As others exit, OSSBA maintains NSBA ties

Ray Carter has the story.

OSSBA declines to publicly condemn attack on parents

"The head of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) said his group is not planning to publicly condemn the National School Boards Association’s recent request that parent protesters at school board meetings be investigated by federal officials under anti-terrorism laws," Ray Carter reports.

Spoils system: ‘Government employees pick their politicians’

"One of the key challenges for education reformers is the huge size of the government school monopoly as a 'reverse patronage' employer," Greg Forster explains ("The government school monopoly as reverse patronage program").

The power of entrenched education special interests is not only, or even primarily, in the money collected through such means as union dues. The single greatest political obstacle to education reform is the large number of people who get their jobs from the status quo, and will therefore show up during elections to vote and volunteer for politicians who will protect the status quo. ...

Every smart legislator finds out who the big employers in their district are and pays close attention to their concerns. This isn’t primarily about seeking to please the employers in hopes of getting their campaign donations (although it is that, too); it’s primarily about seeking to please the employees in hopes of getting their votes. And in virtually every legislative district in the United States, one of the biggest local employers is the government school monopoly.

This system gives us what we might call "reverse patronage." In the 19th century, under the patronage system, hiring and firing in most government jobs was directly controlled by political officeholders. Politicians in each party would hire their party’s people to staff the government from top to bottom. (On one famous occasion, Abraham Lincoln kept his Civil War generals waiting while he attended to more important business: deciding which party faction to give control of a Post Office appointment.) Each change of party would bring massive turnover. This was also called the “spoils system” because government jobs were like the spoils of war for whoever won the election. 

In short, Forster explains, "In the government school monopoly, we have a reverse form of patronage. Instead of politicians picking their government employees, government employees pick their politicians."

Sen. Dossett introduces anti-choice legislation

A bill filed by Democrat state Sen. J.J. Dossett of Sperry "prioritizes ideological purity over pragmatism, embodies self-contradiction, and could have ripple effects far beyond what even Dossett likely intends," The Oklahoman editorializes today.

The legislation declares that “no state-appropriated funds shall be allocated to, transferred to or used, directly or indirectly, to support a private school that serves pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade students.” 

In short, it's an effort to make it illegal to provide Oklahoma parents with education savings accounts that allow for the use of state funds to send their children to the school of their choice. 

Like many Democrats, Dossett, a former teacher/coach, opposes parental control and school choice in education for ideological reasons. Yet his bill immediately undermines that viewpoint by providing an exemption for the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program Act. That program allows families to use taxpayer dollars to send children with special needs, such as autism, to private schools. 

Why make an exception? The likely answer: Because the Lindsey Nicole Henry program is wildly popular and an undoubted success. 

Read the whole thing here.

Drain the swamp

When a GOP campaign consultant advises Joy Hofmeister to feign conservative views and then do the bidding of the education establishment, that’s a problem. Read Andrew Spiropoulos's column today in The Journal Record.

For the establishment, ESAs are a hill to die on

In an article in the current issue of School Reform News, I'm quoted making the point that certain special-interest groups in Oklahoma vigorously oppose ESA legislation.

“The main obstacle, as always, is the education establishment,” Dutcher said. “They have a vested interest in protecting their monopoly position, so for them this is a hill to die on. They have the tax-funded lobbyists, the [public relations] machine, a largely sympathetic press corps, and the infrastructure necessary to make the most noise at the capitol and on social media. Combine that with their willingness to peddle long-discredited myths, and it’s tough to overcome. You can’t overcome it unless you have political leadership willing to say, basically, ‘We’re not going to sacrifice any more kids. We’re not going home until we get this done.’ Unfortunately, we don’t have that right now.”

School choice critic ignores Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling, reality

Unsuccessful plaintiff Clarence Oliver is still in the news.

As Henry Scholarship program continues to rescue kids, Supreme Court gives unanimous approval

Great news this week, as the Oklahoma Supreme Court declared Oklahoma's special-needs voucher program, the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program, to be constitutional.

The decision is here, and proves that even non-lawyers like myself can figure out a thing or two. To go deeper, listen to OCPA legal eagles Trent England and Andrew Spiropoulos discuss the ruling here and read Spiropoulos's Journal Record column here.

Students and parents (especially those parents whose bullied children talked about suicide) are of course thrilled with the ruling, as are The Oklahoman, Gov. Mary Fallin, and Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who called the Henry Scholarship a "wonderful program." Oklahomans seem to agree: a Cole Hargrave Snodgrass survey released in December 2015 found that 74 percent of Oklahomans think the Henry Scholarship is a good thing for Oklahoma while only 11 percent say it's a bad thing. When asked if they favor or oppose expanding this opportunity to more children, 75 percent say they favor the idea while 16 percent oppose.

Meanwhile, the Tulsa World, in keeping with the venerable tradition of haughty disdain for its customers, informed its readers that the "Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program was a bad idea when it was first written, and we continue to oppose it." Sand Springs superintendent Lloyd Snow, perhaps unaware that legislation passed by the people's elected representatives and signed into law by a popular two-term governor is a pretty good indicator of the will of the people, was similarly defiant: "A legal ruling does not change the will of the people."

But enough with the law and the politics. As I wrote in The Oklahoman not long after the bill was signed into law:

Neither the governor nor anyone connected to him asked for the bill to be named for Lindsey. Rather, as state House Speaker Pro Tem Kris Steele pointed out, "It was suggested to him as a way to honor the memory of his daughter and let it be known for generations to come that she, and her parents, are helping to improve the lives of special-needs children across the state." 

So as the years pass, and you hear stories of disabled kids whose lives were changed because a scholarship gave them a chance to try something new, I encourage you to think of that little girl. I know I will.

A Mickey-Mouse attempt to kill the Henry Scholarship program

Photo credit: Nicescene / Shutterstock.com

"In June 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a successful voucher program in Douglas County, invoking a provision of the state constitution that harks back to an era of widespread prejudice against Catholics," Joshua Dunn writes in the Winter 2016 issue of Education Next. It's a constitutional provision similar to the one that some Oklahomans are using in an attempt to kill the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program for Children with Disabilities.

"But because of the court’s reliance on this discriminatory provision," Dunn continues, "its decision could well be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court—clearing the way for voucher programs across the country."

When the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that school vouchers did not violate the federal Constitution, Robert Chanin, the chief counsel for the National Education Association, promised to bring the battle to the state courts. School choice opponents, he said, would rely not on “lofty” First Amendment principles, but on what he termed “Mickey Mouse provisions” contained in state constitutions. Colorado’s supreme court used one such provision, the state Blaine Amendment, to kill the Colorado voucher program in Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District this June. 

Blaine Amendments, which prohibit public funding of religious schools, were added to some three dozen state constitutions beginning in the late 1800s, sparked by pervasive anti-Catholic sentiment. Colorado’s amendment forbids “any appropriation” to support “any church or sectarian society, or for any sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school…controlled by any church or sectarian denomination.”

Newspaper raps plaintiffs trying to kill special-needs law

If the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program is unconstitutional, The Oklahoman editorializes today, "then state spending to treat the poor at many major hospitals obviously is too, which could throw Oklahoma's health care system into chaos. Let's hope Oklahoma Supreme Court justices demonstrate better reasoning skills than the plaintiffs in this case."

Legal limbo persists for Henry Scholarship kids

Andrea Eger has the story.

Here's hoping for a good outcome for these kids:

Editorials laud Henry Scholarship program

In the last 24 hours, three great editorials have made the case for the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program. In The Journal Record, law professor Andrew Spiropoulos writes:

We must free ourselves from the destructive notion that public funding of education means that a student must be educated at a public school. These reports prove that there are some children who require a different school environment than a public school can supply. Our children, the school district, and the larger community will all benefit if the state enables parents to send their children to the school, public or private, that best meets their needs. 

Fortunately, our state has established a program, the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities, which empowers parents to choose the right school for their disabled child. At best this program helps a few hundred children. We need to expand and trumpet it so it serves thousands. 

Unfortunately, instead of treating the scholarship as a blessing, too many public educators perceive it a threat.

Meanwhile, The Oklahoman opines:

[M]any Oklahoma public schools need a culture change. By freeing the families of children with special needs to take those students to private schools that do a better job, as the scholarship law does, lawmakers have taken a step in the right direction. 

It's not irrational for parents to think second-graders can be disciplined without being handcuffed, or wrong to want their education tax dollars to pay to actually educate their children.

And in The Journal Record, OCPA president Michael Carnuccio writes:

Oklahoma has an opportunity to innovate, create its own solutions to address autism and avoid the perils of mandates. State-specific programs such as education scholarships, high-risk pools, and expanded training for parents and teachers with autistic students are the right solutions. 

Oklahomans should rally to make their voices heard and oppose state bureaucrats who are currently trying to overturn the Henry Scholarship program in court.

I encourage you to read all three pieces in their entirety.

Friedman Foundation goes to bat for Oklahoma kids

Read Michael Carnuccio's column here.

State's largest newspaper raps Henry scholarship foes

Excellent editorial today in The Oklahoman.

Oklahoma's private colleges speak up for Lindsey Nicole Henry scholarships

Today in The Journal Record, OCPA president Michael Carnuccio lauds Oklahoma’s private colleges and universities for speaking up on behalf of the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program.

Every last dime

Remarking on the amicus brief Oklahoma's public school administrators filed in support of the lawsuit seeking to wipe out the state’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program for Children with Disabilities, law professor Andrew C. Spiropoulos says they "have let a narrow and poorly conceived view of their self-interest cloud both their judgment and conscience."

If you read their brief, it’s clear that what they are most concerned about isn't the constitution or the welfare of the children in the program. Their first sentence of their argument is a complaint that the cost of the scholarships is deducted from the total amount of state public education funding. What really matters to them is making sure they swoop up every last dime of taxpayer money. 

What's interesting about their argument is that, despite their obsession with funding levels, they never mention how much the scholarship program costs. This year, out of nearly 700,000 public school students, only 384 receive Henry scholarships. ... Henry scholarships aren't a burden—they’re a rounding error. Although the cost to schools is insignificant, the benefit to the recipient families and the state is too great to be measured. ... 

The school leaders must, and do, argue that the state receives no benefit when it assists parents to obtain the best education for their children. So when a family, whose child was bullied at the public school, frequently leaving her in tears and dreading the day, can now afford a new school where she laughs and learns, our state doesn’t benefit. So when a child, who in her previous school remained silent and impassive, now comes to life, makes friends and reads beyond grade level, the state received no value for its money. 

Fortunately, the rest of us know that we are all better off when the government empowers parents to find the right school for their children. 

I encourage you to read his entire column here.

My LNH conversation with attorney Bill Hickman

Yesterday on AM 1640 The Eagle, I discussed bullying, special-needs students, and the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program with education lawyer Bill Hickman. The conversation begins at the 55:00 mark here.

Be sure to tune in each weekday morning from 7:00 to 9:00 to hear my colleague Trent England. He has lots of interesting conversations with guests on a wide variety of issues (including school choice). You can listen online or on AM 1640 in this coverage area:

Freedom of conscience

Today in The Journal Record, Michael Carnuccio discusses what the owners of an Indiana pizzeria have in common with some special-needs students in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Supreme Court needs to side with embattled special-needs children

"It’s time for the Oklahoma Supreme Court to side not with bullies in the school district or with 19th-century bigots, but with these embattled children," Kristina Arriaga writes today in The Oklahoman.

Legal precedent is on the side of Oklahoma's disabled students

Law professor Andrew Spiropoulos discusses the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship litigation here.