Thursday, January 27, 2022

Sand Springs mother pleading for help as daughter struggles with bullying at school

"Jocelyn Uebelhart says her daughter, a first-grader at Anderson Elementary, has been coming home saying that she’s being bullied for months," KTUL reports. "'Honestly, all I really want to do is just go home and grab my daughter and sit there and hold her and cry,' said Uebelhart. 'Because I don’t know what else to do.'"

Parent says Mid-Del teacher scolded and separated her daughter for not wearing a mask

"Mid-Del does have a mask mandate in place currently," KOKH reports, "but parents can opt out for health, religious, or personal reasons. Jana says she turned the form in months ago after Kylie complained she was getting headaches and feeling light-headed."

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

OSU Writing Center seeks ‘antiracist’ tutors who will ‘accept all Englishes’

"Among some Oklahoma teachers and professors, emphasis on proper grammar and standard English is now decried as a form of white supremacy," Ray Carter reports.

Friday, January 21, 2022

Stitt proclaims Oklahoma School Choice Week 2022

Watch a short video here.

Oklahoma Senate leader seeks school choice for all families

"Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat has filed legislation that would provide school-choice opportunities to all Oklahoma families," Ray Carter reports, "allowing parents to use state funds to pay for their children to attend any school, including private schools."

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Oklahomans’ support for school choice is becoming difficult to deny



[This post is updated when new survey data are released.]

Since 2014, numerous scientific surveys of Oklahoma voters have measured Oklahomans’ views on various forms of private-school choice (vouchers, tax credits, education savings accounts, et al.). And time after time, they have found support. Here is the survey research that has shown support for parental choice:
  • News 9 / News on 6 survey (likely Oklahoma GOP voters), August 2022 
  • Morning Consult (general Oklahoma population), rolling 12-month results
  • Cole Hargrave Snodgrass and Associates survey (registered Oklahoma voters), January 2022
  • WPA Intelligence survey (likely Oklahoma voters), November 2021
  • CHS & Associates survey (registered Oklahoma voters), September 2020
  • Cor Strategies survey (likely Oklahoma voters), August 2020
  • Amber Integrated survey (registered Oklahoma voters), December 2019
  • Cor Strategies survey (likely Oklahoma voters), August 2019
  • WPA Intelligence survey (registered Oklahoma voters), April 2019
  • WPA Intelligence survey (registered Oklahoma voters), January 2019
  • Cor Strategies survey (likely Oklahoma voters), May 2018
  • Cor Strategies survey (likely Oklahoma voters), August 2017
  • SoonerPoll survey (likely Oklahoma voters), July 2016
  • SoonerPoll survey (likely Oklahoma voters), January 2016
  • Cole Hargrave Snodgrass and Associates survey (registered Oklahoma voters), December 2015
  • Tarrance Group survey (registered Oklahoma voters), January 2015
  • SoonerPoll survey (likely Oklahoma voters), January 2015
  • Tarrance Group survey (registered Oklahoma GOP primary voters), July 2014
  • Braun Research survey (registered Oklahoma voters), January 2014

And here is the survey research showing that Oklahomans oppose school choice:
  • Tarrance Group survey (registered Oklahoma voters), November 2022 
  • Tarrance Group survey (likely Oklahoma voters), March 2022
  • Public Opinion Strategies survey (likely Oklahoma voters), March 2015

Like the film critic Pauline Kael, who couldn't understand how Nixon beat McGovern (given that everyone she knew had voted for McGovern), many in the public education community’s epistemic bubble simply cannot come to terms with the reality that most Oklahomans favor educational choice. But a fair reading of the evidence shows pretty clearly that Oklahoma parents want options and they want the money to follow the child.

So why doesn’t the money follow the child? Political scientists can explain why—government employees are able to pick their politicians and keep kids trapped in an iron triangle—but that’s small consolation for the children who need options right now.

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

OSSBA offers schools lesson that bashes racial equality

A digital resources library offered to Oklahoma schools by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) includes lessons for students as young as pre-K which denounce the concept of racial equality, suggest that only white people can be racist, and encourage litigation against oil-and-gas companies.

Even the teaching of English has gone woke

David Randall exposes how Oklahoma’s universities and public schools teach English.

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

We can share this country: School choice in a divided America

"From masks and vaccine mandates to critical race theory, it seems like Americans are at war over everything," Greg Forster observes. "It’s time to live and let live: Put parents back in charge through school choice."