When you have a podcast, and it's Mother's Day, what's more natural than asking your boys to be the guests? I'm fortunate to have three wonderful sons, and on this episode you'll hear their opinions on part of their education journey, and the importance of education not just in their life, but in the larger society, as they see it. I hope you enjoy this have as much as I did! Thanks to Walker, Darwin, and Everett, who currently live in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and Wichita, Kansas, respectively. Wonderful young gents!

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Dr. John Horn, a long-time educator, talks educational leadership, values, and so much more with Anette and her co-host, David Anderson. Anette met John through his work with both the Schlechty Center and the Visioning Institute, and has always valued his expertise and wisdom. A former superintendent in both Allen and Mesquite, John brings a wealth of wisdom and perspective to the importance of educational leadership, and how to keep growing as a leader.

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SPECIAL EDITION: A timely and informative episode with Dr. J. Taylor Carlisle, Infectious Disease specialist and Anette's husband, discussing the history of pandemics in humans through the ages. Trained at Baylor Medical School for his M.D., with his specialty training for I.D. at Tulane Medical School, Taylor has practiced his profession in Amarillo for 32 years at the Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic. Enjoy and learn more than you may want to know about the history of a number of diseases.

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Anette visits with Chandra Kring Villanueva on school finance in Texas, focusing on the recently released paper on HB3. As complicated as it is, Chandra knows her school finance, and helps explain it here. As Program Director of the Economic Opportunity Team, Chandra oversees the Center for Public Policy and Priority's work on education, workforce development and job quality. She joined CPPP in 2010 and focused on school finance and education policy ranging from early education to higher education access and success.

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Special Edition for COVID-19: Hear from Dr. Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), about how school districts and educators across Texas are stepping up to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. How do over 1000 districts pivot to continue providing education to the 5.4 millions students in Texas public schools in just a week or two? By loving the work and the students they serve, according to Kevin.

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While Jeff Webster's love of music may have brought him to Texas, we are fortunate he chose to stay and share his expertise on data analysis as Director of Research for the Trellis Company. Anette and Jeff have interacted on a number of projects over the years. and you'll get to hear about those and lots more of the work Jeff leads. There are loads of great resources on the Trellis Foundation website, including the main study covered, "Studying on Empty," focused on food insecurity among college students and more. Jeff Webster has overseen numerous studies on college affordability, student debt burden, and student success. His area pioneered the use of predictive modeling to improve student loan default prevention efforts, evaluated a state financial education program, assessed the efficacy of federal student loan counseling, and administers the Student Financial Wellness Survey. Jeff has presented to many groups including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, and the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. Jeff loves roots music and formerly was a freelance music writer for the Austin American-Statesman. He once performed folk songs – in Hungarian -- in the second largest concert hall in Budapest, Hungary.

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With a degree in jazz guitar and years of experience both playing and teaching, Bret Boyer understands the importance of the arts in education. Bret is Anette's ukulele instructor, and their lessons most often happen via FaceTime, as he lives in Austin. Anette and Bret discuss his knowledge of many kinds of music, as well as his background in playing and teaching various instruments. Bret tries to adapt his lessons to fit the student's personal interests, to better engage them. Anette shares the challenges that some of the varying approaches Bret uses challenge her in a way that mirrors the challenges many of our youth face on a daily basis in our schools. Enjoy this slightly different though very relevant episode! And enjoy listening to Bret play!

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Pastor Anthony Harris of St. John Baptist Church in Amarillo is a passionate education advocate and community leader working to improve the lives of young people in our community. Friends since they met, Anthony and Anette discuss the ways he is working to create more opportunities for our area youth.

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Long-time educator, Karla Weatherly, has gone from kindergarten teacher at Bivins Elementary to the head of the Texas Panhandle P-16 Council at ESC Region 16 since she met Anette as the kindergarten teacher of Anette's oldest son, Walker. Karla has worn a variety of educator hats in this time, and has never strayed far from her early childhood beginnings. Now she connects those to college completion through her work on the P-16 council, and here shares her expertise across all educational levels. Thanks, Karla! Learn about becoming a teacher, or filling out the FAFSA! Karla covers it all!

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Shanna Peeples, the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, took the road less travelled on the way to her classroom. She worked as a disc jockey, medical assistant, and journalist before teaching, as she says, chose her.

Shanna taught middle and high school English in low-income schools in Amarillo, Texas for 14 years at Palo Duro High School. Currently, Shanna is an Equity and Access Fellow in residency at the Council of Chief State School Officers to complete a doctorate in Education Leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Harvard, she was a Teaching Fellow and is part of two teams: one, an education startup for STEM learning, the other, a leadership consultancy.

Her book, Think Like Socrates: Invite Wonder and Empathy Into the Classroom, was chosen by the National Education Association Foundation and PDK International for their membership.

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When you have a guest host like Mark Nair, hang on! Mark and I talk about my primary runs for the Texas House, SBOE, about Panhandle Twenty/20, and much more! While he wanted me to entitle this episode "The Burning Pants of Democracy," I stuck with a less flashy title. Thanks for guest-hosting, Mark! Mark is the chair of Business Systems and Emerging Technology at Amarillo College where he teaches economics and technology.

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Learn from Laura Subrin Yeager​ on why educators should vote in every election. A passionate advocate for public education, Laura launched Texas Educators Vote​ in 2015, and has been directing the program ever since. Thanks for the great info and interview, Laura! And for all your hard work for Texas public ed!

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Texas Parent PAC Co-chair Dinah Miller talks about the importance of getting good representation into the Texas Legislature to support public education. Anette and Dinah have bonded not only over public ed advocacy, but also through their joint journeys to India, Mexico, and within the US and Texas through Leadership Women. Dinah, a seventh generation Texan, served as Richardson ISD Council of PTAs legislative chair for three years, as well as chairing PTA carnivals and book fairs. Dinah was a co-founder of Texas Parent PAC in 2005 and has served the PAC as vice-chair.

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Texas Parent PAC Co-chair Julie Cowan discusses the importance of advocacy for public education and how this organization helps build support for good policy at the Texas Legislature. Julie was an elected trustee on the Austin ISD school board in 2014-2018, and she was secretary of the board. During her board tenure she was president of the Central Texas School Board Association and a member of the Texas Association of School Boards Legislative Advocacy Council.

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Texas Parent PAC co-founder and past chair Carolyn Boyle discusses the early days of Texas Parent PAC, and how and why she helped start the organization that has helped elect good leadership, and has had a positive impact on good policy for Texas public ed. Texas owes Carolyn a debt of gratitude for her tireless volunteer efforts as an education advocate for all children. Carolyn co-founded Texas Parent PAC and was its Chair from 2005 to 2019.

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Pastors for Texas Children has provided a unique and powerfully influential voice advocating for public education in recent years. Good friend of Anette, PTC's founder and executive director, the Rev. Charles Foster Johnson, discusses the roles churches and religious leaders can play in supporting public school children and public schools, both through their ministries and through advocacy. A much-needed counterpoint to some of the anti-public ed rhetoric, Charlie and PTC are growing this movement across Texas and a number of other states now. Anette is honored to serve on the board of Pastors for Texas Children.

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Dr. Libby Cohen, Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Raise Your Hand Texas since 2018, discusses the advocacy team and approach she is building to support public education across the state. Learn about Libby, the RADs, and advocacy. Libby holds a PhD in economic and social history from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes scholar. Originally from Dallas, Libby is a sixth generation Texan and is delighted to have the opportunity to strengthen public institutions in her native state.

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Anette visits with Jacob Fraire, President and CEO of the Texas Association of Community Colleges. Jacob and Anette discuss issues surrounding community colleges, including legislative, governance, and the challenges faced by students of poverty. Anette is honored to serve on the Community College Association of Texas Trustees, which is under umbrella of TACC.

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