Wrestling With School Choice

Friends,

March is a month known across the country for two school related events:

• Spring Break Vacations
• The NCAA Basketball Tournament know as March Madness

This year, in Texas, it is also a very important month for our legislature as “School Choice” has become a major priority for both parents and our Governor.  Both the House and the Senate have passed bills in each respective chamber and will now go to a conference committee to hash out the differences in the final bill sent to the Governor to sign into law.

My guest for two separate episodes this month is retired USAF Colonel Travis Koch. He has been on the show before in January of 2023 as we discussed the book Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men.  At the time Travis was the Passport to Leadership Director and Head Boys Lacrosse Coach at Houston Christian High School.

Since that time he was given a dream by the Holy Spirit to start a new all boys school with an all male faculty in West Houston which is coming to fruition this fall. The school is called West Christian Prep (WCP) and will begin with grades 3-5.

In the first episode we set the stage and diagnose the problem to plot where we are today via a discussion of Jonathan Haidt’s book  “The Anxious Generation.” The subtitle of his book is “How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”  His primary diagnosis of the root cause was outdoor play has been replaced with screen play. We close this episode with things that parents can do in their homes first to begin to correct the problem, and we are focusing on boys here.

In the second episode we discuss the two bills in the Texas House and Senate which have already been passed (HB3 and SB2) and how they appear to be reconciling those two different versions to put a bill on the Governor’s desk to sign into law this year.  And finally Travis will walk us through how West Christian Prep was created and is working on the “faces and spaces” to offer new and better choices for Texas parents. (The link button below will take you to the first episode and once you are there you can find Part 2 right after it)

Another HUGE improvement thanks to the generosity of our donors is a brand new WordPress website!  The old WIX website was functional but was created primarily for my book and needed to be updated.  Please visit the new website at the same address www.thesavagepath.com by hitting the button at the bottom of this page.

Lastly, I want to plug another ministry I am involved with called Toolbox Ministries here in my newsletter.  Executive Director Tom Douthit is pictured below and they have come up with a new tool called “Two Minute Toolbox” which have terrific YouTube videos that are brief but impactful.  Sample the “popcorn” illustration at the link below.

As always, I want to thank those who have supported the new nonprofit organization financially! These first fruits have been used to build out the new website and if the Lord sees fit to bless us further, we will use it to expand our reach with more professional digital marketing plans and Podfest Conference participation. I am eager to engage on topic or guest suggestions so please reply in email on via the website to submit any ideas.

In Christ,
David L Savage