Parent group launches, seeks accountability from schools

"Gathered at the Oklahoma Capitol on a brisk Monday," Ray Carter reports, "parents announced the formation of a group that will seek to empower families to have greater control in their children’s education—including the ability to hold recall elections for school board members that ignore parents’ wishes."

Calls to change absentee voting process raise fraud concerns

"In response to COVID-19, a coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations is demanding that Oklahoma abandon a longstanding election-security safeguard," Ray Carter reports.

Stitt proclaims School Choice Week

Hats off to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for celebrating the fact that "Oklahoma has many different types of public and nonpublic schools, as well as families who educate their children in the home."

Oklahoma education agency promotes progressive activism masquerading as civics

Oklahoma’s state superintendent—allegedly a Republican—is using the power of government to promote social-justice activism in public schools.

Even after raises, Oklahoma teacher activist calls for lawmakers’ ouster

"In the last two legislative sessions, lawmakers have raised taxes and increased K-12 appropriations by a combined $638 million, or 20 percent," Ray Carter reports. "That sum includes funding for a two-year combined average teacher pay raise of more than $7,000. Yet that hasn’t stopped one prominent public-education activist from calling for the ouster of as many as 35 Republican lawmakers, despite the fact most of those lawmakers supported teacher pay raises and school-funding increases."

One prominent lawmaker says this Stillwater teacher is "out of touch with reality." (Of course, we knew that back when he told the members of the Socialist Workers Party that a teacher strike "is the right thing to do.")

‘So who is really caring about the kids?’

"Teachers got a day off to vote, forcing parents to find care for their children," Terry Flattem writes in an excellent letter to the editor of the Tulsa World. "For every teacher who gets Election Day off about 30 parents have to make alternative plans to take care of their children! So who is really caring about the kids? My wife taught for 37 years, and she never had a problem getting to the polling place before it closed."

Indeed, as The Oklahoman observed regarding closing schools for Election Day, "the unintended-but-still-implied message—that teachers are less capable of voting than all other adults working weekday jobs—always appeared less affirming of the education profession than proponents of this idea wanted to admit."

Don't close schools on Election Day

“School districts should not close schools on Election Day for the express purpose of increasing their employees’ political clout,” political scientist Greg Forster writes today in the state’s largest newspaper. “It would not just inconvenience parents and thus make it harder, not easier, for everyone else to vote. It would also politicize and polarize public schools even worse than they already are.”

Bixby teachers union conducted ‘strategic’ voter targeting at district facility

"During Oklahoma’s primary election season, Bixby Public Schools administrators allowed school facilities to be used for political activities by a union Oklahoma Education Association affiliate, the Bixby Education Association," Jonathan Small writes in The Journal Record.

The BEA is a union that represents government employees and gives 40 percent of the dues it receives from teachers to their far-left affiliate, the National Education Association.

In fact, the BEA used schools to organize phone calls and door-to-door canvassing targeting a strategic list of voters. Asked about these activities, the BEA deleted references to targeting particular voters from its website and insisted they were just reminding people to vote.

That is hard to believe given how much adult interest groups like the BEA have at stake in shaping the debate. Organizations like the BEA have worked hard this year to shift education debates away from academics and toward funding. Their allies—including local school administrators—do everything they can to keep the public conversation focused on state government rather than on what local districts might do better.

Should education debates focus just on money? Are local administrators incapable of directing more resources to the classroom? Students might benefit from a public debate on these questions, but the interests of a handful of adults often trump the needs of students.

Bixby Public Schools was already a tragic example of adults protecting their own power and money at the expense of students and taxpayers. Last year, the district got caught mishandling sexual assault allegations in order to protect Superintendent Kyle Wood. The school board allowed him to retire with full benefits plus a $167,000 payout even though the alleged assaults took place at Wood’s own home.

Worthwhile reasons to move school elections

"Put simply, 'local control' of schools is as much myth as reality," The Oklahoman's editorial board notes today, "an argument bolstered by voting participation in school elections."

In a recent analysis of state boards and commissions, Byron Schlomach, economist and director of the conservative 1889 Institute, highlighted why this is problematic for good policy.

“Because of the outsized role that insiders have in the election of school board members, school boards at times appear to be more interested in serving the interest of the insiders rather than the interests of parents and taxpayers,” Schlomach wrote.

This was apparent when many school boards voted to close school for two weeks this year to let teachers engage in political lobbying, with pay. In many districts, that decision was made without consulting the thousands of student families who faced “great inconvenience and cost to parents and educational detriment to students,” Schlomach notes.

Why did school boards ignore parents? Because the school board members owed their election largely to school employees, not parents.

We have argued for moving school board elections to higher-turnout dates to increase citizen input. Otherwise, until school-election participation improves, lawmakers can legitimately claim to reflect the education views of their communities as much or more than do school board members, because a far higher share of local citizens voted for the legislator.

OCPA has written on this topic for years, and survey research from SoonerPoll (2015) and from Cor Strategies (2017) has found that Oklahomans favor moving local school board elections to November.

Ada schools to close for Election Day

The Ada News has the story.

Teacher 'advocacy' time

"The Oklahoma City School Board voted unanimously this week to close schools on Nov. 6, Election Day, to allow teachers and staff the chance to 'engage in continued advocacy,'" The Oklahoman's editorial board notes today.

Yukon Public Schools is doing the same thing, and no doubt other districts will as well. Apparently, taking advantage of absentee voting, or the early voting days available prior to Election Day (including, this year, Saturday Nov. 3), or getting to the polls on Election Day at 7 a.m., before the school day begins, or voting after school that day (polls are open until 7 p.m.)—as Oklahomans of all professions will do—is asking too much of school employees. Instead, boards are deciding it's better to inconvenience parents on that day and extend the school calendar by a day so educators can “advocate.” It's a head-scratching development.

Yukon school plan raises questions

"Yukon school officials recently announced they will close school for November's general election," The Oklahoman's editorial board notes today.

Said Superintendent Jason Simeroth, “Educators have spoken at the Capitol and now we will make it much easier for our advocates to express their concerns for those that do not support education, and to support those that do support education by voting.”

So Yukon officials think inconveniencing and disrupting the schedules of parents will increase voting? Or is the message that teachers, unlike other adults who also work on Tuesdays, are unable to vote before or after work or take advantage of Oklahoma's simple absentee voting process? The implied message underlying this announcement is muddled, at best.

It also ignores the fact that, in many instances, primary elections on June 26 and subsequent runoffs on Aug. 28 will be more consequential than the November elections, since many legislative seats have a strong partisan tilt. While the June elections will occur during the summer break, Yukon is scheduled to start the 2018-19 school year on Aug. 16, so the runoff elections will be conducted after school starts. In many instances, the large number of candidates in districts means more runoffs are likely this year. Why not cancel school on Aug. 28 to “boost” turnout?

And if Yukon officials really think school interferes with voting, then why is the district not canceling school to “boost” turnout in the spring elections that decide school board races and bond proposals? Aren't those elections even more important to education?

Republican lends support to Drew Edmondson campaign

Political activist Angela Clark Little identifies as a Republican. Interestingly, however, last year her PAC, Oklahomans for Public Education, actively supported several Democratic legislative candidates over Republicans. Moreover, Little once acknowledged that she endorsed a Republican candidate in order to boost the Democrat's chances of winning the general election. And as recently as last month Little joined with former Gov. David Walters and a who's who of Democratic luminaries to help raise money for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson.

Neither Edmondson nor Little are strong supporters of educational choice policies. By contrast, Republicans—as evidenced by GOP platforms, voters, and political leaders—support school choice. Not only leaders such as President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, but also Sen. James Lankford, Gov. Mary Fallin, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, and many more—including the late great President Ronald Reagan, who in his day proposed "a tuition tax credit plan," "a voucher system," and "education savings accounts."

Private sector must help drive ed reform in Oklahoma

In a series of recent meetings in Oklahoma, Indiana business titan Fred Klipsch made it clear that business leaders must get involved.

Your #OklaEd tax dollars at work

Tahlequah superintendent Lisa Presley apparently thinks the following is an appropriate use of school time and resources:

From: Diane Adamson
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 9:12 AM
To: Marissa McCoy; Susan VanZant; Lacie Davenport; Jaycie Smith; Cory Slagle; Paula Sloan; Matt Cloud
Subject: FW: Oklahoma Senate and House Email list

Below is the email list(s) for the Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives. Ms Presley asked that I send this information to you and for you to forward to your faculty and staff. The ESA/Vouchers bills are scheduled to be heard on both floors for a vote today and need to send emails to our legislators to ask them to VOTE NO on HB2949 and SB609

Oklahoma House of Representatives –

'johnny.tadlock@okhouse.gov'; 'john.bennett@okhouse.gov'; 'james.lockhart@okhouse.gov'; 'mikebrown@okhouse.gov'; 'dougcox@okhouse.gov'; 'chuck.hoskin@okhouse.gov'; 'ben.loring@okhouse.gov'; 'bensherrer@okhouse.gov'; 'mark.lepak@okhouse.gov'; 'travis.dunlap@okhouse.gov'; 'earl.sears@okhouse.gov'; 'waderousselot@okhouse.gov'; 'jerrymcpeak@okhouse.gov'; 'george.faught@okhouse.gov'; 'ed.cannaday@okhouse.gov'; 'jerryshoemake@okhouse.gov'; 'brian.renegar@okhouse.gov'; 'donnie.condit@okhouse.gov'; 'rcpruett@okhouse.gov'; 'bob.cleveland@okhouse.gov'; 'dustin.roberts@okhouse.gov'; 'charles.mccall@okhouse.gov'; 'terry.odonnell@okhouse.gov'; 'steve.kouplen@okhouse.gov'; 'todd.thomsen@okhouse.gov'; 'justin.wood@okhouse.gov'; 'josh.cockroft@okhouse.gov'; 'tom.newell@okhouse.gov'; 'james.leewright@okhouse.gov'; 'mark.mccullough@okhouse.gov'; 'jason.murphey@okhouse.gov'; 'kevin.wallace@okhouse.gov'; 'leedenney@okhouse.gov'; 'cory.williams@okhouse.gov'; 'dennis.casey@okhouse.gov'; 'sean.roberts@okhouse.gov'; 'steve.vaughan@okhouse.gov'; 'john.pfeiffer@okhouse.gov'; 'mariancooksey@okhouse.gov'; 'chad.caldwell@okhouse.gov'; 'john.enns@okhouse.gov'; 'lisajbilly@okhouse.gov'; 'jp.jordan@okhouse.gov'; 'emily.virgin@okhouse.gov'; 'claudia.griffith@okhouse.gov'; 'scott.martin@okhouse.gov'; 'leslie.osborn@okhouse.gov'; 'pat.ownbey@okhouse.gov'; 'tommy.hardin@okhouse.gov'; 'dennis.johnson@okhouse.gov'; 'scott.biggs@okhouse.gov'; 'charles.ortega@okhouse.gov'; 'mark.mcbride@okhouse.gov'; 'paulwesselhoft@okhouse.gov'; 'todd.russ@okhouse.gov'; 'david.perryman@okhouse.gov'; 'harold.wright@okhouse.gov'; 'jwhickman@okhouse.gov'; 'mike.sanders@okhouse.gov'; 'dan.fisher@okhouse.gov'; 'casey.murdock@okhouse.gov'; 'john.montgomery@okhouse.gov'; 'jeff.coody@okhouse.gov'; 'anncoody@okhouse.gov'; 'scooter.park@okhouse.gov'; 'jadine.nollan@okhouse.gov'; 'pampeterson@okhouse.gov'; 'glen.mulready@okhouse.gov'; 'chuck.strohm@okhouse.gov'; 'ken.walker@okhouse.gov'; 'katie.henke@okhouse.gov'; 'seneca.scott@okhouse.gov'; 'Regina.Goodwin@okhouse.gov'; 'david.derby@okhouse.gov'; 'dan.kirby@okhouse.gov'; 'david.brumbaugh@okhouse.gov'; 'eric.proctor@okhouse.gov'; 'jeanniemcdaniel@okhouse.gov'; 'weldon.watson@okhouse.gov'; 'mike.ritze@okhouse.gov'; 'randy.grau@okhouse.gov'; 'kevin.calvey@okhouse.gov'; 'randy.mcdaniel@okhouse.gov'; 'sallykern@okhouse.gov'; 'cyndi.munson@okhouse.gov'; 'will.fourkiller@okhouse.gov'; 'jason.nelson@okhouse.gov'; 'jason.dunnington@okhouse.gov'; 'shane.stone@okhouse.gov'; 'jon.echols@okhouse.gov'; 'chris.kannady@okhouse.gov'; 'richardmorrissette@okhouse.gov'; 'mike.christian@okhouse.gov'; 'scott.inman@okhouse.gov'; 'charlie.joyner@okhouse.gov'; 'lewis.moore@okhouse.gov'; 'mikeshelton@okhouse.gov'; 'michael.rogers@okhouse.gov'; 'george.young@okhouse.gov'; 'elise.hall@okhouse.gov'; 'garybanz@okhouse.gov'

Oklahoma Senate –

'wyrick@oksenate.gov'; 'quinn@oksenate.gov'; 'shaw@oksenate.gov'; 'allen@oksenate.gov'; 'silk@oksenate.gov'; 'brecheen@oksenate.gov'; 'boggs@oksenate.gov'; 'thompson@oksenate.gov'; 'garrisone@oksenate.gov'; 'efields@oksenate.gov'; 'matthews@oksenate.gov'; 'bingman@oksenate.gov'; 'paddack@oksenate.gov'; 'simpson@oksenate.gov'; 'standridge@oksenate.gov'; 'sparks@oksenate.gov'; 'david@oksenate.gov'; 'anderson@oksenate.gov'; 'griffin@oksenate.gov'; 'halligan@oksenate.gov'; 'bice@oksenate.gov'; 'justice@oksenate.gov'; 'lewis@oksenate.gov'; 'mazzei@oksenate.gov'; 'jech@oksenate.gov'; 'marlatt@oksenate.gov'; 'smalley@oksenate.gov'; 'fordj@oksenate.gov'; 'holt@oksenate.gov'; 'barrington@oksenate.gov'; 'bass@oksenate.gov'; 'dahm@oksenate.gov'; 'dossett@oksenate.gov'; 'stanislawski@oksenate.gov'; 'brownb@oksenate.gov'; 'newberry@oksenate.gov'; 'schulz@oksenate.gov'; 'crain@oksenate.gov'; 'yen@oksenate.gov'; 'jolley@oksenate.gov'; 'fry@oksenate.gov'; 'brooks@oksenate.gov'; 'shortey@oksenate.gov'; 'loveless@oksenate.gov'; 'floyd@oksenate.gov'; 'treat@oksenate.gov'; 'pittman@oksenate.gov'; 'sharp@oksenate.gov'

Movement aims to educate parents about school choice options

"For too long, education debates have primarily involved politicians and school employees," The Oklahoman notes today. "The needs of those schools are supposed to serve—students and their families—are often overlooked. Thanks to groups like ChoiceMatters, that dynamic may change this year."

Tea Party growing, focusing on state issues

"These days," The Daily Caller reports, "Tea Party activists are focused on state and local issues, such as school choice legislation ..."

What the school-choice movement can learn

... from the Tea Party.

'School choice for all Oklahoma students'

That's one of the 2011 policy goals of AFP-Oklahoma and its more than 22,000 activists.

Eternal vigilance

There are some Oklahoma state legislators who, by golly, want you to know that we've got trouble -- terrible, terrible trouble -- lurking in homeschooling families all across this state. Read about it here, and please contact your state legislators and urge them to protect our freedoms.