OCPA, BLM decry Oklahoma's segregated public schools

Some wealthy public school districts, where geographic boundaries have the effect of keeping education segregated, enjoy lavish facilities—such as this $2 million Deer Creek media center that boasts its own café.

The workings of Oklahoma’s segregation system are laid bare in stark images produced by a liberal think tank, Greg Forster points out in his latest article for OCPA. For her part, the head of the OKC Black Lives Matter chapter looked at the maps—and concluded that "racism and education disparities are still consistent and seemingly intentional even in 2021."

Responding to 'social justice' rhetoric

Notable GOP support for school choice

[Guest post by Jonathan Small]

In politics, as in retail, consumer demand drives product selection, only politicians offer policies rather than baked goods. So it’s notable that multiple speakers strongly advocated for school choice policies every night of the recent Republican National Convention.

That type of strong, vocal support only happens when politicians are certain a policy is both popular and beneficial, as several speakers demonstrated.

Survey research consistently shows strong support
for school choice among Oklahoma Republicans.

Sarah Hughes, whose eight-year-old son is a beneficiary of a Wisconsin school choice program, told national viewers her son “would have slipped through the cracks in public schools” but now has been provided the educational opportunity that will allow him “to succeed.”

Tera Myers, whose son has Down syndrome and is a beneficiary of an Ohio school-choice program, likewise noted her son says school choice “helped my dreams come true” and allowed him to become the “best I can be.”

Such stories are not outliers, nor are they isolated to places far from Oklahoma. Our state has seen dramatic success stories generated by school choice.

For example, in north Tulsa this year Crossover Preparatory Academy continued educating students through distance means when Tulsa Public Schools effectively threw in the towel, other than having online review of past content.

Many of the low-income, all-male and mostly minority students at Crossover Preparatory Academy in north Tulsa attend that private school because of a state tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations.

The benefits of their private-school education can be seen by comparing those students to their socio-economic counterparts still in Tulsa Public Schools. A TPS official recently told the State Board of Education that district now expects that kids “who might otherwise have been predicted to be two years below grade level” are instead going to be “approximately three years below grade level.”

The kids at Crossover still have opportunities thanks to education, but many kids in TPS do not and will pay the price for years.

Former state Rep. Jason Nelson, who helped create a state program that pays for children with special needs to attend private schools, has reported some parents “have told me that it saved their child’s life.” That is not hyperbole. Oklahoma’s school-choice programs have served children with special needs, teens recovering from addiction, survivors of horrendous childhood abuse, and more. School-choice has not only changed lives but saved them.

As the nation grapples with issues of inequality, one of the best paths forward is to expand school choice in Oklahoma and elsewhere. As Donald Trump Jr. bluntly noted, if officials really want to “help minorities in underserved communities,” the best option is to “let parents choose what school is best for their kids.”

Ja’Ron Smith, a deputy assistant to the president, noted at the RNC that education “is the great equalizer.” He’s right. It’s time we give all students of all races and economic backgrounds a greater chance at success through school choice.

As public charter schools come under attack, Oklahoma parents and school officials tout success

Ray Carter has the story.

Racism and the government school monopoly

"A story about racism in Edmond public schools points to the role parental choice can play in protecting vulnerable students and strengthening school discipline policies when it comes to racism," Greg Forster writes.

Oklahoma's black students not college-ready

"I bet we could literally put in a very small conference room the number of students in Oklahoma who are African-American and have a 26 on the ACT and have a 3.5 to 3.7 GPA that matches what I would call college-bound or college-preparatory courses," former OU official Jabar Shumate said last week.

This calls to mind something the Tulsa World reported last year: Justin Pickard of Crossover Preparatory Academy "said that based on a benchmark ACT score of 21 (out of 36), only 22 African-American senior boys were college-ready in Tulsa Public Schools in 2015."

'Culture of racism' sparks Edmond North students' transfer

"Some Edmond North High School students who recently transferred out of the school said they did so to escape a culture of racism among the school students," KFOR reports.

“If you're at a different school, you know Edmond North is like this,” said Maurice Franklin, a senior at the school who transferred there from Edmond Santa Fe. “You know. It's very natural for white people to say the n-word.”

Franklin said he never wants to make a big deal out of the instances of racism he’s seen or been the victim of, but that it is a big deal. “It makes me angry," Franklin said. “There's a bunch of black people here that feel like they don't belong, and I'm one of those people.”

Is school choice the black choice?

Where do you stand on the issue of #schoolchoice? Let me know and be sure to watch Roland Martin Presents: Is School Choice The Black Choice? Streaming live on #YouTube https://t.co/cbrFIqnCcq and on #Periscope https://t.co/Omw7gWbBJj

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) June 21, 2018

An uncomfortable truth

Some public schools allow Black student-athletes to play for their majority-white high schools even though they can't read or write at grade-level, writes Nehemiah D. Frank, founder and executive editor of The Black Wall Street Times in Tulsa. 

‘Only nine percent of black eighth graders in Tulsa are proficient in math’

Dr. Ray Owens continues to work for educational reform.

Trump favors educational choice

Segregation flourishes under the government-school monopoly

M.L. King, Jr. Elementary School in Oklahoma City is 89 percent black.

"If you want to make sure schools are segregated, the quickest and easiest way to do it is to force families into schools based on their ZIP codes," Greg Forster writes. "School choice is actually the only education policy with a serious hope of reducing segregation in schools."

Leftist ideologues use big-lie technique to slam school choice

School vouchers "are impeded by a legacy of bigotry rather than being propelled by one," Robert Holland writes.

CAP’s misleading, historically inaccurate report on the racist ‘origin’ of vouchers

A new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP), a leftist advocacy group, "plays fast and loose with the facts to offer a warped and historically inaccurate history of school choice," Frederick M. Hess writes.

DeVos will help the most vulnerable

Yesterday in the Tulsa World, OCPA president Jonathan Small made a case for Betsy DeVos.

'MLK's vision provides impetus to promote school choice in Tulsa'

Read Ginnie Graham's column in the Tulsa World.

Black voters support school choice

Jason Bedrick has the details.

Parents have a universal human right to choose the kind of education given to their children

[I was pleased to attend the World Congress of Families (WCF) last week in Salt Lake City, and indeed to speak at a separate policy roundtable event co-sponsored by the American Conservative Union (ACU) and the Sutherland Institute. Below is a press release from the WCF which should be of interest to readers of this blog. —BD]

Brandon Dutcher participated in 
an October 28 panel discussion 
titled “Economic and Social 
Conservatives Must Unite if 
America Is to Save Its Culture: 
The Family Prosperity Initiative." 
Also featured in the policy roundtable 
discussion: OCPA economists Wendy 
Warcholik and Scott Moody, ACU 
executive director Dan Schneider, Kansas 
Gov. Sam Brownback, Wisconsin 
Family Council president Julaine Appling, 
and Iowa state Senator Julian Garrett.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) has asked pro-family advocates around the world to sign an online petition that defends the basic human rights (as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - United Nations, 1948) of every human life from conception to natural death. As the historic Ninth World Congress of Families drew to an end last Friday in Salt Lake City, organizers of the congress were pleased to announce that 17,433 advocates had signed the petition within a week. The online petition was circulated by World Congress of Families partner CitizenGo. Click here to sign the petition.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, and has generally been accepted as the foundation of international human rights. It also represents the commitment of 193 members of the United Nations to basic human rights and fundamental freedoms to all human beings.

"The remarkable amount of signatures this petition has received in such a short period of time is indicative of the importance of human rights and our need to be vigilant in supporting them," said Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, executive director of WCF IX. The WCF is challenging other human rights and civil rights organizations around the world (including Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International and Southern Poverty Law Center) to sign the pledge and also protect the basic human rights of all people.

Here are a few key points from the UDHR:

• In Article 3, the UDHR defends the right to life by saying that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." 
• Article 6 says that "everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law."
• Article 18 defends the right to freedom of thought and religion by explaining that "everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
• Article 16 unequivocally states that "Family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State." Article 16 also states that "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and found a family." 
• Article 25 states that "motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance," and that "parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given their children." 

Survey: African-American parents emphatically favor school choice

Lennie Jarratt reports that "African-American parents overwhelmingly favor school choice, according to a new nationwide report conducted by Brilliant Corners Research and Strategies (BCRS)."

Berkeley liberals and the roots of ESAs

Ron Matus has the story.