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Whitney Tilson: “They ended social promotion in third grade. A kid can't go…”

Featuring: Whitney Tilson, Democratic | Former Hedge Fund Manager, Candidate for New York City Mayor

Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast

Published May 23, 2025 | Video Starts at 10:34

They adopted rigorous curriculum, they did rigorous retraining for teachers and started informing kids and parents. And here's the most controversial thing they did. They ended social promotion in third grade. A kid can't go to fourth grade unless they're reading it at least a basic level. And that causes a lot of turmoil the few places that that's been tried. But I actually think it's necessary to force the system. (10:34–10:41)

CLAIM

Asserts that Mississippi ended social promotion in third grade, requiring basic reading proficiency to advance.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Whitney Tilson

“Mississippi is the poorest state in the country. Spends 12,000 bucks a kid. We're spending approximately 40,000 bucks a kid.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 08:30-08:38
“90% of New York City parents think their child is reading at grade level. The actual number, 45%.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 09:06-09:13
“5% of New Yorkers elected our mayor and our other top elected officials.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 26:09-26:16
“90% of U.S. counties swung toward Trump relative to the prior election.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 36:08-36:12
“Austin created 15% more housing supply and they now have a glut.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 40:07-40:13
“In Austin, housing prices are down 23%, rents are down 22%.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 40:12-40:19
“Nationwide, two thirds of people own one third of people rent. In New York, it's exactly the opposite.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 40:41-40:48
“Nationwide rents have gone down 24 consecutive months and they're still going up here in the city.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 42:29-42:35
“For the past 20 plus years I've been an activist in the Democratic Party.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 01:34-01:40
“I joined the board of KIPP Charter Schools after helping found Teach for America.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 01:41-01:46
“I helped start something called Democrats for Education Reform.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 02:11-02:14
“We Democrats have not been doing a very good job running the cities and states that we control.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 02:54-02:58
“We have an incredible charter sector in New York City. It educates 300 odd schools, are educating 150,000 kids, about 15% of New York City…”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 04:56-05:05
“We don't allow for profit charters, any of these online charters, the things that give the charter movement a black eye.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 05:07-05:13
“Every charter can be put on probation or even shut down if they cannot demonstrate that they are delivering for children.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 05:31-05:38
“The largest [charter authorizer] is SUNY in the state. It's more than half of them.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 06:03-06:09
“KIPP's budget is for its 18 schools approaching $200 million. 97% of that is city and state money.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 06:19-06:29
“It was done in New Orleans after Katrina. They charterized the whole system.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 07:35-07:39
“Mississippi has, in the last 20 quarter century roughly has soared past New York.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 08:24-08:31
“They mandated by law, you must stop lying to parents and put together a reading instructional program for any child.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 09:13-09:21
“They threw out this whole language balance literacy curriculum nonsense that has infected our schools here in New York for 30 years.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 09:32-09:41
“We have 75,000 teachers in our system. It takes years to retrain them and we haven't done it quickly enough.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 09:44-09:51
“Mississippi has done a lot of basic stuff and they set high standards and goals.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 10:16-10:24
“Lumber Liquidators, which has now gone bankrupt in part as a result of these revelations, was sourcing flooring, laminate flooring from…”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 16:27-16:48
“Donald Trump in this area, as in pretty much other area, is gone rogue, is harming our country in this in so many ways, including…”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 19:03-19:23
“I told my readers in my Free Investing Daily, as the stock market crashed by 20% a short period of time as this madness became apparent, I…”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 19:37-19:57
“What's interesting, what reigned him in here in his tariffs was the bond market and to some, most importantly, and the stock market.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 20:15-20:22
“It means we're going to have to pay a little bit more for the debt, the bonds, the U.S. treasuries that we issue. And when you multiply that…”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 20:47-21:23
“Donald Trump is hurting this country.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 21:26-21:29
“Mayor Adams has been a terrible disappointment and has been corrupt.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 24:37-24:42
“I don't think we really have a democracy here in New York City.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 24:50-24:54
“Republicans [use] voter suppression techniques.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 25:15-27:38
“The Democratic Party machine has deliberately... created a system that minimizes voter turnout.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 25:28-25:37
“The Democratic Party machine has created a system in which a handful of special interest groups... determine who their elected officials…”
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“The teachers union [is] the most powerful [special interest group].”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 26:27-26:28
“Anyone who truly believes in democracy... should be fighting to maximize voter turnout.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 27:14-27:21
“In red states a hunting license you can vote, but not a driver's license.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 27:38-27:44
“I would pass a national law making voting mandatory. Some [countries like] Australia has that, for example.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 29:09-29:16
“In the last mayoral primary in New York, [turnout] was 26%.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 29:58-30:22
“The previous election, de Blasio's reelection, [had] turnout [of] 14 and a half percent of eligible voters.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 30:16-30:26
“I raised a quarter million dollars and $250 in smaller chunks from about 1700 New Yorkers.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 37:23-37:29
“City of Yes was an important step in the right direction. But 80,000 units in 15 years is sort of a joke.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 41:31-41:40
“We've Got a housing crisis and 1.4% vacancy rate.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 42:26-42:30
“It used to take two years start to finish from land acquisition [to] actually building and opening something.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 43:01-43:07
“It's now four years when you double the amount of time.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 43:16-43:20
“Mortgage rates are 7% or something.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 43:25-43:28
“We as a city have doubled the amount of time it takes to get something done.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 43:32-43:37
“City of Yes, I think was important. It created some citywide standards that sort of override some of the local NIMBYism.”
Whitney Tilson Discusses New York City Mayoral Candidacy and Education Reform on 'You Decide' Podcast | Uploaded May 23, 2025 | 44:15-44:25