Welcome to the Freedom to Learn podcast. I'm your host, Jenny Gentles. This season, we're diving

into what it means to return education to states, communities, and families, and we're exploring

what becomes possible when education is freed from union dominance and federal control.

A September poll conducted on behalf of the Democrats for Education Reform, or Dever, found

strong support for the new federal scholarship tax credit.

Under the provision, which was enacted into law as part of the budget reconciliation

bill last summer, donors can receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to

$1,700 for donations to scholarship-granting organizations.

But governors have to opt in for students in their states to benefit.

And it turns out, voters are strongly in favor of them doing so.

Defer's poll found that of voters who expressed an opinion on the tax credit,

77% favor their governors opting

into the program, 75% of Democrats, 81% of Hispanic voters, 76% of black voters with opinions

on the tax credit supported opting in. To discuss the federal scholarship tax credit, the poll

findings, and what can be done to overcome the status quo and the influence of teachers' unions, were joined by Jorge Olorza, Defer's CEO, and the former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.

Jorge was born and raised in Providence. Prior to his eight years as mayor, he was legal aid attorney, a Providence housing court judge, and a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law.

Jorge Lorza, welcome to Freedom to Learn. It's great to be here. Thank you.

You were the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. What did you encounter there while you were

working with the K-12 system?

Well, so I ran from error because I wanted to transform the schools in Providence.

And let me just say that after I got elected, I got right to work on education.

And I received an education on the politics of education. Yeah, I just came to

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