Transcript

Our Predictions for 2026!

Busted Pencils · Sat Jan 3, 2026

That's how that comes in.

Busted pencils, fully-lighted education talk, educated educators, you know what we're doing

we're talking education, me, Dr. Tim Slecker, Dr. Johnny Lupinacci, Jacob Chairman of the board,

we're all in, well, we're all in different houses, but we're in the same video screen house.

Welcome my two brothers. What's going on?

Johnny, can I just say something before?

Yeah, I am just so over the moon that we're doing another Saturday show here in the year

2026, the first of the year, 2026, it's just another year of busted pencils.

You can always count on it, no matter what year it is, if it's 2007, if it's 1991,

there's always busted pencils. So I know this show has always existed and it always will.

I'm excited to see what we're going to do this year.

Man, I feel like I didn't bring enough energy to start this show.

Jacob, thank you for bringing me up to speed, man, Johnny.

That's what our producers for, man, when he sees a gap, he's like, I got to bring the energy,

I got to bring the juice here, Jacob, thanks for the energy. Yeah, folks, it's the first

Saturday of the new year, 2026, exciting drop yesterday, you got to hear producer's choice,

first one of the new year. Tim, I'm super excited about this one because it's the broadcast,

Saturday broadcast, I love it. Pencil busters all over, love the Saturday broadcast on

civic media network, educated educators, talking education in 2026, continuing the long-standing

tradition, Tim, that we have. This is one of my most favorite shows of the year,

and it always happens either right before new years or right after.

But since I've been on busted pencils with you, which is going on what, five years now,

can you believe that? Unbelievable. But every year, you hit me with this topic,

and I'm stoked for us to jump into it because, Tim, some of the things we talk about,

when we have this show, tend to happen. I think we have some sway in the universe.

I won't tease it any longer. This is my favorite show of the year.

Tim introduced me to it many years ago. He said, Johnny, we do this thing around new years where

we talk about premonitions, things we predict or hope or really just, you know, we want to put the

the good energy out there. We would love to see happen in education. And we kind of chop that up

and man, Tim, it has happened. A lot of it has, man, I tell you, you know, and we do not practice

crystal ball looking or magic eight ball throwing or tarot card reading on YouTube.

We just feel it, dig for it, and then we say it, and it happens, seems to be, I don't know, Jacob,

what do you think? Well, you know, I mean, actually, too, Jacob, this is Jacob's, producer,

Jacob's first premonitions show with us, Jacob, you didn't know how much, you know, we're

able to see into the future. Did you? I knew you guys were pretty smart, but I never knew about

your magical powers. And that's something I'm really starting to appreciate here. And

I'll be able to see it firsthand this year. I'm assuming these premonitions you're going to

make are all going to come true. And then I'll get to see it over the course of the year. Well,

I'm sure we'll, we'll update people as the year goes along. You know, hey, Tim called this.

Johnny called that. Jacob was dead wrong about this. So, you know, we'll see as it develops

throughout the year, but I'm pretty excited to hear what you guys are thinking.

Well, you know, on this though, before we get into our premonitions, like, do you guys

like listen to other people's things and kind of go like, yeah, that's kind of cool. I mean,

you know, like stock market predictions.

You know, like, like, there's this one guy. And I, you know, we'll give it. It's not a commercial

with the prof G pod. Scott Galloway always tries to do, you know, like, here's the companies that

I think you're going to make it. And, you know, I followed his advice a couple times. And

um, um, did not work out. So, uh, I guess what I'm saying, though, is that you may not make any

money on Johnny and Tim's premonitions and predictions. But, you know, if there's somebody who wants

to take the odds on us being correct, I'm going to say that, uh, you know, be careful what you

make bet against because you're up against, uh, you know, two truth future seers who can grab on

to things that are about to happen. I'm making it sound too magical on our journey. Or, or just

two hands, he Tim, um, I, I, I want to say this to you like, like, I'll just dispel the myth. Uh,

we joke about this. But also, if you throw enough mod at the wall, some of it sticks.

You know, we, we, we premonition all year long, and we just highlight this show as it. And, uh,

we speculate and throw enough at what we hope to see in education that some of it sticks. And then,

of course, we, we claim, I see, I said that was going to happen. So, so, uh, you know, the gigs up

on that, uh, but, you know, let's, let's do a Tim. This is one of my favorite shows. So,

what I was just thinking though, before we do, like, have we ever done a reflection back to

going, man, we were wrong on that. We're not wrong. Come on now. Only correct dancers here on

Busted Pencils. No, um, but I do believe we've proposed the idea of jumping back into past

possible premonitions and seeing where they've landed, which, I mean, whether that happens or not

when it happens, don't be surprised. Listener, if, you know, Tim and Johnny actually get held

accountable, um, this sounds like something producer Jacob may have up his sleeve, um, you know,

for an upcoming show or who knows when it happens, but, you know, he has tossed around the idea

when I said, Hey, this is a long standing tradition. We got to make sure we have that show. Jacob

said, Oh, so I could go back and see which ones have stuck. I said, uh, you know, no, no, they all

just land. Don't worry about that. See, we can see into the future Jacob can see back into the past.

He's got a way back machine. Well, yeah, accountability, man. He's a big accountability guy.

He holds us to, you know, to a standard here at Bust of Pencils. Otherwise, Tim, who knows where

we'd go, uh, with the conversation. I speak truth to power here on Bust of Pencils. Hey,

there you go. Man, I'm into the boards. Who are you referring to? Um, are you calling us power?

Yeah, Tim. Oh, I mean, people heard it on the New Year's show. You're looking to do 10 whole

pushups this coming year. So I mean, I know we're, you know, what's going on? You guys are pretty

tough, pretty powerful guys. I understand immediately, immediately after that show, I was like,

did I just say I was going to do? Yeah, I was like, wait a minute. Let's, let's come back.

Well, this is, this is a good goal because I, because I immediately said, I better see how many I

can do. And I like nearly put myself in the hospital, but I got the 32. I mean, so I,

I've got some work to do because like, honestly, guys, I don't think I can do 32 again for some time.

You know, the arms I heard in the chest was hurting. Everything was feeling like it might not

ever work again. And I thought, what did I commit to? But I'm out of my word. So I've got my goal set

and at least I have a whole year. And then I realized that Jacob and Tim, like kind of tricked me

into a New Year's resolution, even though on the Grinch of New Year's resolutions, I realized,

oh, I guess I do have a New Year's resolution and a new purpose to be in the gym with all the,

all the new crowd. You're going to, you're going to come on show and go watch out for these guns

right here, man. You know, and if people can't see this on the video, I just did a bicep flex.

For the people just listening, Tim showed off his huge biceps on the show just now.

It was, it was kind of like that, that episode, you know, where they put the, and then the bicep

goes reverse, um, pop by a bit, but pop by or bugs, bunny cartoons. Got you. And on the side

to the premonitions, it's okay. Jacob's running a rent. He's taking bets on the over under

for 10 push-ups or 50 push-ups. Tim, as I set the bar at 10, I'm at 50 on the wise bet would be

under, but we'll see. You think this will make it to draft Kings? You know, another, another free

ad here. I mean, you know, Tim, Tim, we'll get to 10. Johnny will not get to 50. What's the odds of

of the, I mean, I don't know. Can I do a parlay? And parlay, Jacob. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to do,

Tim will not get to 10. Johnny will not get to 10. And the bears will win the Super Bowl.

If all three of those happen, I think I'm, I'm going to be a millionaire. Yeah.

Anyway. Anyway. So, okay. I, you know what, I'm going to go with one and, and I'm, I think I'm,

well, before we give a premonition, can I ask a clarifying question? Yeah. I'm new to this.

This is my first time engaging with the busted pencils premonition show. Can you explain to me?

Okay. These have to be things you think are going to happen, right? In education in 2026. It can't

happen in 2027. Your way off. It has to happen this year. And it's specifically about education.

Am I right? Am I getting that related related to education? Yes. We'll actually focus the topics

the things. And, and I'll, I'll clarify Jacob, we use premonition lightly. They're more like

things we'd like to see happen, but also might think like that could, that could happen in education.

Yeah. Okay. So, part of this is willing things into existence, trying with our good, good vibes.

Okay. Well, you know, we, we, we might light a fire. Sometimes when people hear the things,

metaphorically here. Well, I mean, you know, and Jacob one example, for example, you know,

Jonay and I have, you know, pretty regularly had premonitions of more educators and teachers

getting involved in the political process running as candidates, whether it's school board members,

whether it's state level, whether, you know, and that's happened. And yeah, man, I mean,

the year I said this just to be the year you'll see more teachers running for political office,

that went all the way up to the vice presidency. Right. Right. So the Democratic party got that.

Hey, man, Johnny, I bust a pencil, said this needs to happen this year.

Derek Jacob should be a former teacher. You doubted the influence of Johnny and Tim's

premonitions, right? They're almost all the way to the White House. Yeah, I know we're coming

up on here and you guys like, you haven't made, okay, I'm going to make one. And then I'll let Johnny

make one and then maybe we'll come back and contextualize it. My one is, I don't think anybody would

be surprised, but I will see the actually, we will see the acceleration of colleges and universities

that close in 2026. More, you know, in fact, it will let's let's put a measurable on this.

There will be more than in 2025. There will be more closures and mergers of colleges and higher

education in 2026. Johnny, one minute. So do just real quick clarification on this for the record,

though, and then we'll go to mine in the next break. But Tim, just quick clarification. Do you mean

colleges within universities merging or closing or do you?

I mean, universities like like in general places that call themselves colleges and or universities.

The institutions, the institutions themselves shut the doors and allow for interesting. That's

tangent to some of my premonitions coming up to him. This is a big, exciting listener. Stick with us

here, Busted Pencils, where we come back.

We're back. Busted Pencils fully-led education talk, educated,

educators talking education first, broadcast of the new year, happy 2026, happy new year,

premonitions, predictions, you know, Tim and Johnny say, here's what's going to happen in the

new year, Johnny. So I first said, you know, more colleges, universities or higher education institutions

will close more than actually in 2025. In other words, there will be an acceleration of more

closures coming in the in this new year. So Johnny, you know, cut you off, you were going to drop

on here. Well, it was perfect at the break and it's tangent to yours and we should just go around

because I've had producer Jacobs also got some premonitions and we got a fold him into the

tradition here in the new year. But Tim related, I think, to yours. And I'm going to try and put

a silver lining on this too. So tough. I mean, 2025 was a rough year if that was any precursor.

I think some of the things that we're bracing ourselves for in 2026, just to be real about things.

They're, it's a difficult road for education. But I'll add in that I like always eternally optimistic

with things. So I'll add that flair to it. The first one, Tim, as I say, I think as much as I

don't like this, I think that the accountability squeeze that we've seen so much in education

intensifies. And I think that's going to be causation for some of these increased closures that

you are are including in your premonition. But my gut just tells me that we're headed into an

even tighter vice grip on teachers and the increased data driven accountability measures,

right? Standardized testing. I think the neoliberal obsession with quantifying will double down.

More standardized tests, right? rebranded though, Tim. As you kind of talked more to over the last

year, as competency-based, proficiency-based, or personalized learning, I think it's going to

like morph into like, hey, everybody's focused on this individualized lesson stuff that's really

important. But I think it's going to be intensely quantified and be sort of like the same

extractive logic that measures, I think most educators would say, doesn't really measure

learning, but sort of skews the metrics. So Tim, I think associated with that, we're going to

hemorrhage experienced teachers. I think that's going to be part of like you're talking about,

you know, colleges and universities closing or merging. I think experienced teachers

will be even more frustrated than they have in the past with these with these moves.

And so there'll be a hemorrhaging of experienced teachers. Certainly we've seen that trend

over the last few years. But the silver lining, Tim, where I get to why I'm

okay, somewhat less than say Chinese. So what's good about that, man? This has literally been

the last decade for us teachers, right? But no, the silver lining is I think 2026 is the push

over the edge. It's where teachers, educators, people in community say, enough of this measuring

things in the intensity of the accountability squeeze reaches its tipping point to where we see

more wholesale rejection of it, more alternative. So Tim, I want to think about it as almost like

an apex of an early contribution to why bus depensals even exist, right? That opt out testing

movement, you know, as these grassroots organizations and groups were saying, hey, these standardized

tests actually are a big problem. I think this is the year, Tim. All right. The masses get on board

with that kind of, you know, rejection of what I'm called the accountability squeeze.

Nice. Jacob. Yes, Tim. Well, I mean, okay, I see in the notes here, from Jacob, I have two

premonitions. Yes. Well, you want me to say, okay, I'm sorry, you want me to editorialize on

Johnny first? No, you're saying no, no response. I could go. Yeah. So my premonition, my first

premonition is that 2025 is and as you well know, Tim, 2025 was the year that everybody became aware

of the incredible opportunities that AI has for education in this country, every school district,

every state across America, people are talking about how can we use AI to help our students?

I think that's good. But in 2026, I think it's going to be the year of big headlines about

weird AI boondoggles not going well. Oh, I think because of the amount of different experiments

that people are going to do, which are going to be good. It's going to bear a lot of fruit.

But in that, there's going to be a lot of laser discs and beta maxes of AI that people see

and make big big headlines that we're going to talk about this year. Weird AI thing goes wrong

somewhere. That's my prediction. Hey, I like that one. I, yeah, I can see that one happening.

You know, first of all, Johnny, you know what? So you're on that. I hope you're right,

because I have been saying for the last 15 years, though, that they've pushed too far and that

this was going to finally end. So I hope you're right. I will say that the past isn't a good predictor

of the future you wish. Jacob, I can definitely see a lot of boondoggling with AI coming for sure,

man. Because, you know, when you actually do see what is happening, what it can do and the things

that people are, you know, experimenting, woo, I mean, the good, the bad and the ugly, for sure.

It's the same thing we saw with the early cars, early computers, and some of these AI

experiments will be only owned by Jay Leno in 30 years. I tell you, all right. Does Jayla,

is it really Jay Leno or is it AI, Jay Leno? That's, you know, you never know. Well,

let me tell you, busted pencils, we're going to be back without Jay Leno. So hold on tight.

Who's knocking on the door so loudly? That's busted pencils fully-ledged education talk,

educated educators talking education in 2026 on the broadcast one full hour. You know,

you've already done half iron. If you're just joining us, welcome. It is, you know, I'd say it's

our famous Tim and Johnny Premonitions show now adding producer Jacob is one of the

permanent, permanent monitors. I, you know, I'm just creating.

Jason or Jacob is now one of the. This is going great. Jacob is one of one of our future series.

Okay, you know what, though, Johnny, back to, I want to jump into this permanent,

because I'm going to ride your wave of, you know, where it doesn't look good, but could be

maybe headed that way. I, I see, I'm going to contextualize this with yes, negativity,

the culture war escalation will continue in the, I want to make this very specific in the first quarter

of 2026. However, we've already kind of seen some of this simmering already.

It will reach the point of utter frustration and anger to the point of people finally

rejecting the culture wars and saying, you know what, I'm just not playing anymore,

and I see the end of the culture wars by the middle of 2026. That's right there because,

you know, let me put this way. I was, you know, actually over the break had a,

went out to lunch with an old fraternity brother, he's a police officer and his chief,

and we started talking about this stuff. And, you know, here's the thing, they're tired,

the, these, you know, great guys, police officers, they're tired of the leftist cultural warfare

attack on them. And I was talking about teachers, we're tired of the right wing culture attack.

On, on us, and it got to the point of going like, going like, man, it's like, it's like,

we're complaining about the same thing. It just might be familiar. And the reality was it's going,

it's just like, you know what, we're not serving the public good by the constant demonization

of people in our neighborhood, you know, going back to Sesame Street, who are the people in your

neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood. You know, the police officer, the

teacher, these are people in your neighborhood. And I think my neighbor is getting pretty tired

of hearing how horrible both of those people in the neighborhood are. So there's my context,

despite what's going on in the chat room. Well, Tim, you can go ahead and we can give the edited

version not the biggest fan of police here. So we can have multiple perspectives, but you know,

without a lot of reform. And I think they're pigeonholed. Like good folks get pigeonholed into a system

that, you know, is built on punishment and not on, you know, true community safety. And now get

into that like fruitful and general generative debate. But Tim, I think, man, I love your riff on

that sort of pre-primination I gave earlier in the producer's choice drop on Friday. I think

you're right, man. I think, you know, we're, I love that you're calling for it even sooner. I'm like,

man, I'm ready for it. Let's end the, the back and forth between me and the left and the right,

right? But let's embrace that somewhere we have to actually share space. You're talking about it

as neighborhood. It's a great connection, but you know, especially around education. So I mean,

I love that. And I think, you know, highlighting looking at the past year, we've talked about,

you know, organizations like, you know, parents' rights and things like that related to education.

And I think, you know, in particular, the right open Pandora's box last year, like with the

discourse of empowering every parent to challenge curriculum. And I think that we're going to see

that those communities, that communities are going to use those same mechanism to challenge,

you know, the environmental destruction, you know, the erasing of histories, Christian

nationalism as the democracy. I mean, those two things kind of don't really work together in

the same sentence. I mean, you know, democracy is a diversity of beliefs coming together to make

decisions in the interest of the common good. But I think, you know, that's the Pandora's box of

that sort of, I'll categorize it as the parents' rights movement that we really saw impacting

educational policies last year. I think you're right, man. And I love your premonition that by mid

year, we see, you know, things messy enough. And I don't mean that in a context of violence. I mean,

in a context of, like, holy smokes, can we figure out that, you know, we have to all work together

and build stronger networks for public education? I'm going to parlay that one into my next

premonition and then pass it on. Promenonometer. Huh? Yeah, you said premonometer. That's what you

named the the the the premonition people. I did it, but that's okay. Oh, that's Jacob. Sorry.

I did not, but I love that that I'm not sure where we're going with it to come on premonition

already. Would you? This is a minefield of Tim bombs tonight. But pencil busters out there. Love

that. It's why we love the show. Next premonition is kind of related to these Tim. I talked about

accountability, squeeze intent of intensifying the Pandora's box of, you know, really localizing

things. I think on producer's choice, I said things are going to get weird locally in a good way

in terms of we're familiar with, you know, leftist politics, right wing politics. And then the

middle is kind of silent. And I think it's going to be a refreshing weird to figure out what is

the middle? What are we do to build our community networks together? But Tim, I think also I'm going to

go big here since we're saying, you know, the accountability squeeze intensifies to finally saying

enough, right? I think that the privatization end game plays out loud. When I mean by that,

as we talked a lot over the last years, and again, decades of this show, right? Tim, you've been

working on this for, you know, before I even came on as a guest, and then you invited me to co-host

with you, right? But you've talked a lot about voucher programs, charter expansion, school

choice, and the political rhetoric of that. But I think 2026, outside of the education world

critical of that, the mask is coming off, right? That this was always about dismantling public

education as a democratic institution. That is, I believe in 2026 going to become more loud,

right? The privatization, loudness of, you know, what vouchers are really about, what charter

expansion is really about. And, you know, here's the thing, when you start to say the quiet parts

out loud, people wake up. So that's connected to my, like, things getting weird locally, watch for

more parent and community coalitions to form unexpected alliances, right? With teachers,

teachers unions, all kinds of like new players in the game, in defense of genuinely public schools.

That's what we know about democracy is when we work together locally to have conversations about

the common good, unexpected alliances start to bud. So I think the privatization end game gets

loud, Tim, and it wakes people up. Oh, man. I don't, you know, Jacob, what, I got to hear from

Jacob on, first of all, you know, what do you think about Johnny and, you know, both of us,

and then I think you think, yeah, not you think you think, I know you have another premonition.

Tim, I want to say on your account, they're talking about the culture war heating up so hot that

it kind of we burn our fingers on the stove and we all kind of calm down at some point. I agree with

you. I think that a lot of people, let's say that, you know, we're coming off of the last big

election and elections get people talking about politics and what they think about social stuff.

And it's kind of a hot point for that sort of conversation. I think in 2024, people on the right

side of the spectrum made a lot of, hey, by pointing out and finding some of those extreme cases

and edge cases and education that made people feel uncomfortable. I think they made a mistake

in thinking that those things making people uncomfortable meant that they would be super comfortable

with a weird right wing, far weird education stuff. I don't think that's going to be the case.

I think 2026 is when these decisions that the current administration is making start to impact

people in their districts, in their states and in their hometowns. I think people aren't going

to like it. I think that that big silent majority is Richard Nixon would call it. I think they're

going to have a bit of a backlash against some of our friend, Linda McMahon's decisions and

education. And I think we're all going to have a bit more of a consensus heading into the next

opportunities we have to change things. But my prediction on that vein is that our friend,

Linda McMahon is not going anywhere. I think she's going to stick around through 2026,

even though she has no real job to do anymore because she's destroyed her own department.

But I think she's going to say, hey, mission accomplished. Department of education is awesome now.

And I'm just here to keep things calm. And I like being the secretary of something that makes me

feel pretty cool. I'm going to stick around and I don't see any reason why she will be departing

from us anytime soon. Well, it makes sense because before this gig, we saw what happened to her in

the ring there. A couple of suplexes and things like that. I think right now she's like,

I like doing nothing for the country. But actually, she's doing a lot. I don't know. I mean,

yeah, this one, Jacob, I thought you were going to go with, I got to say, I thought you were going

to go with she will be gone. The fact that you're predicting her solidly staying put. I'm like,

okay, that caught me off guard. I want to hear your case, Tim. Why do you think she's out of here?

What are you thinking? You know why? Because I think she's now going to be at the point of being

bored. You know, I mean, although, you know, a story that really didn't get hit a lot, though,

related to her, though, and in fact, though, this is going to be connected to my next prediction.

I see that the forgiveness of student loans debate. I think I don't think that student loan forgiveness

is going to come back through this current administration. But I see a move that will reignite

that idea of something has to happen here with student loans. And it's going to be taken on

earnestly from the standpoint of recognizing that, you know what? Guess what? Who has

exorbitant amounts of debt? Republican kids and democratic kids. And the reality of that

pressing oppressive pain of debt is going to be realized that it ain't the taxpayers on the

going to be on the dole or the what do you say the responsibility. These families have had it.

And the reality is these were predatory loans to begin with. Hey man, we're going after the

predators in 2026. That's my prediction, Jacob. We'll be right back.

Yeah, you hit back in. Well, plastic pencils fully,

letted education talk predictions. I've been hogging the mic, Johnny. Okay, last segment,

we got to do some quick ones. So you're I think we can summarize, man. I mean, these we've connected

the dots. I early dropped one. I think they're connected. There's a theme here. So we just

summarize and I'll sort of just say all of mine kind of point to the similar tone that I think

yours have Tim is that this is a year of like really eyes wide open to things. Really not just an

invitation, but an imperative to be democratically involved to get out and talk to your neighbor,

not just about education, but about, you know, things that are good, things that aren't so good.

How do we come together to be the change we want in the world? And that's the power of democracy.

So I think this is the year, man, where we see even more a lot of the issues we've talked about here

because they're near and dear to us in education or for a listener out there because, you know,

they've been experiencing them for years, things like standardized tests, things about privatization

of schools, the school voucher movements, all of these things, you know, I think they become

more mainstream spoken in terms of like local politics. And again, summarizing that my prediction,

being that that's not a back and forth between the right and the left, but a louder middle ground.

And that's not saying that like the left needs to figure out how to accept what the right wants

and the right needs to, you know, change to what the left wants. That's really saying, what are the

things about the, the everyday life that every case that that we want, the things that we want,

a left and right bull, how about the things that we, and I say, not just me, you, Johnny,

we the people, my neighbors, our communities. I think yeah, exactly like you want more cops.

I want no cops. That's extremely exaggerating both of our positions. But, you know, nonetheless,

like to just think about that overall for me, and I'll close off on this,

2026 won't be the year public education gets quote-unquote fixed, right? There isn't like a silver bullet

this year that just fixes public education. But it'll be the year more of us, more than ever,

stop waiting for permission to teach towards futures. And we just do it together. We organize

in community, we organize across proverbial party lines and teachers and parents and school leaders

and coaches and librarians and nurses. And I can go on and on, right? Begin to teach the futures

our students actually need. That's 2026. We moved from what we thought education was to what

the futures our students actually need. So this is then, let me summarize this and make

this is the year when we, the people realize, it ain't raining. You're doing something else

on my leg. Johnny's like, what is it? Yes. Yeah. No, it's the stop. What are you doing on someone's

leg, Tim? Hey, you know, it's it's it's that old adage. Stop telling me it's raining when you're

doing something. Yeah, yeah, exactly more more wide awakeness to things. And I think more

than naming it, it's just, you know, organizing not in the proverbial like tradition of organize,

although that's part of it, just commonplace, conversations, perspectives, collaboration,

community building. You don't need permission to do it. It's part of your democratic right in

your civic responsibility. And we start doing it more together around education. So you don't need

experts like us to highlight what the problems are. We're all more and more familiar with them.

And in 2026, I think we see a ground swell of of movement to strengthen public schools.

Well, geez. I don't know. Nice summary. I think we'll put it, you know, kind of leave it at

that. It's not a whole lot to add. Jacob, any kind of closing thoughts is, are your first

prediction show with to me, to me, to me, to me. Johnny is done. Yeah, I'm going to use these

30 seconds for my last premonition of the night. Tim, Johnny, I think 2026 is going to be the year

of big bold ideas and education. They've gotten rid of the old Department of Education, which leaves

room for people to come out with their ideas of how they think it should be or how it always

should have been from the beginning, lots of ideas, lots of room for new ideas and innovation and

education, big, crazy times that we live through like this, a lot of threats, but also a lot of

opportunities. I think you're going to see people from all across the political spectrum with ideas

that aren't just the same old, sampled a lot of new opportunities. I love that. I love it. Love

fresh and new. And with that, now it's time for your moment of sin.

So yes, they depend on our obedience. When we withdraw it, their power disappears. It's important

to know that it's important to know that every little thing we do, it helps.

Thanks for listening to the Busta Pencils broadcast today. And remember, you can grab great podcasts,

chalk, full of more fully-ledged education talk on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and of course,

on the civic media website. Hey, happy new year and don't be late for home room on Monday and make

sure you catch next week's class and session on Wednesday and find us on Fridays for Busta Pencils,

producer Jacob's choice. And just like today, you can catch Busta Pencils at 3 p.m. Central time

across all the civic media network stations for one hour of your favorite blue collar scholars,

Tim and Johnny, and keep Busta Pencils.

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