Watchdog.org Podcast

By Ben Yount and Moriah Costa | Watchdog Radio This is “Sit Down, Shut Up,” Watchdog.org’s podcast examining education issues at the national, state and local levels. Hosts Ben Yount and Moriah Costa takes a critical look at the education establishment, the growth of school choice and the ways free markets can be a part of fixing America’s broken school system. In this week's episode, Yount and Costa take a look at an odd law in Texas that makes it a crime to skip school. And everything is bigger in Texas, including the punishments for truancy. If you skip school, you could end up in prison. Not juvenile hall - real prison. Not surprisingly, the cops in Texas love enforcing these rules because they can make money off fines that are also charged against truant students.  They've raked in some $16 million las year, a Watchdog investigation found. Then, are ESAs the next "big thing" in school choice?  They let parents choose the best schools for their children, explains Leslie H