Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna

Can Texas Fix Affordability? | Education, AI & the Future of South Texas

• Matt Reyna

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 16:47

🎙️ Can Texas Fix Affordability? | Education, AI & the Future of South Texas

What is the biggest issue facing Texas families today?

According to Texas Senate District 19 candidate Marcus, the answer is simple: affordability.

In this episode of Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna, Matt and Marcus dive into rising costs of living, inflation, property taxes, education, AI, minimum wage, the shrinking middle class, school choice, and how technology could completely reshape our future.

From the affordability crisis to artificial intelligence, this conversation explores where Texas is headed and what leaders should be focusing on moving forward.

Topics We Cover

• Why affordability is the #1 concern for Texas families
 • Inflation and rising grocery prices
 • Housing affordability
 • Property taxes
 • Minimum wage and the shrinking middle class
 • Outside investors buying homes
 • School choice and education reform
 • STAAR testing
 • South San ISD
 • Parenting in the digital age
 • Artificial Intelligence
 • AI in education
 • The future of robotics
 • Leadership and public accountability

Biggest Takeaways

✔ Why affordability affects every Texan

✔ The real impact of inflation on everyday families

✔ Is the education system preparing kids for the future?

✔ How AI could transform schools, healthcare, and daily life

✔ Why elected officials should remain accessible to their communities

Chapters

00:00 Affordability: Texas Families Are Feeling the Pressure

01:25 Will Homes Cost $1 Million One Day?

02:20 Is the Middle Class Disappearing?

03:00 Outside Investors & Housing Prices

04:05 Education & School Choice

05:10 South San ISD & Improving Schools

06:15 Why the STAAR Test Needs Reform

07:30 ADHD, Education & Parenting

08:55 Kids, Technology & Screen Time

09:40 AI, Robots & the Future

12:50 Can Artificial Intelligence Improve Education?

14:00 Leadership, Accountability & Serving the Community

15:45 Public Education Through a Parent's Eyes

About the Podcast

Anything & Everything with Matt Reyna is a long-form podcast where no topic is off limits.

From politics and current events to business, sports, entrepreneurship, technology, real estate, and life experiences, every episode is about having honest conversations that challenge ideas and encourage critical thinking.

New episodes every week.

Connect with Matt Reyna

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mattreyna2023

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/matt.reyna.12


SPEAKER_01

As far as, you know, families, that have you've been speaking to what are they saying is the most needed right now? Just I would assume that it's just how far they're being being able to stretch their dollar, right?

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. Right now, the top thing we're hearing is affordability. Yeah. And it goes back to the federal government, what they're doing at another country right now in Iran, and gas prices gone up. You know, now the gas prices are up, you don't hear about how expensive groceries are. But they're still expensive. Definitely. Yeah, they still are. And then anytime diesel goes up, truck drivers charge more, freight's more expensive, so it's just a chain reaction. Did it just go down?

SPEAKER_01

Just went down, right?

SPEAKER_02

We're at what about four dollars?

SPEAKER_01

I think diesel went down for the first time or something like that. Yeah, this dude has uh diesel, so he's like Oh yeah. Oh, I got my 7.3 Ford and oof.

SPEAKER_02

It's not like a new diesel, it's uh yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01

So affordability.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's it. That's huge right now. Affordability.

SPEAKER_01

Man, yeah. I you know, I I kind of wonder too, man, what is like um where things are gonna be going. You know what I'm saying? People say that if everything, you know, goes along the similar trend that it has been from the past 30 years, and if it if it if that's if the same thing has happened from the past 30 years, yeah, 30 years into the future, how's it gonna be like a million dollars? Which I believe is just economically impossible. You know what I'm saying? So something's gotta give one way or another.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but when our parents purchased their home, how much was it? 30 grand. And how much is it now?

SPEAKER_01

180 something, you know what I'm saying? So, oh, so so in that sense, and let me get your take on this too, ex what do you what do you think on that? You think that okay, cool, like let's say houses are gonna be, let's just give it a realistic number, 850,000. So, do you think that the minimum wage and and wages and and the economic dollar is just gonna be able to sustain that? It's gonna grow along with the prices going up.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. I kind of think that the gap's gonna get wider and wider, and the middle class is gonna be, you know, it's gonna be gone. And it's just, I don't know, that's the way basic economics works, you know. After after time, inflation just takes over, and you know, there's the the the has and the has nots.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, the middle class is just gonna break.

SPEAKER_02

I think if you look like CEO, they're they're what they're getting paid now, what they were like in the 70s. I think minimum wage should be what about 45 an hour right now?

SPEAKER_01

Like, yeah, that's that's that. I mean, that's a good yeah, that's a good point, man.

SPEAKER_02

You know, because at the end of the day, what what we're 725 or what's the minimum right now?

SPEAKER_01

I would assume 745. 7 something, right? 745.

SPEAKER_02

So do the math 40 hours a week, that's not even 300 bucks a week. Times four or five, that's 1500 bucks a month. There's a two-bedroom is is 1500 bucks a month right now.

SPEAKER_01

You know what's you know what's crazy? I mean, and I see it in in in my profession all the time that you're seeing an influx of outside outside um um investors. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You just saw it in the Spurs games. Yeah, you know, they were buying all of our tickets. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Because I mean, we can't afford those tickets. I mean, we can afford those tickets, but not the way that they can.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely, because they make more money over there. So it's like when we said right now how uh the Mexicans come over here to work because they're gonna make more money. It's like if me and you say, you know what, let's pack it up, let's go to New York because they pay more for concrete. So we could make more or real estate's more expensive over there, so your commissions are gonna be bigger checks over there.

SPEAKER_01

Correct.

SPEAKER_02

You know, so let's go over there and let's do it. But then we're gonna have to pay New York taxes, we're gonna have to, you know, pay an apartment if we live together, the food. A Bud Light's gonna cost you, you know, eight dollars at the bar and not three dollars like it is at Huntner's Corner. Shout out, Durban.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say Bud Light or but I but um so yeah, so the the dollar being uh kind of stretched is what they're saying. Anything else are they saying kind of um that they're kind of most worried about, or it's just pretty much uh it's it's the affordability.

SPEAKER_02

And like I say, different different areas have different problems.

SPEAKER_01

What about education?

SPEAKER_02

Education, it's always been on a hot topic. Uh we have school choice, school vouchers that just pass. Did I see something about South San?

SPEAKER_01

Was that true? I I saw that South San was like ranked amongst I don't know, the lowest in Texas or something like that. Like it had it had a rank or like our school report. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

We win the South Sand, what do you think? Is it true or not?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, you know what? So it's funny that you asked that, right? Because, bro, I haven't stepped foot like around like just for the the alumni or whatever and and stuff like that. But the way that I saw that, you know, it it grew since we left. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, obviously just because it looks nice, doesn't mean like the the the brand of like uh education is a lot better or anything like that, but at the same time, too, I'm just like, man, looks like a college now. Oh, yeah, you know what I'm saying? And I was I would assume that they'd step up everything, the education, um, you know, teachers pay, uh everything, you know what I'm saying? But seems like it's just kind of the same, I guess.

SPEAKER_02

It's the same always because we elect the same officials to run the school board. But about a year or a year and a half ago, TEA went in and got rid of the all the school board superintendents. So all those uh school board members were appointed, which I know you know Carla Sergio's wife. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's a member now. Oh, yeah, I heard. You know, people like Lina Prado and there's other members that were appointed. And Saul Nahosa is a new superintendent. So they're turning things around. You know, we saw some of the scores go up now, and sometimes that's what it takes for the state to turn to you know take over and to put people in there like Carla, that just, you know, very passionate about education and helping the community and move things forward. Because if you have that same person in there for 25 years, a school board member, they're not keeping up with the times and what's changing. So and one of the big things I want to, you know, I'm gonna push for, I'm gonna be an advocate for, is uh is just get rid of that star test, that that test that they do they just teach to. Like that's it. Like the whole curriculum of school is just let's teach to the test, the test, the test, the test. And these kids, you know, they stress about the test, they just focus on the test.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But what else are they are we showing these kids?

SPEAKER_01

It's all revolved around passing the test.

SPEAKER_02

That's it.

SPEAKER_01

Pretty much. Yeah. So because uh um, I like that um that saying, like a scholar of trivia. Like, you know what I'm saying? You're just kind of memorizing dates and facts. Exactly as opposed to just kind of nurturing that that child's like God-given abilities, talents, and what they're best at. That's what I always I remember, man, when I was in school, I was like, Xavier says it all the time. He says it like um that he just couldn't pay attention or whatever, but at the same time, everybody has a brilliant mind in their own way, you know what I'm saying? Like, um man, you you get him involved in something like uh computer tech or or something like that, then he's like, Oh yeah, yeah, like it's it's way more, you know, me man, I like like documentaries, history, things like that. Same thing, and I'm just like, wow, like, and then what happened, you know what I'm saying? Like, I it gets me, but sometimes, you know, like you're just I guess it just doesn't jive for you, man. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02

It's boring, and you know, and then they you know, if you see a kid that's born in the classroom right away, oh they have ADD, ADHD, oh, they can't pay attention. It's like, nah, maybe there's something, you know, they're a gifted mind that we're just oh, you know what, you don't want to you don't want to learn to the test, go over there, you know, go do your special, take these pills, see how you feel. And then we're getting them addicted to pills, bro.

SPEAKER_01

You know, my sister tells me, so she teaches third grade, right X? Think third. Yeah, Julia. Yeah, third grade. Think third. And um, yeah, she does a star testing and all of that stuff, right? And she tells me, man, that I may get the number wrong, but it's more than five out of ten kids have are are diagnosed with some type of thing, right? And I'm very like, that don't sound right to me. She's like, Matthew, you don't see these kids, man. And yeah, I mean, I'm gonna have to take her word for it or whatnot, but I'm just like, man, I know that there's misdiagnoses as well.

SPEAKER_02

A lot of it too. Um everything starts at home. Everything's with the parents, you know, that baby's born, they're with the parents, discipline, they don't get disciplined, you know, they don't get spanked with a belt like I used to. You know, then they go to school, they just so everything starts at home. But once a teacher gets that student, you know, whether they're kind for a second, the teacher's like, oh, now they got more work to do. Because everything starts at home. And nowadays, you get the cell phone, the kids, boom, one year old, they're on the cell phone, on the cell phone. Are they learning? Probably not. So they get to school, kinder, and they can't even write. Well, they want their phone. They want their phone, they want tablets. Yeah, they want tablets, you know. So that you know, I think it starts at home, and these parents need to realize hey, get them some flashcards.

SPEAKER_01

This okay, so this is where it starts getting a little tricky, man, because me and Xavier talk about technology all the time, right? Uh, me and my buddy Zach, do you know Zach, right? Yeah, yeah. He was saying, like, it's happening too fast, bro. It's happening too fast. And he well, we're talking about um like these these robots, right? Companion robots and robots that are gonna be in your house and they could work for for you and stuff like that. I made him a bet, bro. I made him a bet, and the bet's a thousand bucks that he will not have a robot within the next three years, and so I'm just all like and and he's just so okay. This is my thing. This is my thing, and X, you know way more about this than me. Are they gonna be affordable?

SPEAKER_00

They're supposed to be as much as a car, like 20,000.

SPEAKER_02

No, get but they'll be able to do everything clean, cook, like all that.

SPEAKER_01

Like that's that's what I'm saying. I said, bro, you think we're gonna get the robot like iRobot, like like that? Like yeah, yeah, for you and stuff, exactly. You think that's they're only gonna charge 20 grand for that?

SPEAKER_00

Well, the thing, but the thing is, man, is that technology is moving so fast. That's what he's saying. Yeah, it's moving so fast, so things are getting cheaper. They're um there's like now they're saying AI is improving on itself now. Wow, right. So now things are gonna be like exponentially fast to where we can't even keep up with the advancements of AI. Oh wow, yeah, that's how fast it's gonna move.

SPEAKER_01

The curve, it's curving its own, or you know, it's it's over curving its own.

SPEAKER_00

So we're gonna have to put it like I'm assuming we're gonna have to pause it. We're gonna have to pause it and then catch up and then pause it, catch up. But the point to all this is that they're gonna make code so efficient that it doesn't have to take so much processing power to make these robots, you know, um do their thing, you know? So so so it's gonna be cheaper, it's gonna be cheaper in processing, they're gonna make more efficient chips, that's gonna become more cheaper, you know. So it's I don't know, man. It's all it all depends on how how this this stuff moves, and the software is just moving so fast right now. It's like you could warn you can learn one thing one month, and next month they they've already done something different. That's how fast it's moving. Um, there's something uh uh Fable 5 just came out with Anthropic, and uh it was it was so crazy that you know the the government shut it down. Oh wow, they shut it down. Why what was it doing? Well, I mean the there's like a lot of different you know speculations about it, but supposedly the the story is is that it got hacked or it got jailbroken to where you know it was uh they're saying that it was like a uh a national threat, or you know, and they're gonna take over.

SPEAKER_02

It's like that movie.

SPEAKER_00

So the government shut it down and all this stuff, but I don't know, there's drama behind that as you can imagine. And there's like more yeah, like they're saying like, oh, because anthropic was supposed to be part of the military, and anthropic said, like, we're not gonna be part of that. So now that they did that, now the government shut them down and they're like, that's get back. Oh yeah, it's just I don't know, it's a bunch of drama.

SPEAKER_01

Why did I get on the AI topic? I got on it uh well because of kids, right? Yeah, kids. Um, yeah, the the kids are kind of dependent on that nowadays, but I forgot what I was uh what I was getting uh to about that. But anyway, um what I mean we could use it for good.

SPEAKER_02

There I mean there's good programs, there's good programs for kids and stuff, but most of the parents just let them run wild on YouTube, TikTok. But no, you could you know go to YouTube and just lock it for educational purposes and you know learn stuff with it. That's true, you know. But a lot of parents just like, no, here you go, here's a phone.

SPEAKER_01

So I wonder, man, if that's gonna be, you know, integrated basically like in the school systems, that it's gonna be allowed to kind of I guess assess these kids a little bit easier than what we can, you know what I'm saying? So if they could learn on a computer or learn on something, we could use that to our benefit as opposed to just trying to diagnose everybody, you know, based off of just what we see and what they're kind of reacting to us. I mean, if they could kind of work it out or if AI can recognize something in them, I mean it can make it. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Even with the blood or something, that there's there's gonna be that technology. Would you they're gonna be able to probably take a picture of you and be like, oh no, it's stuck, man. This guy he's got a little you know, a little extra tone. And I'm sure I was too. You know, I've been I I'm still being told today is like there's something off about you. Well, I mean, it got me this far, so maybe there's you know, you can manage it, maybe for sure.

SPEAKER_01

When you win, Marcus. Yeah, what do you want your voters to hold you accountable for?

SPEAKER_02

You know, being their voice in Austin. You know, I I know a lot of people, they always ask me, Oh, don't tell me once I call you, you could change your number then. Oh, yeah, no, definitely gonna change it, man. No, no, no. Then you know, my business cards, if I give you a card, it does have my cell phone on. I don't know. You know what I tell my clients, bro?

SPEAKER_01

I tell my clients, like, test me. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm like, test me, dude. I'll pick up 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock, I tell them this is all I do. You know what I'm saying? Um, oh, you know what? Similar, uh, similar boat, right? Um, I, you know, I I I you know obviously subscribe to a higher power or whatnot, but I believe, man, that I am on this journey right now with no wife, no kids, because my time and my energy is for you know something that something that it it it uh it needs all of it as opposed to you know you know I'm saying being a family man that obviously you have your obligations first, which is your family. And I I tell the good Lord, I'm like, dude, I'm I'm ready. Yeah, you know, use me for some you know, yeah. But at the same time, too, I've noticed it obviously when you think you're ready for something, you know. Sometimes that's just oh yeah, not the way that it not the way that it goes. That's that's him testing you. Do you um kind of subscribe to the same thing? No, no, no kids, right?

SPEAKER_02

No, no, yeah, I have one kid.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I'm sorry, man. That's all right.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man, that's totally different, totally different. Yeah, um, so yeah, she goes to South San. Boom. Where was I?

SPEAKER_01

Cut that part out. No, oh well, then it now, okay. I'm sorry. It brings everything way more kind of kind of strikes it at home. You know what I'm saying? Because obviously this is your family as well, you know.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, and it's not just mine, it's gonna be, you know, the community's family that we got to look out for too. So, you know, I know what they're going through. I have, you know, my daughter at a public school at Sal San. Um, I talked to the teachers there, I talked to the superintendent, you know, I know what we need and we what we don't have right now. So I just want to change it. I want to, like I said, I want to be that voice to go to Austin and get things done, bro. How was her experience at Sal San? What does she say about it? She she loves it. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter, she loves it. She uh she she's doing really good. She's she's like me, she's real hyper. I gotta tell her hey, slow down a little bit, you know. You know, I was a little Nessio, I love to be and everything. But that was her first, you know, she didn't go to daycare, she didn't do preschool. She went straight to to kinder and she loved it. She did really well. Gotcha. Yeah, she she had no complaints. What does she want to do? Oh, she just I just I don't ask her that. No, no, I I don't I don't like to ask kids what they want to do. I think it puts pressure, doesn't you know? I just tell them do good, learn as much as you can.