSPS and CSPS action.
[00:26:44] Some of the states you’re gonna be in. Look, I mean, we’re kind of at a time where federal education leadership is waning, and you and I have talked a bunch on the show about what’s going on at the Democratic party. I mean, approval ratings are declining and the majority of Americans are, are believing that public education’s heading in the wrong direction.
[00:27:02] So why now? Why launch these organizations now, and how do you see these organizations addressing some of these challenges?
[00:27:11] Alisha Searcy: I think this is the most critical time. There’s clearly a concerted effort from the federal level, and they’ve been very clear that their goal is to dismantle the Department of Public Education, which then, of course has a direct impact on public education period.
[00:27:27] And when you have that, plus the fact that overall voters generally trust Democrats more on education, this creates an opportunity for organizations like mine. To have more of a voice when we talk about on the C3 side, our policy agenda, and we can talk a little bit more about that in terms of what we wanna do with teachers and, you know, science of reading and safe schools.
[00:27:54] And there are a number of issues that we care a lot about. This is an agenda that I think voters can get behind. Mm-hmm. And this is, I think, you know, and of course I live and breathe education, y’all know that. I think education is the issue that we can unite people around and we can get voters back. And for Center for Strong public Schools, what is so critical right now is for us to be a strong voice for the center left.
[00:28:21] For as we have all of these folks who are working to dismantle or privatize or there are so many attacks, there’s gotta be a voice that stands up for public education and not only protects the right of students to have access to this public education, but can also be a voice to help reimagine and.
[00:28:41] Re-envision what public education should be, what it could be. And so I think that’s why this is a critical time for these two organizations to grab this lane specifically for elected officials, specifically to do the work at the state level, and specifically to speak for the center left and the values that we have.
[00:29:03] Helen Baxendale: Thanks, Alisha. I’m interested in the geographic focus that you have identified for CSPS. You have named your native state of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas as the places where you are going to focus your initial efforts. And you describe these as places where quote, the threats to undermine public education and the opportunities to strengthen it are greatest.
[00:29:27] Can you give us a little background on, on each of these states and. Give us some of your insight on the kind of shape of things in the South, and why is state level advocacy so important right now? Sure.
[00:29:41] Alisha Searcy: I thought about the fact that a second ago, I said, y’all so clearly, I live in Georgia. I grew up in Florida care a lot about the south, that’s for sure.
[00:29:52] But I also think about NAEP scores, right? The nation’s report card. We know that as a country, less than 40% of our. Fourth graders are, you know, not proficient in reading or math for that matter, but if you look at the south, it’s even more depressing and it should make us mad. When you talk about Georgia, the latest numbers that I’ve seen, there’s a 31% proficiency rate, Alabama’s 22.
[00:30:20] Tennessee 28 and Texas is 23, and so we chose the southern states to start in. I’m in Georgia very, my co-founder is in Texas, so naturally wanted to start where we are, but there’s a lot of need here and not because the students aren’t smart enough, aren’t capable enough. It has nothing to do with geography.
[00:30:40] It has everything to do with expectations. Has everything to do with resources that are available and our policies are in place, and how we’re five or 10 years behind other states who have decided to adopt the science of reading, or in some cases the science of math. I see that as yes, a serious threat.
[00:30:59] Also incredible opportunity. There’s a lot of work to be done here and I think this is the place to start and it is our intention to grow and we’ll go in other states and probably a little bit faster than we expected, but I think this is where we’re going to start so that we can have some proof points.
[00:31:15] We also have some governors in these states who are not focused on public education. It’s not a part of their agenda. I think, you know, two governors ago, or one, at least governor ago in Georgia, we had two or three governors in in a row that were education governors, Democrats or Republicans. We don’t have that currently, and so I think there’s opportunity there to.
[00:31:37] Get legislators galvanized for Democrats to get excited or those who are on the left and to take the mantle of public education as our issue and to get policy moving that works on behalf of kids.
[00:31:51] Albert Cheng: Well, you know, Alisha, I mean, just to let you continue, you know, explaining some of the, I guess, the strategic plan here or, or the strategy I should say.
[00:31:59] Earlier you were talking about how you want to identify particular candidates for different political positions and you want to use the C four Sydor things to support them and elsewhere. You know, you say you wanna make unprecedented investments in the 2026 midterm elections. How do you plan to identify and support, you know, these kinds of education champions, these leaders you’re talking about, who can win these races and then govern effectively?
[00:32:24] Alisha Searcy: We, yes. Plan to spend an unprecedented amount in. You know, if we’re talking about Super pacs, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars, not so much. We wanna get there for the record. But in the meantime, Albert, we’ve got on the left, in particular one or two organizations that may have some resources, but not a lot.
[00:32:46] This will be the first time that in our states, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, where we will have the resources to contribute directly to candidates and elected officials, as well as engage in gubernatorial elections, particularly in Georgia. We’ve got quite a lineup on the Democratic side. And so we’re looking for the champion.
[00:33:08] Mm-hmm. Who’s the champion that aligns with us on these issues that matter to us, that we believe will really help make a difference when it comes to moving policy, when it comes to our schools and what needs to happen. And so if we find a champion on the democratic side, particularly in Georgia who’s running for governor, we’re not only gonna do direct contributions, but we’ll be involved in independent expenditures and help that person get elected, at least help them win the primary.
[00:33:35] Drive the agenda for Democrats in the States. We’ll do the same thing in Tennessee. We may not be involved directly with them. Election, we’ve gotta, you know, look at the numbers and we’ll do some polling and those kinds of things and figure out where Democrats actually have an opportunity for winning.
[00:33:52] But we also wanna invest in those candidates who are courageous, who are champions. We also have Democrats in these states. That we’ve been supporting in terms of relationships in our previous work and organizations who have demonstrated that they are champions, that they’re willing to stand up for kids, they’re willing to support public charter schools or other forms of public choice.
[00:34:15] We wanna support them. We wanna have their backs. So we’re gonna continue to do that. But I’ll tell you that in Georgia as an example. If I had had an organization that could spend $300,000 on my campaign to help me be a state school superintendent, my title might be different in this conversation. So that is our goal, to engage and to make a difference and to do things frankly that haven’t been done before. And I’m excited about that because we just haven’t had this level of investment in the south.
[00:34:45] Helen Baxendale: So Alisha, some critics, they might argue that launching yet another center left organization could further divide the Democratic coalition, particularly at a time where it’s fair to say it’s pretty fractured and fragile.
[00:35:01] What’s your response to those concerns, and how does CSPS differentiate itself from some of the other existing groups who are doing this work?
[00:35:10] Alisha Searcy: I hope that we’ll be considered a uniter. That because of our values, I hope that we’ll be able to bring people together. You know, there’s no question that both parties frankly, are fractured.
[00:35:24] You’ve got people on the extremes of both sides who have kind of taken over, and people like myself who are more in the center have felt like we didn’t have a home. And so I’m hoping that Center for Strong Public Schools Action Fund in doing the political work, will be able to bring people together on the left, that we’ll be able to talk about our shared values and our ultimate goal of making sure that public schools work for all kids.
[00:35:50] So that’s my hope, and I believe that the work that we’re doing is going to get us there. The things that we care about, the policies that we wanna push. I believe are things that everybody can get behind in terms of how we are distinguished from other organizations. I am not aware of any other national organizations that are focused on specifically state level elected officials.
[00:36:14] We believe as sort of our theory of change, that the state is where it’s at. That’s the lever I think with the most impact. When you think about what’s happening federally, things are gonna be pushed down to the states. You know, state policy is what you know, determines curriculum and standards. The states is where we have the action and where we wanna put a lot of our efforts.
[00:36:35] I’m not aware of an organization that does that on the center left, and so it’s an area that we’ll focus on, we’ll be experts in, and I think we’ll be able to add to the overall movement, if you will, to transforming public education.
[00:36:50] Albert Cheng: Well, you know, Alisha, on, on that note, I wanna give you a chance to weigh in a little bit and talk about some of the specific policies that your group wants to get behind.
[00:36:58] And I’m gonna ask a, a tough question. I, I mean, it’s one I wrestle with personally too, and I know many in the education policy space wrestle with this. You know, first let’s just go over some of the policies that you’re prioritizing. So things like expanding access to. Public school options, implementing accountability systems, ensuring funding equity, and you know, sometimes there’s a tension between some of these schools.
[00:37:20] I mean, especially what comes to my mind is around accountability and choice. That sometimes they, they move intention. How would you explain your approach to striking a balance there? You know, to not go too far on the innovation side, but also not go too far on the equity side. I mean, sometimes those come in competition.
[00:37:38] So how have you thought about that?
[00:37:41] Alisha Searcy: Yeah, it is a tough question, but let’s see if I can handle it. And it’s a big question. So the way that I think about this is like, why do I support public charter schools? I am very clear about my journey from the early two thousands when I visited my first charter school, it was a KIPP school.
[00:38:01] I’d never heard of a charter before, but when I walked in, there was something different going on. The teacher stayed longer. They had Saturday school. One teacher I know was bringing laundry detergent to school to make sure the kids could wash their uniforms. Mm-hmm. Like there was something special going on.
[00:38:19] So I think about that too. You know, being on the front lines of the State Charter Commission and wanting the state to be able to authorize charters because we needed more options. And the reason that I support public charter schools is because I want to see more innovation in public education. I wanna see public dollars used to meet the needs of every child, whether you are into the arts or you are autistic or you.
[00:38:47] You know, need an IB level program. I think our public schools ought to be able to offer all of those things, and so that’s where the innovation comes in for me. Be creative, do things differently. When I was superintendent of Ivy Prep schools, we had the flexibility to create where Wednesdays were designated for teachers to be able to go to professional development, and then the students would get.
[00:39:13] Professional development as well. So they would come in with their pink polos. I ran all girls schools and we had people coming in from the community to teach them things like leadership and how to write a resume and you know, all kinds of really important skills that they would need throughout their lives.
[00:39:29] That was the kind of innovation that we needed in public schools so that I could do things for the girls that I was serving. So here’s where the accountability comes in. I was using public dollars. I had to follow federal and state laws. I had, I could not discriminate, I couldn’t reject students based on their behavior record or any of those things.
[00:39:50] And so I think there’s an accountability piece because they are public schools. I was also held accountable because those students had to grow. So those same state assessments that the kids across the street at the traditional school had to take, my kids had to take too. I didn’t like ’em. You know, it was challenging to be able to get those scores up and have those students grow across our schools, but that’s how I was held accountable for being able to use those public resources.
[00:40:17] And so I think we can balance innovation with accountability. I think the problem in public education period is that we’re moving away from accountability. We’re watering down standards. You know, districts and states are going away from grading systems or summative scores, so you can really tell how schools are actually performing.
[00:40:37] And I don’t think kids win when they don’t know if they can actually read. I don’t think teachers win if they don’t know that they’re actually growing students and that they are getting them towards proficiency and hopefully at proficiency. And so I think. While we grapple with these things, and it’s something that we’re all talking about, you know, in public education, I think they can all exist together and I think that we must, the problem that I have, while I certainly respect parents who want their kids to go to private school.
[00:41:08] And if they have the resources to do it, then great. But I think the problem is when we start talking about private school choice and you don’t have accountability, I don’t think it’s right that you can have public funds, but then not be held accountable for the results that you get. And so to me, we’ve gotta get back to the conversations about what accountability systems we need.
[00:41:28] Do we have the right assessments? Are they giving us the right information? Are we providing the right supports for students and teachers? And are we moving? That’s what we need to be answering, and I think all of us need to know the answers to those questions.
[00:41:41] Helen Baxendale: Let’s keep talking about metrics and accountability, Alisha, and, but switch the focus.
[00:41:46] What does success look like for CSPS and CSPS action? Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, how are you gonna measure whether you and your team are truly creating the sorts of transformational policy changes that you envision, and particularly for, uh, black, brown, and low income students? So what’s the accountability regime for your new organization?
[00:42:11] Alisha Searcy: I love that. Well, let’s start with, let’s make sure we have enough money to keep the doors open for the next few years. Okay. Gotta make sure that we have, we raised the resources to do it, and so far I’m very proud of that. We already have a $1.4 million grant that we just received, so I’m super excited about that to help with our political work.
[00:42:30] And we’ve got some C $3 coming as well. But success also looks like building this network for elected officials. I have a goal of having at least 30% of our caucuses in each of our states who are public charter school supporters and support our other efforts. And Albert, you talked about some of those.
[00:42:51] Policy agenda items, right? It’s cultivating effective and well prepared teachers and leaders having accountability and transparency, prioritizing rigor and readiness, and that includes things like the science of reading and math. Equitable funding. It’s a huge piece. So one of our successes is let’s make sure that in Georgia in particular, ’cause all the other states we work in have already been doing this, has a bill introduced at least that deals with funding equity, that it’s more student centered.
[00:43:19] We’ve not changed the funding formula in Georgia since the eighties, so we’ve got work to do in that area. We also wanna make sure that our elected officials in our network have access to good policy. I want them to be able to say, Hey, Alisha, I wanna work on funding equity or teacher effectiveness.
[00:43:36] Where are the five states that are doing this Well, I want them to be able to call us, go on our website, and they can access that information. I want us to establish ourselves nationally as a critical voice, a powerful voice for center left on education issues. When people think of who can I call that I can talk to about what’s happening federally and what’s happening at the states, I want them to think of the Center for Strong Public Schools.
[00:44:03] We’ll have our first convening this year of elected officials. They’ll come to Atlanta and we’ll give them policy resources and connect them with each other. So I’ll consider that a success. And then finally, on the. Political side, the Center for Strong Public Schools Action Fund. Of course, we’re gonna be involved in these elections.
[00:44:21] We’re gonna help people get elected. We’re gonna grow our number of champions, um, by giving them the political support. And it is my hope that maybe next year we’ll help a Democrat get elected governor in Georgia.
[00:44:34] Albert Cheng: Well, you know, Helen and I are excited for you. Excited for the new endeavor here, and just really appreciate you taking some time to this time. Be a guest. Yes, for podcast.
[00:44:44] Alisha Searcy: Thank you. It’s been so great. Thanks for this opportunity and I hope for our listeners, you know, follow us on Social Media Strongschoolsnow.org is our website. Social media handles are all @strongschoolsaction, so Instagram, Facebook threads, Twitter, all of the things. Follow us, get involved. If you know an elected official that should be in our network, nominate them on on our website. And so as always, Albert. Helen, great to be with you guys and thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about our work.
[00:45:17] Helen Baxendale: Great to be with you, Alisha, and all the best with the new venture.
[00:45:20] Thanks.
[00:45:32] Albert Cheng: Well, Helen, let me venture to guess that our feelings are mutual, that we wish Alisha the best of success with the Center for Strong Public Schools. But I guess more importantly, you know, hopefully, uh, K 12 education in this country will be better for it.
[00:45:45] Helen Baxendale: Certainly Albert, I think Alisha’s is a distinctive and engaging voice.
[00:45:50] It’s exciting to see it getting a, uh, fresh new platform.
[00:45:54] Albert Cheng: Everybody. Uh, we wanna thank you for listening. And so just to wrap up this week’s episode of Learning Curve, wanna leave you with the tweet of the week. This one comes from M McCluskey over at CTO Institute Private School Survey. What’s behind seemingly cooling enrollment, COVID and Culture War might be balancing each other out.
[00:46:16] And so if you’ve been tracking enrollment trends over the past five, six years, you will be familiar with declining enrollment before the pandemic in private schools, and then the surge of enrollment. And then what Neil is observing is a slight stabilization and check out his post to see his take on what’s causing that. Well, Helen, I wanna thank you for co-hosting this episode with me. Always a pleasure.
[00:46:42] Helen Baxendale: Likewise, Albert, always a delight to spend time with you and with Alisha.
[00:46:47] Albert Cheng: Speaking of a delight to spend time and hang out, please join us next week again for another episode. We’re gonna have Professor Edward Larson. He holds the Hue and Hazel Darling chair in law and his university professor of history at Pepperdine.
[00:47:02] And we’re gonna get to talk to him about his book, about the Scopes trial. And so we’re gonna be commemorating that with next week’s episode. Tune in. But until then, we wish you the very best. Hey, it’s Albert Cheng here, and I just wanna thank you for listening to the Learning Curve podcast. If you’d like to support the podcast further, we’d invite you to donate to the Pioneer Institute at pioneerinstitute.org/donations.
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