Wednesday, September 26, 2012

'Parent trigger' conversation begins in Oklahoma

State Sen. David Holt (R-Oklahoma City) is emerging as the leading voice.

This is welcome news

School-choice advocates have formed a national Commission on Faith-based Schools.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

'Leave it to the private sector'

Early-childhood intervention, that is.

OKC mother keeping her bullied daughter out of school

"A concerned mother of a seventh-grade student at Rogers Middle School is ready to keep her daughter out of school for weeks to keep her safe," Ed Doney reports for KFOR. "Claudia Morrison said Tuesday she’s even willing to give up guardianship to a relative, just so her daughter can go to a school in a different district." (Yes, there's a black market in school choice.)
[Morrison] said her daughter was beaten up twice on Sept. 5 by the same girl on the Rogers Middle School grounds.

“She can’t concentrate,” Morrison said. “She can’t focus on her school work. She’s terrified to go back.”

Her daughter described one of the attacks.

“She kicked me, punched me, stomped on me, all in my face, pulled my hair out,” she said.

Morrison said she’s getting no answers from school officials on any punishment or what they’re doing to keep her daughter safe in the future.

Morrison said the female student who attacked her daughter has posted videos of previous fights on Facebook and bragged online about hurting her daughter.

As I never tire of repeating, bullied students deserve a ticket to safety.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Ditching school

A couple of 5-year-old girls walked away from a Tulsa elementary school, the Tulsa World reports, "and were discovered more than two hours later playing in a drainage ditch at a nearby car dealership."

Friday, September 14, 2012

It's all money

I'm with Andrew Coulson on this one:  If we should only count "current" or "operating" expenditures -- if costs like construction and debt service don't really count -- well then, okay, we'd like that money back.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Polling news

"A survey by Gallup and the Phi Delta Kappa International education association finds that 60 percent of Americans think it's more important to balance the federal budget than to 'improve the quality of education,'" The Washington Times reports ("Poll: Americans want fiscal problems solved before school funding goes up").

Meanwhile, a new report shows Americans support school choice.

School choice increases per-pupil spending

The state's largest newspaper perceptively points out that, "ironically, many who complain about state funding have actually opposed programs that increase per-pupil amounts."
A scholarship program for children with special-needs allows those students to use most of the state funds allocated for their education to pay for private school. A portion remains with the public school, however, boosting district funds. Citizens can get tax credits for contributing to scholarship organizations that help low-income children attend private schools. As private funds allow those students to exit the public system, the tax dollars allotted for their education remains with public schools, benefiting other students. Yet both those programs have been opposed by some officials who simultaneously decry funding cuts.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

'Pro-school-choice Democrats have the momentum'

Doug Tuthill reports from the Democratic National Convention.

Blended-learning profiles

Our friends at the Innosight Institute have a useful database tool profiling blended-learning programs.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

'The Machine'

More cheating?

The state's largest newspaper reports on "testing irregularities" in Hinton.

UPDATE: 15 Hinton high school students have test scores invalidated.

'The Left's education divide'

Matt Purple reports on the Democrats' choice between children and unions.

'Teacher walkout'

"As conservative reforms gain momentum," Daniel James Devine reports in WORLD magazine, "teachers unions find themselves losing money and members."

Oklahoma schools: $184 million in administrative salaries

"Oklahoma’s bloated education system is partly inflated by the $184 million in salaries alone that taxpayers are paying about 2,700 school district administrators," Stacy Martin reports.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Teacher unions not the root problem

Teachers unions, Neal McCluskey writes, "are not the root problem in education."
The root educational problem is that public schools are government schools, and politics—which cannot be detached from government—rewards concentrated special interests, of which unionized teachers are among the biggest.

Could school choice erase the wealth gap?

If Democrats truly care about low-income Americans, Diana Furchtgott-Roth says, they will support parental choice in education.

If teachers are underpaid ...

... why don't they earn more when they move to other occupations?

'Consumer choice in education'

It's in the Republican platform.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

10-year-old says he was stabbed on school bus

"A 10-year-old boy reported he was stabbed by a fellow student with a pair of scissors while riding a bus to school," Carrie Coppernoll reports in The Oklahoman.

The student said he was stabbed in the shoulder by a female student while they were riding to school Aug. 16, according to a police report. They attend Green Pastures Elementary School, 4300 N Post Road, in Spencer. 

The boy told police the girl said she should have cut his eyes out after she stabbed him, according to the report.

He said he told the bus driver he was stabbed, but that the driver told him to sit down. He said he also told a teacher, who told him to sit down and that he would be all right, according to the report.