Apr 28, 2026 · 39 min · 13 segments
What happens in early childhood classrooms doesn't stay there—it shows up every day in K–12 schools. In this episode of *Teach Me, Teacher*, I sit down with Robert Cordero and Tara Gardner to unpack…
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There's, you know, there's so much here, right? And this is why I, I, I think long form conversations like this really do help because, um, you know, being in Texas myself, uh, there are...
You know, these are just different conversations, right? Like, they're, um...
The one thing that I hear ad nauseam, um, and, and to be honest, it seems to be the more pervasive conversation happening in, in, uh, the US at large, not everywhere, but it seems to be this idea, 'cause y'all keep talking about, you know, we, we fund what we care about.
Um, and I just can't help but a- or think to myself, like, where did the disconnect happen? You know, there's some great literature about just the struggle that has kind of always been centered around public education, you know, centered back r- really kind of in its origin, right? Even to teacher unions and everything else.
Um, Teacher Wars is one of my favorite books for anyone listening who haven't read it.
Um, it's a fantastic book that kind of details the history of that, but, um, the...
What-- From your perspective, why is it so hard to get people to care about this, right? 'Cause you're right, the money's there.
The mon- It's just where we're diverting the money to, right? The money is being used in a, in a variety of other ways, and there's, um...
You know, on some level it's like, well, because y- state results or state test results or whatever are coming out, you know, you hear about it all the time, you know, the, what, kids in this city or in this district are, like, none o- all, all of them are below proficiency in reading and math or whatever.
Um, and there's a part of me that thinks that the system is struggling to keep up with the demand to support the families that they need-But they're doing that because they're not being supported to keep up with the demand.
... you know, issue, like what you're like, basically everything's just kinda cannibalizing itself.
But there, I feel like that's a, that's a really complex answer as to why we're not focusing on these things.
But you guys are in the room with people that are trying to shift this narrative, that are trying to find solutions, that are trying to get people to care about funding these processes and, uh, funding these, these new ideas really that are trying to envision a different future for education, kids, and families as a whole.
What are the, what are those conversations like? Is it, uh, is it like a any single point that people are trying to tackle? Is it trying to show that the system is doing better than what people are saying? Or is it trying to look more towards education needs to evolve, but we gotta have funding in order to do that, I guess? So the, where's the chicken and the egg conversation happening a- about this, I guess, is an easier way to ask that question.
There's, you know, there's so much here, right? And this is why I, I, I think long form conversations like this really do help because, um, you know, being in Texas myself, uh, there are...
You know, these are just different conversations, right? Like, they're, um...
The one thing that I hear ad nauseam, um, and, and to be honest, it seems to be the more pervasive conversation happening in, in, uh, the US at large, not everywhere, but it seems to be this idea, 'cause y'all keep talking about, you know, we, we fund what we care about.
Um, and I just can't help but a- or think to myself, like, where did the disconnect happen? You know, there's some great literature about just the struggle that has kind of always been centered around public education, you know, centered back r- really kind of in its origin, right? Even to teacher unions and everything else.
Um, Teacher Wars is one of my favorite books for anyone listening who haven't read it.
Um, it's a fantastic book that kind of details the history of that, but, um, the...
What-- From your perspective, why is it so hard to get people to care about this, right? 'Cause you're right, the money's there.
The mon- It's just where we're diverting the money to, right? The money is being used in a, in a variety of other ways, and there's, um...
You know, on some level it's like, well, because y- state results or state test results or whatever are coming out, you know, you hear about it all the time, you know, the, what, kids in this city or in this district are, like, none o- all, all of them are below proficiency in reading and math or whatever.
Um, and there's a part of me that thinks that the system is struggling to keep up with the demand to support the families that they need-But they're doing that because they're not being supported to keep up with the demand.
... you know, issue, like what you're like, basically everything's just kinda cannibalizing itself.
But there, I feel like that's a, that's a really complex answer as to why we're not focusing on these things.
But you guys are in the room with people that are trying to shift this narrative, that are trying to find solutions, that are trying to get people to care about funding these processes and, uh, funding these, these new ideas really that are trying to envision a different future for education, kids, and families as a whole.
What are the, what are those conversations like? Is it, uh, is it like a any single point that people are trying to tackle? Is it trying to show that the system is doing better than what people are saying? Or is it trying to look more towards education needs to evolve, but we gotta have funding in order to do that, I guess? So the, where's the chicken and the egg conversation happening a- about this, I guess, is an easier way to ask that question.
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