Senator Cory Booker on Teacher Pay, Education & the RAISE Act

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Welcome to the Balancing Act podcast, the podcast where we tackle the daily

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juggle of life. Here are your hosts, Jamie Wonko and Joe Vitale.

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Hey, buddy. What's going on? Hi. How are you? Hey, I'm good.

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We're officially recording.

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Ah, welcome. Welcome to the Balancing Act podcast. I am Jamie Wonko here with

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Joe Vitale. Hello, Mr. Vitale.

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Hello, Jamie Wonko. How are you? What's going on?

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I am aces. I really cannot believe that we are introducing New Jersey Senator

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Cory Booker on the pod today.

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This would be two of two. So for those of you who did not pay attention in civics

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class when Mr. Vitale was your teacher, every state in the country has two senators.

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The senators are from the upper house of the government, not to be confused

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with the lower house, which is Congress, the House of Representatives.

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And so the senators for New Jersey are Senator Andy Kim and Senator Cory Booker. Yes.

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Special shout out to Wellesley at

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the Democratic Strategic Democratic Communications Commission, as well as.

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Senator Booker's staff for helping us find the time to record with someone who

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has a very busy schedule.

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And we are, you know, a few weeks away from midterm elections.

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So it's even, it's even busier as you could imagine.

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So we're super excited to have Senator Booker on to talk to him about what he's working on and how,

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he's going to be working to impact New Jersey schools and families,

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New Jersey and United States schools and families for sure.

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So I think we should, without further ado, I think we should let our special

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guest for our episode in today. What do you say?

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I say, let's do it. All right. Sounds good.

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Okay, on behalf of Jamie, my co-host, I would like to welcome Senator Cory Booker

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to the Balancing Act podcast.

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Senator, it is an absolute pleasure. Thanks a lot for taking time out of your,

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incredibly busy schedule to join us.

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I'm so psyched to be on with you and looking forward to the conversation. Yeah, it's awesome.

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It's so nice to meet you. Yeah, nice to meet you too, Jamie. Thank you.

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My daughter actually met you too at a canvassing event for Governor Cheryl back last fall.

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Oh, wow. And as most teenagers who don't like most things, she was like,

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wow, he was really nice and genuine. I was like, oh, that's awesome.

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It's so good to know. So it's nice to meet you in person.

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That's really cool. Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. My daughters get involved in the civic process.

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And I have to say that these are lessons that she'll lean on for a long time.

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And I'm really psyched that she was out there for a great governor.

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Yeah. It's very exciting.

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So we would love to just learn a little bit about you. Yeah.

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But to get us started about your background, where you grew up,

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what makes Cory Booker Cory Booker.

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So if you want to jump into that, feel free to go right ahead.

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I was actually born in Washington, D.C.

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And didn't move to Newark, to New Jersey rather until I was a ripe four months old.

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My parents, right after, they literally had me in a hospital here and started

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house hunting in New Jersey.

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And this is the great thing about Jersey is that we would not have been able

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to move into the town I moved into if it wasn't for the activism of Jersey residents.

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Because here in 1969, they just wouldn't let Black families live in a lot of

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sections of New Jersey. We were a very segregated state.

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And it was real estate agents that would steer Black families away.

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And so my parents fell in love with this house.

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They were told it was sold. These organizers sent a white couple who were volunteering.

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To help out with breaking the housing steering.

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The white couple found out the house was still for sale. They put a bid on the

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house. The bid was accepted.

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And on the day of the closing, the white couple did not show up.

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My father did. And a volunteered lawyer named Marty Friedman.

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And they marched into the real estate agent's office. Real estate agent realizes

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he's caught. This should be the end of the story, but it's not.

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Real estate agent gets up and punches my dad's lawyer in the face.

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And Sig's a Doberman Pinscher on my dad. They literally have to fight their way out.

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Legal letters started going back and forth and the owners of the home,

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God bless them, were mortified about what was going on.

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They didn't know about it. They said, we want to sell the home to the bookers.

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And my parents bought it and we moved in, as my dad called us,

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the four raisins in a tub of sweet vanilla ice cream.

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And we integrated a big section of Bergen County. And from then on,

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for 18 years, I had neighbors that were so invested in me and my family,

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teachers that treated me like I was their kids.

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They cared so much. And, you know, I had an amazing experience at Harrington

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Park Elementary, this extraordinary public school, and then went to Old Japan High School.

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And by the time I was 18 years old, I was, my classmates elected to be president of the class.

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I was captain of the football team, honor roll, and New Jersey Gatorade player

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of the year in football, an All-American football player. So got a chance to

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go out to college at Stanford and play football and get my master's there.

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Went overseas and studied at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship,

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came back to Yale Law School.

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But my parents always knew my whole childhood, like my dad would say to me,

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boy, you drink deeply from wells of freedom, liberty, and opportunity that you did not dig.

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You have an obligation that you can never pay back. You got to pay it forward.

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That's an awesome analogy.

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Wow. Yeah. So when I graduated from Yale, my dad was like, boy,

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you got more degrees in the month of July, but you ain't hot.

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He goes, life ain't about the degrees. That's a New Jersey dad right there.

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I mean, and not that I want to placate the story of, you know,

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getting into a fight with a lawyer. It's one person punching.

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But that's almost something that would only happen in New Jersey.

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You know what I mean? It's such a Jersey story. And it's such a story about

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the goodness of communities. You know, my dad was like, life is not about the

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degrees you get. It's about the service you give. And you grew up in a town.

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Where people work full day jobs. I still remember one of my coaches would come,

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with like these dirty hands from working at a gas station.

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And he would run out to coach his kids and me and treat me like his own kids.

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Like teachers, I think of people like Mr. Walker in eighth grade.

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This guy, he was our social studies teacher.

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He taught, he did, he coached our basketball team. He did our school play.

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And on Thursday nights and Friday nights, he would do something called Coffee

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House, which was our first ever social event. He gave me the first opportunity

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ever to ask a girl to dance and the first opportunity ever to get rejected and have to deal with that.

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So I still to this day, I don't understand how he did all of those things in

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addition to raising his own children.

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And so my parents were well aware how blessed I was to grow up in a beloved

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community of people that really cared about my well-being.

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And despite the abject racism we faced trying to move into the town.

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It really was this nurturing ground that helped me flourish in my life.

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And in many ways, just confirmed what my parents tried to teach me,

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which was we are all here.

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You two as well. We're all here because of a conspiracy of love of people that

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were not our biology, who did for somebody in our family, who did small acts

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of decency, kindness, grace, who helped us, who supported us.

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And that comes with an obligation to do that same in life. And it was one of

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the reasons why I chose a life of public service. Yeah.

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We have, so we live in central New Jersey, if that's a real thing.

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You know, it is a real thing.

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I'm part of the people that believe it's a real thing. Thank you. Me too.

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And so we live, Joe and I both live and work in the same town.

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And we actually have in Colonia, there is, it just reminded me of your story.

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We have this wonderful club and it's still a club. It's called the Independent Club of Colonia.

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And what they did is exactly what you were describing, helping integrate communities

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and specifically our community here in Colonia.

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And they're still active and they have a house. Someone gave up their house

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and they have a house. Wow.

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It's where their club runs. It's literally across the street from our middle school.

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Yeah. And when I taught there for a little while, we used to kind of walk outside

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and like look across. I used to take them outside. We'd walk across the parking

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lot. And you go, you see that place right there, that house you walk past every day.

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Let me explain what would happen in there. And we would talk about like the

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conversations that would have and how difficult it was for, you know,

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African-Americans to integrate into all white neighborhoods,

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which is the exact thing that you were just talking about,

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and the discrimination that they faced and how this group.

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Really became a very important resource for families of color as they were moving

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into these counties in New Jersey. So it's a really powerful story.

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But it's a Jersey tradition. Look, people in New Jersey, we used to meet in

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barn houses, blacks and whites coming together to help build the greatest infrastructure

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project in American history, the Underground Railroad, which went right through our state.

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You had New Jerseyans in the suffrage movement coming together,

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people like Alice Paul, Small groups of people saying, you know,

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we can change the world. And Alice Paul and her fellow, they call them the silent

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sentinels who went and did the first ever protest in front of the White House.

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And then we're doing hunger strikes in prison decades before Gandhi.

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There's a Jersey fighting spirit for fighting for equality and inclusion and

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justice and fairness that has, it really marks our state's history.

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And I'm really proud of it.

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That's awesome. So one of the things we want to jump into with you tonight is,

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you know, Jamie and I are full time classroom teachers who we talked on a previous

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episode that we just recorded. And I said, you know, we're about to have some senators on our show.

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What's interesting about yourself and we interviewed Andy Kim a few weeks ago

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is that you guys are both public school kids, right?

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Right. There's there's no like special academies or granted,

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you know, Senator Booker, you did some amazing things with going to Stanford

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and studying at Oxford and being a Rhodes Scholar. Like those are all awesome accolades.

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But like at the root, like these are our public schools, like where where we

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create the next senators are that all the astronauts that were on the Artemis

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mission over the summer.

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They're all public school kids like yeah i tell my students that all the time

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like new like public schools create amazing amazing people so,

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like that's what we really want to dive into about is talking about like you

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know what's happening in education today and how we can help our new jersey

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schools as well as schools around the country um so james if you want to jump

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into one of our first uh little comments that we have in front of you you go right ahead.

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Well, that's what, I think you just asked the question, Joe. Oh, did I?

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Oh, yeah. Sorry. Can you tell us what is new in education for the state or federal

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level, specific to teacher retention, right?

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Because we know that we need to keep our teachers in their classrooms and working

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to be the very best that they can be. So can you give us some?

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Yeah, I mean, I think this is a time of great frustration for me because we

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have a whole scale attack on the Federal Department of Education.

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We have a president that has taken a battle axe and doged large percentages

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of it and then shut down programs that were going to really help attract teachers

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into the profession, keep teachers in the profession.

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One of the most offensive ones is just, you know, student – teachers who make

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a decision to teach, they are making immediately with that decision about an

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average of 27% less than similarly educated professionals.

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So they know – they're not making a decision to go into this profession because,

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of wealth. And increasingly, new generations of teachers are seeing higher and higher student debt.

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And so we had some really good loan repayment programs to really help a lot

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of teachers. But this is a president that's just taken a battle axe to that.

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And so the biggest issue for, you know, Andy and me down here is two things.

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One is try to stop the Trump administration from undermining public education

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writ large with horrible schemes to siphon money to private schools,

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all the way to just undermining the well-being of teachers or streams of funding

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that come to our schools to help with STEM subjects and more.

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And then the second area we fight is just to propose common sense legislation

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I've got a a bill called the Rays Act there is no reason why,

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You all should be paying as high federal taxes as you are when we allow hedge

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fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than you all through things like carried interest.

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If we are a society that should do exactly what you said, that understands that

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this democracy hinges on the quality of its public schools and our achievement as a democracy.

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Hinges on everybody having pathways to great education.

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Because genius, which is now the most valuable natural resource in all the world,

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not coal, not gas, in a global knowledge-based economy, the more your kids learn,

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the more your economy earns.

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So if we know that genius is our most valuable natural resource and genius is equally distributed,

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as many geniuses are being born in low-income rural areas as in high-income

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wealthy areas, we've got to create a public school system that's open to everybody

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where everybody gets a chance to manifest their genius.

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And so what are we thinking by making the most important? There is no other profession.

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Without teachers, as teachers teach everybody in every profession.

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And so if we really believe that as a society, which, by the way,

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people, Republicans, Democrats and independents, nothing I've said is not overwhelmingly

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proved upon by people in all three camps and that we should be a nation of great public schools.

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Then why are we making it so expensive for people to teach?

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Why aren't we creating a special, forget the carried interest hedge fund managers,

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we should say to teachers who are willing to go into this profession that they

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should be able to keep more of their hard-earned pay to make up for the fact

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that we're just not paying them,

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anything equal to what others in other professions make who have similar educations.

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So here we have teachers going to get their BA, some of them their masters,

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and then they're choosing a profession that I think doesn't respect them by

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paying them some semblance more of what they're worth. And that's why I put

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forward legislation like the RAISE Act to try to address those things.

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I promised my dad that I would mention him to you.

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And so you being living in Newark, I am, my mom and dad were both born and raised

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in Newark. That's where they met.

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And so my maiden name is Masia. And my dad is Joseph Masia.

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He was the principal of Ann Street School in the section. Yes.

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Yeah, so we were chatting about you being on the show. I mean,

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he had, I'm sorry, keep going.

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I don't want to interrupt. No, and so he was like, Cory Booker,

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tell him I said hello. I bet he'll remember, you know, the whole,

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so my father had the Blue Ribbon School, the first Blue Ribbon School in Newark.

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Yes, I was about to say. Yeah, I was hoping you weren't going to be humble about that.

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Your dad has one of the best school, was the principal of one of the best schools in the country. Yes.

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It was a school that people used to try to use addresses just to get in Newark,

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just to get into that school.

00:16:14.941 --> 00:16:19.241
That's right. He's just a phenomenal school leader. And I can't believe that.

00:16:19.741 --> 00:16:22.836
I love that this is, that you guys are, it's a family tradition.

00:16:23.085 --> 00:16:26.891
It is. Yeah. So we so we chat a lot about, you know, the respect for teachers

00:16:26.891 --> 00:16:30.301
and the profession. And, you know, he as someone who he just turned 80 this

00:16:30.301 --> 00:16:35.473
year and he says often, I wish I could go back and do it again.

00:16:35.937 --> 00:16:40.511
I loved it so much. And so my sister and I are both teachers.

00:16:40.511 --> 00:16:46.261
And so, of course, Joe and I started this podcast together based on a lot of,

00:16:46.781 --> 00:16:50.851
our true love and passion for the profession and for moving it forward.

00:16:50.851 --> 00:16:54.631
So, of course, to be able to speak to someone that is on the side of teachers

00:16:54.631 --> 00:16:58.521
is always, you know, just like yourself is really wonderful.

00:16:58.521 --> 00:17:01.172
So I promised him that I would, you know, would say.

00:17:01.801 --> 00:17:05.341
And you're still living. You live in Newark now. I live in the central ward

00:17:05.341 --> 00:17:07.064
of Newark. And let me tell you.

00:17:07.505 --> 00:17:13.234
So, again, I think my teachers in Harrington Park and Old Japan High School were heroes.

00:17:13.658 --> 00:17:16.601
I will tell you, though, there wasn't.

00:17:17.061 --> 00:17:20.037
And it wasn't at the poverty line. You know, Harrington Park is a.

00:17:20.618 --> 00:17:25.997
Is a wealthier town. Ultapan draws from four relatively wealthy towns compared

00:17:25.997 --> 00:17:27.329
to Newark. But Newark, we have,

00:17:27.753 --> 00:17:32.337
we're a city that has a lot of communities below or at the poverty line.

00:17:33.467 --> 00:17:39.197
And that's when you see heroic teachers. Like, I mean, teachers who reach in

00:17:39.197 --> 00:17:43.936
their own pocket to not only get school supplies, which I haven't met a teacher

00:17:44.243 --> 00:17:47.123
yet in my life that hasn't spent their own money on school supplies.

00:17:47.652 --> 00:17:51.442
But I mean, these are teachers that from sanitary products to, uh, uh,

00:17:52.687 --> 00:17:59.686
to, uh, a food, um, to helping kids out in, in crisis, like I've seen heroism,

00:18:00.226 --> 00:18:04.173
like, like, like the kind of difference that keeps a kid,

00:18:04.805 --> 00:18:08.520
um, uh, from, from having real trauma or real crisis.

00:18:09.090 --> 00:18:12.322
And, and again, this is always in my mind as a legislator, like,

00:18:13.177 --> 00:18:16.582
And part of what the RAISE Act does, I don't mean to keep advertising my legislation,

00:18:16.582 --> 00:18:20.436
but it says like- No, we want you to talk about things like this because,

00:18:20.732 --> 00:18:24.342
again, I think a lot of our listeners, your constituents as well,

00:18:25.208 --> 00:18:28.682
don't know what it is and might need some clarity on it.

00:18:29.282 --> 00:18:32.182
Well, one of the other components of the bill is not only to help teachers get

00:18:32.182 --> 00:18:38.403
more salary, but it also is a bigger write-off. It's capped right now, I think, at about $250.

00:18:40.722 --> 00:18:45.252
That you can write off on your taxes. Well, I know teachers that blow through

00:18:45.252 --> 00:18:48.742
that, you know, in the first semester far blow through it.

00:18:49.182 --> 00:18:54.442
I mean, and so it's just like once it wants to increase your the ability for

00:18:54.442 --> 00:18:56.845
teachers to write it off because all teachers do it.

00:18:57.942 --> 00:19:03.162
And so I just think something has gone wrong in our country that we have not

00:19:03.162 --> 00:19:05.112
elevated the esteem of this profession.

00:19:05.553 --> 00:19:11.582
And, you know, I'm sorry, money talks and the rest and false words a walk.

00:19:12.142 --> 00:19:16.825
And so let's start showing that we are a society that has certain professions

00:19:17.074 --> 00:19:21.542
that we know you're making a sacrifice to do until we're going to treat you in a certain way.

00:19:21.542 --> 00:19:25.352
And we're especially going to make sure this is why I hear all these fights,

00:19:25.352 --> 00:19:28.232
you know, over pensions and retirement.

00:19:29.762 --> 00:19:33.162
A teacher should be able to retire and not have to take another job because

00:19:33.162 --> 00:19:37.832
your retirement income doesn't go far enough to live in the town in which they were teaching.

00:19:37.832 --> 00:19:44.102
So there's a lot of things that I've put forward in my legislation here on reasons

00:19:44.102 --> 00:19:48.432
why I know, and I've looked at studies that know we could attract a lot more

00:19:48.432 --> 00:19:50.087
people in the profession. I've had people,

00:19:52.166 --> 00:19:57.302
tear up with me to say I just could not afford to be a teacher anymore,

00:19:57.302 --> 00:20:00.142
given the cost of raising my family, the cost of housing.

00:20:00.403 --> 00:20:02.301
That's my calling is to be a teacher.

00:20:02.760 --> 00:20:07.061
And so the sacrifice people make, we need to start having a society that meets that sacrifice.

00:20:09.201 --> 00:20:12.421
And that's something that's important that we're fighting for down here.

00:20:12.421 --> 00:20:15.601
And by the way, I think we're going to win this battle because I think more

00:20:15.601 --> 00:20:20.336
and more Americans are recognizing that we're shortchanging things for our kids,

00:20:20.620 --> 00:20:26.141
from paid family leave to even things like, how could we be the worst country for,

00:20:26.701 --> 00:20:29.461
prenatal care or maternal mortality?

00:20:29.914 --> 00:20:33.981
I just see a consciousness raising that we should be a nation that's the best

00:20:33.981 --> 00:20:39.001
place for our children to be born, to learn, to educate, to grow,

00:20:39.001 --> 00:20:40.915
and to have better opportunities than we had.

00:20:41.298 --> 00:20:45.551
Yeah, there's also, I briefly couldn't remember this specific study,

00:20:45.551 --> 00:20:48.121
but I just did a quick little search. I think it was like the number,

00:20:48.121 --> 00:20:50.313
we talked with Nick Ferroni about this, James.

00:20:50.574 --> 00:20:56.681
I think the number was like 62% of teachers have a second job for second income

00:20:56.791 --> 00:20:59.462
outside of like, you know, there's teachers that coach.

00:20:59.682 --> 00:21:04.001
I mean, how many of us have and I did it, too, like I coached for a little while

00:21:04.001 --> 00:21:07.612
earlier in my career, you know, when my kids when I didn't have kids because I had the time.

00:21:07.954 --> 00:21:12.411
But even now, like working on the side, doing executive function tutoring or.

00:21:13.625 --> 00:21:15.581
You know, spending some time trying to grow a show.

00:21:15.581 --> 00:21:18.061
This isn't a moneymaker, but it's just something that we enjoy doing,

00:21:18.641 --> 00:21:22.421
you know, that we that our whole goal, as we've talked about,

00:21:22.421 --> 00:21:25.561
Senator, is like we want to help as many teachers and parents as we can and

00:21:25.561 --> 00:21:26.732
have conversations like this.

00:21:26.924 --> 00:21:29.961
So people understand why we're so passionate about this job,

00:21:29.961 --> 00:21:31.928
right? Because everything you're saying, I agree with.

00:21:32.038 --> 00:21:36.601
Like, there are no other professions if you don't have teachers to teach those

00:21:36.601 --> 00:21:39.718
who are going to become those other professions.

00:21:41.007 --> 00:21:44.721
Right, but if you ask people, this is what, you know what, this is why I know

00:21:44.721 --> 00:21:48.181
we're on the side of right, because if you ask me, if you ask any senator here

00:21:48.181 --> 00:21:52.031
that went to a public school, if you ask any profession, like,

00:21:52.031 --> 00:21:55.519
they're going to tell you this teacher that changed their life.

00:21:56.042 --> 00:22:00.671
They, they will have names of individuals that didn't like just help you learn.

00:22:01.851 --> 00:22:05.541
Arithmetic, arithmetic, you know, the, the, where all the states were and what

00:22:05.541 --> 00:22:08.151
their cat. No, that actually changed their life.

00:22:08.851 --> 00:22:12.251
You know, I bumped into one of my, my, uh, one of my favorite teachers ever

00:22:12.251 --> 00:22:17.871
in, in Las Vegas, uh, in a show, Ms. Saru, uh, Adrian Saru.

00:22:18.231 --> 00:22:23.981
And I like, couldn't stop like telling her like, oh my God, like things you taught me right now.

00:22:23.981 --> 00:22:28.591
I lean on, you know, I, like, I am standing on a foundation that you taught

00:22:28.591 --> 00:22:32.790
me and, and, and literally some of the books I read in her class, uh,

00:22:33.411 --> 00:22:36.541
uh, like paranoid, uh, style, like James Hofstetter, I can remember the,

00:22:36.541 --> 00:22:40.268
what was she, what, what was she a teacher of? If you don't mind me asking American history.

00:22:40.389 --> 00:22:44.281
Oh, okay. I was in her classroom. Talk about moments that sear in your mind

00:22:44.281 --> 00:22:49.864
when the space shuttle, uh, exploded in, in 85, 86, I was in her classroom.

00:22:50.252 --> 00:22:54.292
And, and as a young person, you look to the adult often to interpret.

00:22:54.809 --> 00:23:02.601
And I just remember her heart and was out, the emotion that she had grounding

00:23:02.601 --> 00:23:05.907
us all, but still holding us together in this time of American tragedy.

00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.028
I mean, these are great human beings. Mr. Mensah.

00:23:11.085 --> 00:23:15.034
I was in his English class and he's like, Corey, your writing is good enough

00:23:15.034 --> 00:23:18.875
to get, you know, to do well in my class, but you, you should be a great writer.

00:23:19.363 --> 00:23:24.454
And, and he would spend time with me after school. No, this is not a side hustle,

00:23:24.454 --> 00:23:28.494
like just himself, like going over essays after essay, after essay,

00:23:28.494 --> 00:23:31.134
helping me to, to perfect my writing skills.

00:23:32.094 --> 00:23:36.524
I can't tell you how many people in that early first 18 years of my life who,

00:23:36.524 --> 00:23:40.344
but for them, I would not have been prepared to thrive like I did when I got

00:23:40.344 --> 00:23:46.658
to college and to be where I am today. And we discount that in our society so much.

00:23:47.354 --> 00:23:52.713
We are just not a nation that recognizes these underpaid, overworked heroes

00:23:53.014 --> 00:23:57.844
who, as you said, have to get a side hustle, have to get a summer hustle just

00:23:57.844 --> 00:24:00.590
to be able to continue to live and raise their own children.

00:24:01.354 --> 00:24:04.374
One job should be enough. Like, we should have that philosophy for everything.

00:24:04.641 --> 00:24:09.604
All you need is one job, especially when it's one of the most important for a thriving democracy.

00:24:10.707 --> 00:24:12.936
Well said. Yeah, very much.

00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:17.124
What else do you— Can you tell us— Go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead.

00:24:17.124 --> 00:24:20.024
Can you tell us what do you think is the most New Jersey thing about you? Yeah.

00:24:23.866 --> 00:24:27.355
You know what's so hard right now is because I married a non-Jersey girl.

00:24:28.008 --> 00:24:31.628
Now, wait a minute, though. I happen to see, because we just went to the New

00:24:31.628 --> 00:24:35.528
Jersey Hall of Fame to their induction ceremony. We were invited to actually

00:24:35.528 --> 00:24:38.308
be media, you know, because we're bigwigs now. But.

00:24:40.950 --> 00:24:47.148
I saw a video of you, and I think she was your fiancé at the time. She was my fiancé then.

00:24:47.488 --> 00:24:49.178
At the time, there was a little interview, and she's like, oh,

00:24:49.178 --> 00:24:51.018
yeah, I'm a transplanted New Jersey girl now.

00:24:51.018 --> 00:24:53.988
So you could say that, but I think she's, I think you might be winning her over.

00:24:53.988 --> 00:24:58.068
So I definitely am. I, I took her on, I was about to say dragged her,

00:24:58.068 --> 00:25:01.528
but it was a great experience. It was no dragging. Uh, uh, the,

00:25:01.528 --> 00:25:07.553
the 21 County tour where I, every summer I visit do events in all 21 counties, nonstop.

00:25:08.035 --> 00:25:11.368
And she just follow her on Instagram. If you're watching, cause this is,

00:25:11.368 --> 00:25:14.588
you would watch the girl fall in love with, not the man.

00:25:14.588 --> 00:25:17.608
She's already in love with me, but the state she's straight up Jersey.

00:25:17.608 --> 00:25:21.728
Now she's in love with the state. And, and so she would ask you the same thing.

00:25:21.728 --> 00:25:28.048
Like, what is the, uh, what is the, like the highlight of like the Jersey,

00:25:28.368 --> 00:25:31.028
uh, and she would definitely say food.

00:25:31.458 --> 00:25:35.588
Um, I, she, she did not know we were such a foodie state and I tell her our

00:25:35.588 --> 00:25:37.338
pizza has been ranked number one.

00:25:37.582 --> 00:25:41.858
You cannot go to a diner in America without bowing down to the fact that we

00:25:41.858 --> 00:25:44.333
have the best diners in the country.

00:25:44.664 --> 00:25:49.388
So, uh, it's food and attitude. Those are my two favorite Jersey things, uh, by far.

00:25:49.981 --> 00:25:53.638
I love it. And I will tell you this, though. People on Twitter have trolled

00:25:53.638 --> 00:25:58.457
me and Andy Kim because Andy is one of the sweetest human beings we're ever going to meet.

00:25:58.811 --> 00:26:03.208
And they trolled us by saying, Jersey should not have the two nicest,

00:26:03.208 --> 00:26:06.896
sweetest guys in the Senate. They should have people with a little more attitude.

00:26:07.244 --> 00:26:10.958
But I said, you can bring the Jersey out in me if you, uh, if you try to take,

00:26:10.958 --> 00:26:16.637
I'm going to go all Jersey on Cash Patel if he comes in and,

00:26:16.921 --> 00:26:20.555
you know, uh, uh, you know, Christy Noem, I went a little Jersey on her too.

00:26:20.869 --> 00:26:24.671
So, um, but I, I, I love our state's attitude and our food.

00:26:25.461 --> 00:26:28.381
Yeah, I love that. And the pride that everyone has. Sorry.

00:26:28.915 --> 00:26:31.372
Do you have a go-to pizza place? What's your go-to pizza place?

00:26:31.372 --> 00:26:37.692
So this is the thing that's going to, like, you're going to fall off, is I went vegan.

00:26:37.890 --> 00:26:40.042
Oh, I knew. I did know that.

00:26:40.662 --> 00:26:43.202
I had a follow-up question for you. There's some great vegan.

00:26:43.202 --> 00:26:47.120
In Bloomfield, there's a great vegan pizza place that I go to a lot.

00:26:47.456 --> 00:26:51.002
So I still eat pizza, but I just don't have the flexibility.

00:26:51.002 --> 00:26:55.252
Like when I'm home in Harrington Park, we had this Norwood pizza place that

00:26:55.252 --> 00:26:58.114
I have some of my best memories, John's Pizza eating their pizza,

00:26:58.460 --> 00:27:00.817
but I just haven't had it in years. Gotcha.

00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:05.122
So that was actually going to lead us to our biggest political question that I want to ask you.

00:27:05.782 --> 00:27:09.272
And I do know that you're a vegan, but, and we asked this of Andy Kim and he

00:27:09.272 --> 00:27:13.362
had a specific answer. So is it pork roll or Taylor ham? The quintessential,

00:27:13.611 --> 00:27:15.701
I don't want to alienate your base here.

00:27:15.823 --> 00:27:20.222
Okay. But we need to know. But he said pork roll, right? I believe so. Yes.

00:27:20.642 --> 00:27:22.622
He's wrong. He's wrong.

00:27:25.662 --> 00:27:30.792
I love Andy. I love that me and him are like Starsky and Hutch here.

00:27:30.792 --> 00:27:33.912
Sometimes Laverne and Shirley, but mostly Starsky and Hutch fighting the good fight.

00:27:35.422 --> 00:27:39.420
But I'm sorry. He's wrong. He's wrong. North Jersey, we know it is Taylor Ham.

00:27:39.751 --> 00:27:45.272
Got it. Okay. There you go. Love it. So you're just about to get to your one-year

00:27:45.272 --> 00:27:47.362
wedding anniversary. Yes.

00:27:48.134 --> 00:27:52.174
So that's very exciting. Yes, it is. I recommend it.

00:27:53.155 --> 00:27:58.342
Don't wait as long as I did to get married your first time or your only time. That.

00:28:02.642 --> 00:28:06.192
Was a good slip, but you caught it. I like that. What is something about your

00:28:06.192 --> 00:28:07.585
wife that makes you smile?

00:28:09.952 --> 00:28:13.310
I mean, I just called her because it's the bill that's being voted on the floor.

00:28:13.310 --> 00:28:16.512
The reason why my team is going to drag me away. So it said 75 votes.

00:28:17.300 --> 00:28:19.920
No problem. So I got to get there and vote soon. But like, it's a rough day for me.

00:28:20.360 --> 00:28:25.000
A bill that I fought against is going to pass. And all I got to do is call her.

00:28:25.300 --> 00:28:27.920
And my whole soul lights up.

00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:30.253
Even on a tough day like this.

00:28:31.669 --> 00:28:36.870
She's like, I can't tell you how my cup runneth over.

00:28:36.870 --> 00:28:42.530
I feel like I undeserved blessings. Like she makes me a better human being every

00:28:42.530 --> 00:28:47.064
day and, and is there for me on my highs and lows in ways that keep me grounded and keep me going.

00:28:48.219 --> 00:28:51.180
Well, uh, I know that you have a busy schedule and you might be,

00:28:51.180 --> 00:28:54.560
uh, your staff might be pulling you away. Um, yeah, I was surprised they haven't

00:28:54.560 --> 00:28:58.260
jumped behind here and said, the most at 79 now, Corey.

00:28:58.580 --> 00:29:02.540
If you'll allow me to say it, um, I'm, uh, so honored to have you on our show

00:29:02.540 --> 00:29:05.710
on behalf of Jamie and I, um, again, we were a little podcast.

00:29:05.710 --> 00:29:07.200
I want to do it. I want to do it again.

00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:13.410
I'm not going to tell you no. I want to just tell you guys, I hope your listeners

00:29:13.410 --> 00:29:15.072
continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger.

00:29:15.466 --> 00:29:18.618
We've seen, you guys know this, we've seen an assault on,

00:29:19.252 --> 00:29:22.840
What are what's written into our constitution? Our founders thought a free press

00:29:22.840 --> 00:29:29.220
was vital for a thriving democracy. But we've seen newspapers just collapse. Star-Ledger, gone.

00:29:29.540 --> 00:29:31.530
Bergen Record or they're both just shells.

00:29:32.041 --> 00:29:36.190
And there's no real people commenting on news that matters. And podcasts have

00:29:36.190 --> 00:29:41.944
become really trusted voices in a world where local news is just not covered.

00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:49.210
And so for you all to be voices for our state, for what's happening in our schools,

00:29:49.210 --> 00:29:54.847
it rarely gets coverage or it doesn't get enough coverage, but also for a profession that I think.

00:29:55.740 --> 00:29:58.840
Needs more people to understand what a teacher experiences.

00:29:58.840 --> 00:30:00.530
All the things you all do is vital.

00:30:00.879 --> 00:30:03.775
I'm hoping your voices and your audience just continue to grow.

00:30:04.042 --> 00:30:05.560
And I'm your senator. I work for you.

00:30:06.060 --> 00:30:10.780
This is the best job of my lifetime. If you had told, like, 20-year-old me,

00:30:11.120 --> 00:30:14.640
25-year-old me, that I was going to be one of Jersey's senators,

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:15.734
I would have fallen over.

00:30:16.035 --> 00:30:19.414
So I just want to talk to you more because I know when we have a conversation,

00:30:19.745 --> 00:30:22.322
Jersey people hear it. And I hope we can do more of this.

00:30:22.729 --> 00:30:25.930
Thank you very much, Senator, for joining us. Thank you so much.

00:30:25.930 --> 00:30:28.560
And we appreciate you. Can I ever be in studio?

00:30:29.180 --> 00:30:33.220
Are we at a studio level yet? Yo, listen, we record at the New Jersey Hall of

00:30:33.220 --> 00:30:34.800
Fame. They have a nice little studio

00:30:34.800 --> 00:30:38.222
that they let us use. We have some partnerships. Let's do it, man. I'm in.

00:30:38.617 --> 00:30:41.310
All right. All right. Next time I get to ask you guys some fun questions.

00:30:41.310 --> 00:30:44.100
Yeah. That sounds great. Dude, we're down. Let's do it. All right.

00:30:44.560 --> 00:30:47.638
All right. Thank you, Senator. If you want to drop off, we're good from there.

00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:52.000
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00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.120
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00:30:54.474 --> 00:30:58.700
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00:31:27.417 --> 00:31:30.784
Okay, and we're back. You got us again. Yeah.

00:31:31.543 --> 00:31:37.703
I mean, that was a thrill beyond. It really was. Like, Andy Kim was totally

00:31:37.703 --> 00:31:41.825
cool. Cory Booker was amazing. They really are two very different but very genuine,

00:31:42.723 --> 00:31:44.008
men to represent our state.

00:31:45.494 --> 00:31:48.936
Yeah, and you know, when you're civics teachers like us and you teach the kids,

00:31:49.587 --> 00:31:54.463
these are people that work for you you know you are their constituents and

00:31:54.863 --> 00:32:04.889
their job is to try to make things better for you and for all and i can't wait to show this interview,

00:32:05.881 --> 00:32:09.143
yeah i want my students i want our students to see it absolutely to see it i

00:32:09.143 --> 00:32:13.913
mean it's just so awesome and the the way that he speaks, I mean,

00:32:13.913 --> 00:32:16.829
he really is a gifted speaker.

00:32:17.178 --> 00:32:26.285
And, you know, what he had to say about his teachers and what they did for him, divine.

00:32:26.464 --> 00:32:30.655
Yeah. You know, I go back to something we also talked to Andy Kim about too,

00:32:30.835 --> 00:32:32.681
and it was public school kid.

00:32:32.791 --> 00:32:37.803
I just can't get that out of my head. These aren't like kids who went to private school, academies.

00:32:37.803 --> 00:32:42.300
These are people that like learned at a public school like you and I,

00:32:43.733 --> 00:32:46.993
you know, and granted he did amazing things with going to Stanford and traveling

00:32:46.993 --> 00:32:50.229
overseas and doing all the things that he did,

00:32:50.740 --> 00:32:54.803
but that all comes from a foundation of what happens in our American public

00:32:54.803 --> 00:32:59.273
schools and the genius that is created in those rooms, right?

00:33:00.403 --> 00:33:03.763
And look, we're painting a picture that it's all sunshine, daffodils,

00:33:03.763 --> 00:33:06.030
roses, and marshmallow sandwiches. Like it's not.

00:33:06.373 --> 00:33:10.389
Like there are times when it is very challenging to do our jobs, but, um.

00:33:12.137 --> 00:33:17.399
We're going to be talking about appreciation and how teachers feel appreciated.

00:33:17.399 --> 00:33:22.626
And we're talking about pay, time, important buzzwords.

00:33:22.742 --> 00:33:26.499
But I feel that there's legislation that's looking to be on the books that actually

00:33:26.499 --> 00:33:29.295
is going to help to solve some of those problems.

00:33:30.091 --> 00:33:34.219
Do you remember when a tax write-off was $500 for supplies?

00:33:34.259 --> 00:33:40.059
Yeah, it went to $250. Yeah, $570.

00:33:40.059 --> 00:33:44.779
I mean, honestly, I get lost sometimes in how long I've been doing what I'm doing.

00:33:44.779 --> 00:33:48.819
And so that was, you know, it was a reminder of, oh, right, like we used to

00:33:48.819 --> 00:33:55.199
be able to have a $500 tax deduction and now it's $250. And I didn't stop spending

00:33:55.199 --> 00:33:58.733
and buying and doing what I was doing because of it.

00:33:59.459 --> 00:34:03.549
But geez, it would be nice to have it back, you know, or have it increased,

00:34:03.549 --> 00:34:06.189
which is, you know, definitely something.

00:34:06.189 --> 00:34:09.639
And I don't, you know, I think like pointing out, it's like you said.

00:34:10.598 --> 00:34:13.249
You know, it's not like we're trying to paint this picture that everything is,

00:34:13.249 --> 00:34:15.389
you know, is marshmallows or whatever you just said.

00:34:15.389 --> 00:34:25.040
But the idea of how hard teachers work and how dedicated they are and,

00:34:25.655 --> 00:34:29.956
the, it's kind of like I always say to the kids, like just because you tell

00:34:30.194 --> 00:34:33.271
somebody that they're pretty doesn't mean you're saying everybody else is ugly.

00:34:33.666 --> 00:34:37.449
It's like just because we're saying you know yes you're so dedicated and yes

00:34:37.449 --> 00:34:40.779
you that does not mean that you don't deserve a what,

00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:46.164
a working wage it doesn't mean that you shouldn't have eight jobs you know there's

00:34:46.535 --> 00:34:52.491
it's a an arrangement of schedule that just seems impossible so you know to hear it from the senator.

00:34:53.513 --> 00:34:55.196
Was really you know,

00:34:56.793 --> 00:35:01.775
It was great. Yeah. It kind of. It was nice to hear. I mean, genuinely.

00:35:03.115 --> 00:35:06.460
Because he's right. Yeah, he's right. And also, it's something that you've been

00:35:06.460 --> 00:35:09.080
saying in front of students for years. Yes.

00:35:09.970 --> 00:35:14.680
Yeah, it was interesting also to see him. Like, when you talked about your dad,

00:35:14.680 --> 00:35:16.500
he kind of, like, lit up. He's like, yeah, I do.

00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:20.320
I know that school. I know that guy. That was kind of an interesting, cool little moment.

00:35:21.586 --> 00:35:25.230
And my mom grew up. I mean, of course, my dad was in full. con like he had full

00:35:25.230 --> 00:35:30.357
confidence that he would know who he was and honestly had he not,

00:35:31.338 --> 00:35:35.440
had my dad not said that we were chatting about the interview this morning and

00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:37.740
he said he'll know who i am he he,

00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:42.220
a hundred percent like there was no doubt um i probably wouldn't have brought

00:35:42.220 --> 00:35:45.830
it up if i thought that i would put him in a position to like try to remember

00:35:45.830 --> 00:35:50.239
but you know um yeah so So it was that that was really nice.

00:35:50.772 --> 00:35:59.490
Yeah. And part of the the great part of the, you know, creator event that happened

00:35:59.490 --> 00:36:02.130
over the summer was being connected with people.

00:36:02.130 --> 00:36:06.890
So I want to shout out, you know, because we get a chance to interview the senator.

00:36:06.890 --> 00:36:12.220
But this all happens because of the people that work behind the scenes of the

00:36:12.220 --> 00:36:16.010
people that are working in his office, the press secretaries,

00:36:16.010 --> 00:36:19.710
the people that are working as his aides. The people that remind him like,

00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:21.532
hey, buddy, you got to go down there and vote again.

00:36:21.833 --> 00:36:26.350
Like that may seem like it's not something that needs to be done. But like.

00:36:27.162 --> 00:36:31.874
You know, I you will never understand it unless you see it. And I don't mean

00:36:31.874 --> 00:36:35.684
that to sound arrogant or disrespectful to anyone. But like when I was there

00:36:35.986 --> 00:36:41.464
and I saw the Senate in in in a hearing at the time when they were confirming the new.

00:36:43.103 --> 00:36:46.884
I think it was the attorney general. And there were, you know,

00:36:46.884 --> 00:36:48.044
there were hearings going on.

00:36:48.044 --> 00:36:50.924
There were people all over the place and there were press people walking around

00:36:50.924 --> 00:36:54.704
interviewing senators. And there were people walking really fast and everybody's

00:36:54.704 --> 00:36:58.202
wearing sneakers, which is probably good for their feet. Just saying, you know.

00:37:00.844 --> 00:37:08.610
So it's like this multitasking, fast pace rhythm of what's going on without a moment in between.

00:37:08.842 --> 00:37:11.588
It reminded me of like. Sounds like our job.

00:37:12.128 --> 00:37:15.784
Well, yeah, it was. But it also reminded me of like when I used to work in a

00:37:15.784 --> 00:37:18.814
restaurant and you were a waiter and you were like dealing with so many different

00:37:18.814 --> 00:37:20.287
things and constantly problem solving.

00:37:20.642 --> 00:37:23.634
I mean, it's way more complicated than that, but like that it had that feel

00:37:23.634 --> 00:37:28.305
of like there's everywhere you turned, something was going on and it was different

00:37:28.589 --> 00:37:31.851
and independent of everything else.

00:37:32.073 --> 00:37:35.424
It's just such an interesting experience that if you ever get the opportunity

00:37:35.424 --> 00:37:39.984
to go there on a working day and see it like, oh, government doesn't that and

00:37:39.984 --> 00:37:44.013
they don't they don't these people like I can assure you that there is work going on.

00:37:44.984 --> 00:37:48.874
It may not be what we see in the press, but there is work going on behind the

00:37:48.874 --> 00:37:52.785
scenes to make sure that the right legislation gets passed, that the right votes get heard.

00:37:53.057 --> 00:37:57.874
And even when we recorded this interview, you know, Senator Booker was on the

00:37:57.874 --> 00:38:02.604
Senate floor debating a bill that he spoke about at the end where he was like,

00:38:02.604 --> 00:38:05.120
hey, like, I've been against this thing, but it's going to pass.

00:38:05.247 --> 00:38:08.092
It's good to know that, like, hey, even though you're a voice of opposition.

00:38:09.549 --> 00:38:14.900
There is still that you could see the disappointment in his face as he talked about that.

00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:21.871
Yeah. And it's a really powerful thing to witness. I really liked how he spoke about Andy Kim. Yeah.

00:38:22.708 --> 00:38:27.058
And I really liked Andy Kim. Yeah. Next week we are going to have,

00:38:27.438 --> 00:38:28.498
who comes, who goes first?

00:38:28.498 --> 00:38:31.748
Andy Kim? Andy's actually was the episode previous to this one.

00:38:31.748 --> 00:38:36.458
So everyone listening will already be charmed by Andy Kim and just what a nice

00:38:36.458 --> 00:38:40.828
guy he is. But I thought what Cory Booker had to say about Andy Kim and vice

00:38:40.828 --> 00:38:46.078
versa, you know, the idea of them being Laverne and Shirley is going to crack me up.

00:38:46.378 --> 00:38:51.849
Yeah, for sure. um it's it's it's an interesting um.

00:38:52.702 --> 00:38:55.268
It really is an interesting thing because even talking to both of them and their

00:38:55.268 --> 00:38:59.122
staffs even their staff is like you know he's just so like down the earth and a nice person

00:38:59.506 --> 00:39:02.892
and you're like yeah yeah yeah but then you actually talk to them and like yeah

00:39:02.892 --> 00:39:06.748
they are down the earth and they are regular people and when i you know granted

00:39:06.748 --> 00:39:10.478
yes they're politicians but when you hear them speak about the things that they're

00:39:10.478 --> 00:39:12.874
passionate about you can't help but get like a little,

00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:15.654
you know, little, little kind of, yeah.

00:39:16.275 --> 00:39:18.738
Little, yeah, get all the feels.

00:39:18.738 --> 00:39:22.278
And you're like, yeah, I feel that way too. Um, it's an exciting thing to,

00:39:22.578 --> 00:39:24.948
to really be a part of the democratic process at work.

00:39:25.430 --> 00:39:31.258
Um, so we're hoping, uh, you know, to have more influential people on who are

00:39:31.658 --> 00:39:35.278
working behind the scenes, whether it be government officials or people in education.

00:39:35.278 --> 00:39:41.378
So our little show here is, uh, expanding into a space that we didn't know we'd ever expanded to.

00:39:41.778 --> 00:39:47.528
And here we are. And just know, teachers, every day when you go into your classrooms,

00:39:47.528 --> 00:39:53.560
just like Senator Booker said, you are helping to make all of the other professions possible.

00:39:53.793 --> 00:40:00.388
And someone someday is going to remember you for the way that you made them

00:40:00.388 --> 00:40:03.378
feel, the lesson that you taught, the book that you introduced.

00:40:03.378 --> 00:40:09.268
You know, all of those things are So never, the really, the scope of that is

00:40:09.268 --> 00:40:14.188
never wasted on me of how true and important that is each day.

00:40:14.188 --> 00:40:19.268
So, yeah, my my number one takeaway from that interview is going to be the comment

00:40:19.268 --> 00:40:23.240
where he said you did a very good job of drinking from the wells you did not dig.

00:40:24.006 --> 00:40:26.753
Like that is a line that's going to stick in my brain because I.

00:40:27.728 --> 00:40:31.782
That that's like the wells of what was it like the wells of opportunity and

00:40:31.782 --> 00:40:33.432
freedom uh whatever it was it.

00:40:34.812 --> 00:40:38.742
Was but it also was very like yeah like just because you didn't dig it doesn't

00:40:38.742 --> 00:40:43.402
mean you shouldn't take the opportunity for growth and understanding and for

00:40:43.402 --> 00:40:47.112
taking that next step forward or don't waste it like that was a very powerful

00:40:47.112 --> 00:40:49.177
thing to hear and i hope our like,

00:40:49.932 --> 00:40:53.762
i hope our listeners like your kids should hear that like that's an important

00:40:53.762 --> 00:40:57.212
thing to remember Like, it doesn't have to be something that you get your hands

00:40:57.212 --> 00:40:59.731
dirty to do. Take the opportunity when the door opens.

00:41:00.021 --> 00:41:02.332
Absolutely. And here we are. Here we are.

00:41:03.132 --> 00:41:09.932
So we hope that you enjoy our interview with, enjoyed our interviews with the New Jersey senators.

00:41:09.932 --> 00:41:14.772
Remember, there are only two U.S. senators for each state. So we've gotten to

00:41:15.092 --> 00:41:20.092
talk to both of them, Senator Andy Kim and Senator Cory Booker. Yes.

00:41:20.632 --> 00:41:24.162
And if you didn't get a chance to hear the Andy Kim interview,

00:41:24.162 --> 00:41:27.672
it was the previous episode. So definitely check that out. Absolutely.

00:41:27.982 --> 00:41:31.336
Do I appreciate you? Hey, friend, I appreciate you too.

00:41:31.795 --> 00:41:35.162
And we'll see everybody next time on the Balancing Act podcast. Bye.

00:41:38.227 --> 00:41:40.061
Don't miss a single episode of season four.