# Corey DeAngelis Corey DeAngelis is the **most visible school-choice advocate of the 2020s** — a libertarian education researcher and X/Twitter personality who reframed the school-choice argument around **"fund students, not systems"** and pushed it into the conservative mainstream during the 2020-2022 school reopening fights. DeAngelis holds a PhD in education policy from the University of Arkansas and has held research positions at the [[Cato Institute]], [[Reason Foundation]], and [[American Federation for Children]] (AFC). He was AFC's Senior Fellow during the universal-ESA wave (2022-2024). In February 2026 he joined the [[Heritage Foundation]] as a research fellow, integrated into the Center for Education Policy that produced [[Project 2025]] Chapter 11. His communications strategy has been credited with broadening the school-choice base from libertarian-policy-wonk circles to populist parental-rights audiences during the COVID-era school closures, when remote learning frustrations created an opening for vouchers and ESAs that the movement had spent decades unable to engineer. ## Background and Education DeAngelis earned his **B.A. in economics** from the **University of Texas at San Antonio**, an **M.A. in economics** from San Jose State University, and a **Ph.D. in education policy** from the **University of Arkansas** — the last at the **[[Department of Education]] Reform**, which is one of the principal academic nodes of the school-choice research ecosystem (funded substantially by the Walton Family Foundation). His academic work focused on the effects of school-voucher programs on student outcomes. ## COVID-Era Strategy (2020–2022) DeAngelis's rise from policy-wonk circles to national conservative influence was driven by his **social-media communications strategy** during the **2020–2022 school-reopening fights**. As teachers' unions (AFT/NEA) pushed for extended remote learning and delayed reopening, DeAngelis used X/Twitter to relentlessly frame the conflict as union self-interest vs. parental authority — building a following of hundreds of thousands and coining the phrase **"fund students, not systems"** as the movement's populist slogan. His thread-by-thread documentation of union statements, school-board decisions, and reopening timelines turned frustration with remote learning into legislative momentum for **universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)** and voucher programs. ## Institutional Positions DeAngelis has held positions across the school-choice institutional ecosystem: **Senior Fellow at the [[Cato Institute]]** (libertarian think tank), **[[Reason Foundation]]** (libertarian policy research), and **[[American Federation for Children]]** (AFC) — the [[Betsy DeVos]]-affiliated advocacy organization that is the primary political-action vehicle of the school-choice movement. He served as AFC's Senior Fellow during the **2022–2024 universal-ESA wave** when multiple states (Arizona, West Virginia, Iowa, Utah, and others) passed universal or near-universal school-choice programs. In **February 2026**, DeAngelis joined the **[[Heritage Foundation]]** as a research fellow, integrated into the **Center for Education Policy** — the same unit that produced [[Project 2025]] Chapter 11 (Education), authored by Lindsey Burke. The Heritage move positioned DeAngelis within the institutional infrastructure supporting the Trump administration's Education Freedom Tax Credit and broader Department of Education restructuring. ## 2024 Controversy In **September 2024**, reporting revealed that DeAngelis had previously performed in **gay adult entertainment** — a disclosure that created tension with some socially-conservative allies in the school-choice coalition, particularly those aligned with religious-right organizations. AFC parted ways with DeAngelis following the reports. The incident illustrated the internal tensions within the school-choice coalition between its libertarian wing (which is agnostic on social-conservative identity issues) and its religious-conservative wing (which frames school choice as inseparable from traditional-values education). ## KB Significance DeAngelis is the **most visible public communicator** of the [[School Choice Ecosystem]] in the 2020s — the figure who successfully reframed school choice from a libertarian-policy-wonk position into a populist-parental-rights movement during the COVID-era window. His institutional trajectory (Cato → Reason → AFC → Heritage) maps the school-choice movement's migration from libertarian think tanks toward the Trump-aligned conservative-institutional infrastructure. His Heritage appointment links the social-media-driven advocacy directly to the [[Project 2025]] policy architecture. ## See Also - [[American Federation for Children]] - [[Heritage Foundation]] - [[School Choice Ecosystem]]