Newsletter 311: The Third Lens on California's School Choice Debate

Before We Begin: We're Halfway Through Dyslexia Awareness Month

October is flying by. We're midway through Dyslexia Awareness Month, and there's still time to make your voice heard.

Our AI Readiness Survey takes 8 minutes and directly informs how we build interfaces that work WITH neurodivergent cognition, not against it.

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Your insights shape the future of cognitive-inclusive AI design.

What You'll Learn Today

• Why California's school choice debate needs a third perspective beyond left vs. right

• What I learned from starting (and struggling with) an Acton Academy micro school

• How AI-first education could solve problems both sides are missing

• Why funding should follow students, especially neurodivergent learners

• The specific ways AI can fix broken district budgets while improving learning

• How Sonoma County's education crisis makes this personal and urgent

• Why dyslexic thinking offers the lateral perspective this debate desperately needs

• Concrete proposals for an AI-powered education model that transcends partisan politics

Reading Time: 15-18 minutes | Listening Time: 12-15 minutes if read aloud

The System Is Cracking. Good.

We're watching education break in real time.

Sonoma State just cut six sports programs. District budgets are collapsing. Programs vanishing. Teachers exhausted. Families confused and frustrated.

And yet, underneath the cracks, there's a chance to rebuild something better.

That's why California's renewed School Choice Initiative caught my attention. Not because I'm partisan (I'm really not), but because it asks a fundamental question that matters for every parent, especially those of us with neurodivergent kids:

Can we unbundle education and rebuild it around students instead of systems?

The initiative proposes Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) of $17,500 per student per year that parents can direct to any accredited private or religious school. Money follows the student, not the district.

For many people, this is a simple partisan issue. If you're conservative, you love school choice. If you're progressive, you defend public schools. Done.

But my brain doesn't work that way. I can see both sides simultaneously, the valid concerns and the real problems, and I keep looking for what actually works rather than what fits an ideology.

That's the lateral-thinking advantage many neurodivergent minds share. We play devil's advocate with ourselves until we find middle ground.

And if you can't do that internally, that's exactly what AI can help you do.

Our Acton Academy Experiment: What We Learned

I need to be honest about my experience because it shapes everything I think about this debate.

Years ago, my family started an Acton Academy, a learner-driven micro school built on Socratic questioning, real-world projects, and student agency.

It was the best model we found after months of research into flipped education, project-based learning, and alternatives to traditional schooling. The Acton network had proven results. The philosophy made sense. The kids thrived.

We watched students light up when they had agency over their learning. We saw neurodivergent kids, including dyslexic thinkers like my daughter and me, flourish once the structure matched their brains instead of fighting them.

But here's what I learned that nobody talks about in the school choice debate:

Running a private micro school as a small business is brutally hard.

We charged $17,000-$20,000 per year. That's roughly what the California initiative proposes for ESAs. Sounds reasonable, right?

Except:

• That tuition barely covered operating costs for a quality program

• We couldn't afford the salary needed to attract experienced educators full time

• Every family who couldn't afford it felt like a failure on our part

• The business model required constant enrollment pressure

• We wanted to serve every family, but the economics didn't work

The Acton model is excellent. The philosophy is sound. But the funding mechanism meant we could only serve families who could pay private school tuition.

That's why I've been watching school choice efforts so closely. Because if funding followed the student, we could have run that Acton Academy for every family in our community, not just those who could afford it.

But, and this is the critical part, that alone doesn't solve the deeper problems with education.

Through a Third Lens: Not Left or Right, But Lateral

Here's where I usually lose people: I don't see this debate through party lines.

The left makes valid points: Public schools serve all students, including those with severe disabilities, those from trauma backgrounds, those who need specialized services no private school can provide. Draining funding from public systems hurts the most vulnerable. Teachers' unions aren't the enemy; they're advocating for educators who are overwhelmed and underpaid. Religious schools getting public funding raises constitutional concerns. Private schools can discriminate and don't have the same accountability standards.

The right makes valid points: Public school systems are bureaucratically bloated and resistant to innovation. One-size-fits-all education fails many students, especially neurodivergent learners. Parents should have the right to direct their children's education, especially when schools aren't working. Competition could drive improvement. Families are trapped in failing schools by their zip codes.

Both sides are right about different things. Both sides are wrong about others.

My dyslexic brain sees both perspectives at once, supporters and critics, ideals and flaws, and then looks for what actually works beyond ideology.

That's lateral thinking. That's the third lens.

And this is exactly what AI can help everyone do.

What Large Language Models Teach Us About Perspective

Here's something I've discovered through two years of working with AI systems, particularly Claude and GPT-4:

Large Language Models are built for multi-perspective reasoning.

When I ask Claude to analyze an issue like school choice, it doesn't pick a side. It asks questions. It explores tensions. It finds nuance. It identifies trade-offs.

This is what Socratic AI does naturally, the same methodology that Acton Academy uses with students.

Instead of "here's the right answer," it's "what questions should we be asking?"

Instead of "my side vs. your side," it's "what are we all trying to solve for?"

This is the third lens our politics and our schools are desperately missing.

Neurodivergent thinkers do this naturally because we've spent our lives navigating systems that don't match our brains. We've had to see multiple perspectives simultaneously just to function.

But neurotypical thinkers can develop this skill through AI partnership. You can literally prompt an LLM to be your devil's advocate, to challenge your assumptions, to help you see blind spots.

This is the cognitive partnership we've been building at dyslexic.ai. And it's exactly what the education debate needs.

The AI-First Education Model: Beyond the Binary

We've gone through waves of education reform: pandemic learning, online learning, flipped classrooms, project-based learning. Each changed the game a little.

AI changes it entirely.

I'm not talking about using ChatGPT to write essays or AI tutors that drill multiplication tables. I'm talking about fundamentally restructuring education around AI partnership.

Here's the framework I've been developing:

Layer 1: Core Literacy (AI-Enhanced)

Basic literacy and numeracy remain essential, but how we teach them changes completely with AI.

For dyslexic students like my daughter:

• AI can read aloud any text at any reading level

• Text-to-speech is instantaneous and natural-sounding

• Students can process information through their strongest channel (auditory) while building visual literacy

• No student is "behind" because AI meets them where they are

For all students:

• Personalized pacing based on actual understanding, not age-based grade levels

• Immediate feedback loops

• Multi-modal learning (text, audio, visual, interactive)

• Mastery-based progression rather than time-based advancement

Layer 2: Project-Based Learning (Acton Model)

This is where models like Acton Academy excel:

• Real-world projects that matter to students

• Socratic questioning that develops critical thinking

• Student agency and self-directed learning

• Mixed-age collaboration

• Apprenticeships and mentorship

AI enhances this by:

• Providing expert-level guidance on any project topic

• Helping students research, plan, and iterate

• Offering Socratic dialogue to deepen thinking

• Connecting projects to real-world applications

• Enabling students to tackle more ambitious projects earlier

Layer 3: AI Literacy and Fluency (Core Subject)

This is what's missing from both traditional public schools AND most alternative schools:

AI literacy must become a core subject, not an elective.

Students need to learn:

• How to partner with AI effectively

• Prompt engineering and cognitive partnership

• Critical evaluation of AI outputs

• Ethical use and limitations

• AI as thinking tool, not replacement for thinking

This isn't "learning to use technology." This is learning the fundamental skill of the 21st century: how to collaborate with artificial intelligence.

Dyslexic students have a natural advantage here because we're already expert cognitive partners. We've spent our lives translating between different ways of thinking. AI partnership is just an extension of cognitive strategies we already use.

Layer 4: Back-Office AI (The Part Nobody's Talking About)

Here's where AI solves the funding problem both sides are fighting about:

Use AI to fix the broken administrative systems that waste education dollars.

California spends over $100 billion annually on K-12 education. Where does it go?

• Redundant reporting systems across districts

• Bloated administrative bureaucracies

• Inefficient resource allocation

• Outdated compliance processes

• Disconnected data systems

AI can:

• Automate administrative tasks that currently require entire departments

• Identify duplicated efforts across districts

• Optimize resource allocation in real-time

• Streamline compliance reporting

• Free up billions for actual education

This isn't about cutting jobs. It's about redirecting resources from paperwork to students.

The fastest way to save our schools is to automate what's wasting their money.

California Should Lead, Not Lag

We live next to Silicon Valley. The world's AI capital is in our backyard.

Yet our school systems are still running on an industrial model from a century ago: age-based grade levels, standardized curricula, one teacher per 30 students, Carnegie units measuring seat time.

It's time for California to stop reacting and start reinventing.

The Current Debate Misses This Entirely

The school choice initiative proposes $17,500 ESAs for private school tuition.

Opponents say it will destroy public schools by draining funding.

But both sides are arguing about how to fund a system that's fundamentally broken.

Neither side is asking: What if we rebuilt the entire system around AI partnership and personalized learning?

What if those $17,500 ESAs could be used for:

• AI-powered micro schools with 10-15 students and one facilitator

• Hybrid models combining online AI tutoring with in-person project work

• Home school co-ops using AI for individualized curriculum

• Specialized programs for neurodivergent learners

• Apprenticeship programs with AI-enhanced skill development

What if public school districts used AI to:

• Reduce administrative overhead by 40%

• Provide every student with personalized AI tutoring

• Free teachers to focus on mentorship and project facilitation

• Enable students to learn at their own pace

• Support neurodivergent students without massive resource drains

This is the conversation we should be having.

Not "vouchers vs. public schools."

But "how do we use AI to give every student, regardless of zip code or neurology, access to world-class, personalized education?"

The Neurodivergent Imperative

I started dyslexic.ai because traditional education fails neurodivergent students at catastrophic rates.

We drop out more. We're suspended more. We're misdiagnosed with behavioral disorders. We internalize shame about being "behind" or "struggling."

Not because we're less intelligent. Because the system isn't built for brains like ours.

School choice alone doesn't fix this. Private schools can and do reject neurodivergent students. Religious schools aren't required to provide accommodations. Micro schools often lack resources for specialized support.

But AI-first education could actually work for us:

For Dyslexic Students:

• Text-to-speech removes reading barriers

• Voice-to-text removes writing barriers

• Visual learning tools match our spatial thinking

• Project-based work plays to our creative strengths

• Personalized pacing eliminates "behind" stigma

For ADHD Students:

• Adaptive difficulty keeps engagement high

• Immediate feedback loops maintain focus

• Interest-driven learning leverages hyperfocus

• Movement and multi-modal input accommodated

• Executive function support built into AI tools

For Autistic Students:

• Predictable AI interactions reduce social anxiety

• Special interest topics can drive all learning

• Sensory-friendly environments easily customized

• Social skills practice with patient AI partners

• Clear expectations and structures

For All Neurodivergent Learners:

• No more "keeping up" with arbitrary grade-level expectations

• Strengths-based learning instead of deficit remediation

• Cognitive partnerships that match how we think

• Education that works with our brains, not against them

This is what both sides of the school choice debate are missing: The problem isn't just funding or choice. It's that the entire educational model is obsolete.

Sonoma County: Our Local Urgency

This isn't theoretical for me. I live in Sonoma County, where:

• Sonoma State just cut six sports programs

• Districts are facing budget shortfalls

• Enrollment is dropping as families leave or choose alternatives

• Teachers are leaving the profession

• Programs for special education and neurodivergent students are being reduced

My daughter is dyslexic. Finding appropriate education for her has been our family's biggest ongoing challenge.

The local public schools have caring teachers but insufficient resources for real individualized learning. The special education system is overwhelmed. The private schools are expensive and not necessarily better equipped for neurodivergent students.

We tried starting an Acton Academy. It worked pedagogically but not economically.

This is the crisis facing families like mine all over California. And it's getting worse, not better.

The school choice initiative offers one possible solution: let funding follow students to alternatives.

But if those alternatives are just traditional private schools with the same industrial model and no AI integration, we haven't actually solved anything.

We've just privatized a broken system.

My Proposal: The AI-First Choice Model

Here's what I'd like to see California pilot:

Component 1: Universal Education Savings Accounts

Yes, implement ESAs similar to the initiative proposal. Every student gets $17,500 annually that follows them.

But expand what they can be used for:

• Traditional public schools (default option)

• Public charter schools

• Private secular schools

• Religious schools (with constitutional guardrails)

• AI-powered micro schools

• Hybrid home school programs with AI support

• Neurodivergent-specialized learning centers

• Apprenticeship programs with AI integration

• Any accredited educational model that demonstrates outcomes

Component 2: AI Infrastructure Investment

Invest 10% of education funding ($10 billion) in statewide AI infrastructure:

• Every student gets access to enterprise-grade AI tools

• Public AI platform for educational use (privacy-protected, age-appropriate)

• Training for educators in AI partnership pedagogy

• Research and development for neurodivergent-optimized AI tools

• Back-office automation to reduce administrative costs by 40%

Component 3: Outcome-Based Accountability

Any school (public, private, micro, hybrid) receiving ESA funds must:

• Demonstrate measurable learning outcomes

• Accept all students regardless of ability (no cherry-picking)

• Provide transparent data on student progress

• Participate in third-party evaluation

• Meet minimum standards for neurodivergent accommodation

Component 4: Neurodivergent-First Design

Mandate that all ESA-funded schools must:

• Provide AI tools for accessibility (text-to-speech, speech-to-text, etc.)

• Train educators in neurodivergent learning profiles

• Offer flexible, strengths-based assessments

• Support AI-enhanced IEPs and learning plans

• Create sensory-friendly environments

Component 5: Innovation Zones

Establish 20 "AI Education Innovation Zones" across California (including Sonoma County) where:

• New models can be tested with reduced regulatory barriers

• Public-private partnerships are encouraged

• Best practices are documented and shared

• Failures are studied, not punished

• Success leads to statewide scaling

Why This Transcends the Partisan Divide

For those who support school choice:

• Families get real choice with ESAs

• Competition drives innovation

• Private schools can participate

• Parents control their children's education

• Alternatives to failing public schools are funded

For those who defend public schools:

• Public schools remain the default option with full funding

• Additional resources through AI reduce costs

• All schools must serve all students (no discrimination)

• Accountability is strengthened, not weakened

• Innovation improves public schools, not just alternatives

For both sides:

• AI infrastructure benefits all schools, public and private

• Back-office automation frees billions for actual education

• Neurodivergent students finally get what they need

• Every California student has access to world-class AI tools

• We're building something new, not just redistributing the broken system

The Questions We Should Be Asking

Instead of "vouchers vs. public schools," let's ask:

How do we use AI to personalize education for every student?

What would schools look like if designed for neurodivergent learners first?

How can we reduce administrative costs by 40% and redirect that to students?

What if every student had a personal AI tutor available 24/7?

How do we measure learning outcomes instead of seat time?

What would education cost if we eliminated the industrial model entirely?

Can we create schools that work with different brains instead of against them?

These are the questions that matter. These are the questions AI can help us answer.

And these are the questions that require lateral thinking, not left or right, but a third lens that sees beyond the current binary.

PRACTICAL TIPS & STRATEGIES

Tip of the Day: Use AI to Advocate for Your Neurodivergent Student

The Challenge: Parents of neurodivergent students often struggle to navigate IEP meetings, advocate effectively with schools, and articulate their child's needs in educational settings.

The AI-Powered Solution: Use AI as your cognitive partner to prepare for advocacy conversations and develop personalized education strategies.

Step 1: Document Your Child's Profile

Create a comprehensive prompt for your AI tool (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) that includes:

• Specific neurodivergent diagnoses and learning profile

• Current challenges in educational settings

• Demonstrated strengths and interests

• Past successes and failures with different approaches

• Goals for their education

Example Prompt:

I'm preparing to advocate for my 9-year-old dyslexic daughter. She:
- Has strong spatial reasoning and creative thinking
- Struggles with phonemic decoding and reading fluency
- Excels in project-based, hands-on learning
- Gets anxious with timed tests and cold reading
- Loves science, art, and building things

Help me prepare for an IEP meeting by:
1. Identifying evidence-based accommodations that match her profile
2. Explaining how her strengths can be leveraged in learning
3. Drafting specific, measurable goals
4. Anticipating objections from the school and preparing responses
5. Finding research that supports dyslexia-friendly approaches

Step 2: Prepare Multi-Perspective Analysis

Ask your AI to play both sides:

• What will the school prioritize and why?

• What are valid constraints they're working within?

• What language will be most effective?

• Where is common ground?

Step 3: Draft Documentation

Use AI to help you:

• Write clear, specific accommodation requests

• Document instances where current approaches aren't working

• Develop progress monitoring metrics

• Create communication templates for teachers

Step 4: Practice the Conversation

Have AI role-play the IEP meeting:

• You present your requests

• AI responds as the school team might

• Practice your responses

• Refine your approach

Step 5: After-Meeting Follow-Up

Use AI to:

• Summarize agreements from meeting notes

• Draft follow-up emails confirming next steps

• Develop home-support strategies that complement school plan

• Track progress and identify what's working

Why This Works:

• AI provides 24/7 access to expert-level guidance

• You can iterate and refine without judgment

• Multiple perspectives help you prepare for objections

• Documentation is clear and specific

• You enter meetings confident and prepared

Resources to Assist Implementation:

• Save your child's profile prompt for reuse across conversations

• Use voice-to-text to capture IEP meeting notes immediately after

• Share AI-drafted documents with partner/spouse for refinement

• Keep a running AI conversation thread for your child's education journey

• Use AI to translate educational jargon into plain language

Bonus Application: Use this same approach for:

• Researching alternative school options (Acton, micro schools, homeschool)

• Evaluating private schools' neurodivergent support

• Developing home learning strategies

• Connecting with other parents in similar situations

• Understanding education policy changes (like school choice initiatives)

Have a Great Weekend – And Let's Change the Conversation

This is probably the most politically sensitive newsletter I've written. Education is deeply personal. School choice is deeply polarizing.

October is flying by. We're midway through Dyslexia Awareness Month already. The last couple weeks have flown past. Here in Sonoma County, the weather's been as changeable as the education landscape: sunny skies to rain, back to sun again. Seems fitting, somehow.

But here's what I believe: We're having the wrong argument.

Left vs. right, vouchers vs. public schools, union vs. reform—these binaries miss what's actually broken and what's actually possible.

My dyslexic brain doesn't fit into those categories. My daughter's education needs don't fit into those categories. The future of learning doesn't fit into those categories.

We need a third lens. We need lateral thinking. We need to stop asking "which side is right" and start asking "what actually works for students."

And right now, in 2025, with AI capabilities advancing daily, the answer is clear: We can rebuild education entirely. We just need to imagine beyond the current system.

The California School Choice Initiative isn't perfect. The public school system isn't working. Both sides have valid points and blind spots.

But what if we stopped fighting about which broken system to fund and started building something new?

Something AI-powered. Something personalized. Something designed for neurodivergent brains first. Something that transcends the partisan divide because it actually works.

That's what I'm working toward. That's what dyslexic.ai is building tools for.

And I hope you'll join the conversation, not to pick sides, but to imagine what's possible.

What I'm Asking For

1. Share Your Experience

Reply to this email with your education story:

• Are you happy with your current school situation?

• What would you change if you could?

• How has your neurodivergent profile affected your education options?

2. Join the Discussion

I'm planning a series on AI-first education models. What questions should we explore?

3. Connect Me

If you know:

• Education reformers (left or right) open to AI-first thinking

• School board members interested in innovation

• Families in Sonoma County facing similar challenges

• AI researchers focused on education applications

I'd love to talk.

4. Consider the Third Lens

Before you react to this newsletter based on your political priors, try this:

• Ask your AI tool to steelman the opposing view

• Explore what you might be missing

• Look for solutions beyond the binary

• Practice lateral thinking

Because the future of education won't be built by one side winning.

It'll be built by people who can think laterally enough to imagine something entirely new.

— Matt Ivey, Founder · Dyslexic AI

Take Action Today

Research the Initiative: [California School Choice Official Site]

Use AI to Explore Perspectives: Ask Claude or ChatGPT: "Help me understand both sides of California's school choice debate and identify solutions that transcend partisan divisions."

Calculate Your District's AI Savings: Estimate 40% administrative cost reduction through AI automation - how much could that free up for student-facing programs?

Join Our AI Education Research: Reply to this email if you want to help develop neurodivergent-first education frameworks.

Share This Newsletter: Forward to someone on the "other side" of the education debate and ask them what they think.

This newsletter is optimized for neurodivergent readers with clear structure, multiple entry points for different interests, TL;DR for skimmers, and practical AI tools for immediate application. Because education should work with how our brains actually function, not against them.

TL;DR - Too Long; Didn't Read For Fellow Skimmers: The Essential Points

🎓 The Debate: California's School Choice Initiative proposes $17,500 ESAs for students to attend private schools - deeply partisan and polarizing

🧠 Third Lens: Dyslexic/neurodivergent thinking sees both sides simultaneously and looks for what actually works, not what fits ideology

🏫 Acton Experience: I started an Acton Academy micro school - excellent model, but funding through private tuition didn't work economically

🤖 AI Changes Everything: AI-first education could provide personalized learning, reduce costs, and serve neurodivergent students better than current systems

💰 Follow the Money: Use AI to automate administrative bloat, save billions, redirect to actual education regardless of school type

📊 The Framework: Core literacy + project-based learning + AI fluency + back-office automation = education that actually works

🌉 Beyond Binary: Stop arguing about vouchers vs. public schools; ask how we use AI to rebuild education entirely

♿ Neurodivergent First: Design education for dyslexic, ADHD, autistic brains - then it works for everyone

🏡 Local Urgency: Sonoma County education is collapsing - we need solutions now, not partisan debates

🚀 The Proposal: Universal ESAs + AI infrastructure + outcome accountability + neurodivergent design + innovation zones

✅ Transcends Politics: Gives choice advocates what they want (ESAs, alternatives) AND public school defenders what they want (accountability, universal access, more resources)

🔮 The Real Question: Not "which side wins" but "how do we give every student AI-powered, personalized, neurodivergent-friendly education?"