Patrick Graff
14
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Search complete. 14 mentions across 7 episodes found for "Patrick Graff".
Oct 15, 2026
Ginny GentlesHOST
You beautifully moderated, hosted a webinar right after they were released.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Kudos to you [laughs] for putting that together along with your colleagues at the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Coalition.
Ginny GentlesHOST
There were over 700 people who logged in and were able to hear from former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin about his take, and my gosh, he's, like, barnstorming the country, uh, making the case for opting in, and that's a wonderful thing to see.
Ginny GentlesHOST
And then, uh, Kevin Sellinger, the, uh, Treasury official, who is taking the very public lead on, on the regulations and on the implementation of this tax credit.
Ashling PrestonGUEST
That's something else that we know, that telling somebody about it one time is not good enough.
Ashling PrestonGUEST
We ha- this is something we're gonna have to remind people about over and over again.
Ashling PrestonGUEST
It is gonna require folks sitting down and explaining to people that they know and people they care about, "Hey, there's this really exciting opportunity to bring more education resources to kids in our community, and here's how you can be a part of it." One of my, um, AFC colleagues used to be a principal at a school, um, in a state that has a state-level tax credit, and so very much the same challenge is raising awareness.
Ashling PrestonGUEST
And we actually have a lot of lessons to learn from state su- successful state-level tax credit programs, like those in Arizona and Ohio and others.
Dean BowenHOST
You know, we've gotta do, we've gotta get, we gotta get someone from the American Federation of Children on to, to talk through these rules.
Dean BowenHOST
Uh, how about we reach out to Brian Jodis or, or Patrick Graff or, or somebody over there at the American Federation for Children.
Dean BowenHOST
Let's, let's get them on here and let's, let's get these rules explained.
Dean BowenHOST
Let's, uh...
Ginny GentlesHOST
Mm-hmm.
Avril MeadenGUEST
And I mean, even using the data, I saw you had, uh, Dr. Patrick Graff on your last episode, which was a fantastic episode.
Avril MeadenGUEST
He's, he's, uh, an awesome person to talk to about this issue, but you can take his data and you can say, "Listen, this is the impact that you will have by making this easy.
Avril MeadenGUEST
Just opt in, make it easy for SGOs to provide what they need to provide in order to get on the list and move forward." I will say, I think, you know, it is the midterms.
Avril MeadenGUEST
And really what we're asking them at all levels, as a governor to opt in, as a state legislature to smooth the path for that opt-in, uh, and, and really to get the word out in general.
Avril MeadenGUEST
But, uh, yes, I would say there will be a time for everyone, and it may not happen in October, it may not happen in November, but I suspect we will see this, uh, everyone opting in by the, by the deadline.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Thanks for bringing up that conversation with Patrick Graff.
Ginny GentlesHOST
He's with the American Federation for Children, and they have created state-by-state fact sheets that people can take to these state leaders we're talking about that show how, uh, how many students are eligible, which is almost all of them in each state, and the amount of dollars, the, an estimate on the amount of dollars that can be raised based on the taxpayers in that state.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Mm-hmm.
Avril MeadenGUEST
And I mean, even using the data, I saw you had, uh, Dr. Patrick Graff on your last episode, which was a fantastic episode.
Avril MeadenGUEST
He's, he's, uh, an awesome person to talk to about this issue, but you can take his data and you can say, "Listen, this is the impact that you will have by making this easy.
Avril MeadenGUEST
Just opt in.
Avril MeadenGUEST
But, uh, yes, I would say there will be a time for everyone, and it may not happen in October.
Avril MeadenGUEST
It may not happen in November, but I suspect we will see this, uh, everyone opting in by the, by the deadline.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Thanks for bringing up that conversation with Patrick Graff.
Ginny GentlesHOST
He's with the American Federation for Children, and they have created state-by-state fact sheets that people can take to these state leaders we're talking about that show how, uh, how many students are eligible, which is almost all of them, in each state, and the amount of dollars, the, an estimate on the amount of dollars that can be raised based on the taxpayers in that state.
Brian JodiceGUEST
And so it'll come online on January 1st, and the Education Freedom Tax Credit will be available for what we estimate up to potentially 52 million kids across the country.
Brian JodiceGUEST
And you talked about that donor base estimates from Dr. Patrick Graff at the American Federation for Children.
Brian JodiceGUEST
points to over 120 million taxpayers who will be eligible to donate and get the dollar-for-dollar tax credit.
Brian JodiceGUEST
And so it really is a game changer.
Sean ThompsonHOST
As the senior fellow with the American Federation for Children, he understands 121.5 million taxpayers are eligible to claim the Education Freedom Tax Credit in 2027, saving the future of their own children.
Sean ThompsonHOST
Dr. Patrick Graff, how are you?
Patrick GraffGUEST
I'm doing well.
Patrick GraffGUEST
Thanks for having me.
Patrick GraffGUEST
And I think people should know this is not just a private school scholarship program, even though this would be great for all of those kids who no longer have the tax credit scholarships to reinvest in kids that we used to have in Illinois but were ripped away from them, but would also all of these public school students in Illinois that desperately need additional help that would work through families instead of these systems.
Patrick GraffGUEST
I think it's a great opportunity, and my report kind of lays out the scale of what could be a reality for Illinois as well.
Sean ThompsonHOST
Well, Dr. Patrick Graff, the other reality of what this exposes is that there are only a few people.
Sean ThompsonHOST
There are only certain people that really want the best for their own children, aren't there? I mean, at a certain point, we're going to have to start to discuss this the way it exists.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Welcome back to another episode of Freedom to Learn with Ginny Gentles.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Today's guest is Patrick Graff.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Patrick is a former teacher and program administrator who currently serves as a senior fellow with the American Federation for Children Growth Fund.
Ginny GentlesHOST
He received his PhD from the University of Notre Dame, where he specialized in quantitative research methods.
Ginny GentlesHOST
Dr. Patrick Graff, welcome back to Freedom to Learn.
Patrick GraffGUEST
Jenny, yeah, thanks for having me.
Patrick GraffGUEST
Great to be back.
33 MINS LATER
Patrick GraffGUEST
And always, yeah, always happy to answer questions and engage on this.