Education On The Line

Advancing Education Success Initiative

Education On The Line (formerly titled Sparking Equity) is a podcast focusing on the mounting political, financial, legal and ideological threats to public education.  It will provide strategies to help education leaders and decisionmakers traverse the current perilous education landscape.  Join media innovator and veteran education journalist Louis Freedberg as he interviews school leaders about how they are coping with attacks on public schools emanating from Washington D.C.  -- while staying focused on how to ensure that all students succeed.  The advisor for the podcast (and occasional guest host) is Pedro Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education.  Sign up at link below so we can keep you posted on future episodes to help inform your decisionmaking.  https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/gVZTFcZ

  1. MAR 18

    The Push to Keep Undocumented Students Out Of School: Will It Succeed?

    The Supreme Court's landmark 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision established that every child in America has the right to a public education, regardless of immigration status. For 43 years, that ruling has kept schoolhouse doors open to undocumented children. Now it's under serious attack.    In this episode of Education on the Line, Louis Freedberg talks with two guests on the front lines of protecting Plyler at a national and state level. Tom Saenz is president and general counsel of MALDEF, which argued the original Plyler case before the Supreme Court. Lisa Sherman Luna is executive director TIRRC Votes, the political arm of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.  The Tennessee General Assembly, controlled by a Republican supermajority, is attempting to pass legislation designed to keep documented children out of school. It is one of a half dozen states trying to do the same thing.  The Heritage Foundation, author of the controversial Project 2025, recently launched a campaign to encourage states to challenge Plyler. Saenz believes that despite these efforts, the Plyler decision is secure. Sherman Luna says that organizing along the lines of the so-far successful Education for All Tennessee campaign will be needed.  Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    36 min

  2. MAR 3

    Inside Trump's Stealth School Voucher Program: What's At Stake

    The sweeping federal tax credit scholarship program which President Trump was able to shoehorn into his so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" will go into effect in less than a year. It has the potential to divert billions of federal tax dollars to private and religious school tuition, with negligible oversight and accountability.  Right now the Trump Administration is drawing up a blueprint for implementing this hugely ambitious "school choice" program which an estimated 90 percent of families in the United States will qualify for.  When the proposed regulations are issued in in advance of the Jan. 1 implementation date, education leaders and advocates must be prepared to respond them.   One big question is whether Democratically controlled  states should participate in the tax credit program - at the moment it appears that almost all won't -- or whether they  can figure out ways public schools could benefit from it in a meaningful way.  To shed light on key unresolved issues like these, host Louis Freedberg talks with Jon Valant, director of the Brookings Brown Center on Education Policy, and Jessica Levin, litigation director of the Education Law Center.  Both are leading experts on what's at stake.  Anyone who cares about the future of public education will learn from their insights and observations.  Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    42 min

  3. FEB 12

    Trump vs. Education: What Happened, What Didn't, and What to Expect in 2026

    What happens when frenetic policymaking by the Trump Administration collides with the guardrails of courts, campuses, and public opinion? We sit down with leading conservative commentator Frederick Hess, director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute, and long-time higher education expert Stephen Brint, professor of sociology and public policy at the University of California at Riverside, to unpack a year that in which the federal government asserted unprecedented power over both private and public education institutions at all levels.  From executive orders and DOJ referrals to high-stakes investigations, we discuss what changed, what stalled, and, most importantly, what to expect in 2026.   Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    29 min

  4. JAN 27

    How School Leaders Can Navigate The Culture Wars And Build Community Trust

    During the first year of President Trump's latest term in the White House, much of his admiinistration's focus been national in scope, especially on its  push to dismantle or eradicate entirely the U.S. Dept. of Education. What, however, is happening at the local level?  In this episode, we look at the extent to which political pressures on local school districts have continued, and, more importantly, how school leaders can successfully traverse them.  This will be especially important during this election year when school board election battles will take center stage at a local level.  Host Louis Freedberg interviews two prominent education leaders who offer their guidance based on years of experience in the education trenches.  Carl Cohn is  the esteemed former superintendent of the Long Beach and San Diego Unified School Districts, and co-chair of the Collaborative for Political Leadership in the Superintendency.   Wesley Smith is superintendent of the Newport-Mesa School District in California's Orange County, and former head of the Association of California School Administrators.  Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    32 min

  5. 12/10/2025

    How The Dept. of Education Can Be Saved from Trump Assaults

    Cut staff at the U.S. Education Dept. in half, and send programs they were overseeing to multiple other departments -- what could that  possibly go wrong for students and schools?  To examine what is at stake, veteran education journalist Louis Freedberg sits down with Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, both of whom are at the forefront of efforts to save the Dept. of Education from extinction by the Trump administration.   Democracy Forward is now in court on behalf of the AFT and numerous other labor organizations and school districts.  Both Perryman and Weingarten argue that, far from being ineffective, lawsuits against the Trump Administration, especially when it comes to education, have been far more effective than is generally believed. But, they say, it will also take a multi-pronged effort around the nation to put pressure on elected representatives to save programs and funding that they say disproportionately benefit children and schools in "red" states.  If you care about federal funding for schools, the fate of special education, and having a federal government that supports schools instead of attacking them, you’ll find a clear roadmap of what’s happening, why it matters, and what can be done.   Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    36 min

  6. 11/18/2025

    Making Sense Of Test Scores in the Trump Era -- Without The Politics

    Educators are barraged with a range of test scores from K-12 schools that are often confusing and seem to conflict with each other.   Some show students improving. Others show the opposite.   Listen to Linda Darling-Hammond and Pedro Noguera, two of the nation's premier education scholars and advocates, make the case for why we need tests --- not as weapons to label and stigmatize students and schools, but as tools to improve learning.    Darling-Hammond, founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of the Learning Policy Institute, and chair of the California State Board of Education, points to latest test results showing improvements in California, as well as in districts who are beating the odds like Los Angeles and Compton Unified. An overemphasis on tests, she says, has meant less emphasis on higher-level thinking in our schools.  Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, argues that we should pay more attention to learning itself and how to get kids engaged and motivated.  Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    38 min

  7. 10/29/2025

    Breaking Up The Federal Support System for Special Education

    In the episode of Education on the Line, we examine how the Trump administration has used the shutdown to try to eviscerate key agencies in the U.S. Dept of Education that oversee enforcement and the integrity of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.  IDEA Is the landmark civil rights legislation that grants nearly 8 million children and young adults with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate education.  In conversation with veteran education journalist Louis Freedberg, Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, and Kristin Wright, former director of special education  in California, describe what is at stake.  Both are parents of disabled children. They emphasize that despite the threats to federal support and oversight, the focus must remain on what is happening at a school district and state level, which is where primary responsibility lies for ensuring that children in special education are adequately served.  Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    34 min

  8. 10/09/2025

    The New Politics of Civil Rights In Schools: Submit or Lose Funds

    The Trump administration is so far using TItle IX as the principal weapon to attack public schools:  principally against school districts with gender-neutral bathrooms.  But  its use of civil rights laws could soon expand to using Title VI laws and regulations to go after schools on race-related matters.  That's the view of education and civil rights expert R. Shep Melnick, professor of American Politics at Boston College and co-chair of the Harvard Program on Constitutional Government. In conversation with Louis Freedberg. Melnick provides a primer on what Title IX and Title VI actually say  -- and how the Trump administration is building on their expansive interpretations by the Obama and Biden administrations.   What sets the Trump administration apart from previous administrations is that itseems intent on cutting off funds to school districts that don't comply with often impossible demands --without any serious effort to negotiate settlements with them. That has not happened to any significant extent since the 1960s when school districts refused to integrate after Brown V. Board of Education.  In this lively discussion, we look at strategies for school leaders for handling threats to school funding that are likely to increase in intensity in the coming months and years. Sign up here so we can keep you posted on future podcasts on how education leaders are responding to the mounting threats against public schools In the United States.

    31 min
See All (27)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Education On The Line (formerly titled Sparking Equity) is a podcast focusing on the mounting political, financial, legal and ideological threats to public education.  It will provide strategies to help education leaders and decisionmakers traverse the current perilous education landscape.  Join media innovator and veteran education journalist Louis Freedberg as he interviews school leaders about how they are coping with attacks on public schools emanating from Washington D.C.  -- while staying focused on how to ensure that all students succeed.  The advisor for the podcast (and occasional guest host) is Pedro Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education.  Sign up at link below so we can keep you posted on future episodes to help inform your decisionmaking.  https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/gVZTFcZ

Information

  • Creator
    Advancing Education Success Initiative
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Education On The Line
  • Show Website
    Education On The Line

You Might Also Like