Budget bind?

The CBS affiliate in Tulsa reports that the Wynona public schools are facing a "budget bind." But Census and NCES data tell us Wynona is spending $10,092 per student.

'Their blood is on our hands'

James T. Meeks, a Democrat state senator from Chicago and the pastor of Salem Baptist Church, has had it with all these murders of public-school students. He writes in the Chicago Tribune:

We like to point to irresponsible kids and uncaring parents. But what about a society that won't lift a finger to do anything about the crumbling, disastrous school system that all of these kids, victims and violators, come from? ...

For the first time in my personal and political career, I am exploring the idea of vouchers and charter schools to help facilitate choice and enhance academic performance. Why should we continue to make investments in a system that is bankrupt and weighed down with bureaucracy? ...

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We can no longer afford to have the blood of every child on our hands.

But the free-babysitting aspect is still dandy

Reason Foundation researcher Lisa Snell finds it troubling that 

the two states in the nation [Oklahoma and Georgia] with huge financial commitments to universal preschool for over a decade now have the lowest expectations for K-12 students in terms of grade-level proficiency and they continue to score below average on the nation's benchmark for student achievement.

20-20 vision

"Are there ways to do more to give parents more choices in choosing the school that best fits their children's needs?" UCO economist Mickey Hepner asks, recommending the creation of Task Force 2020, an education reform task force for Oklahoma.

We know that whenever parents have more school choice there are higher levels of parental satisfaction. In the last 20 years Oklahoma has experimented with limited school choice and seen the emergence of several charter schools in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. Should we do more to promote charter schools throughout our state? Should Oklahoma join in with 10 other states in providing education scholarships for parents who send their children to accredited private schools?

You go, girl

This past summer 17-year-old homeschooler Zac Sunderland became the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe alone. Now his kid sister Abby, who just turned 16, plans to do it. "Without homeschooling, I wouldn't be doing this," Abby tells WORLD magazine's Mark Bergin. "It's good to show people that homeschoolers aren't the total nerds and book people that they might get the impression we are."

Nobel Prize winner was homeschooled

No, not that Nobel Prize winner (though he was privately educated). I'm talking about Willard S. Boyle, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Mom says school fights are common

"A local mother is calling for changes after her daughter came home from school with a broken nose from a fight," KOCO reports. "Kelli Richardson said fights are common at McLoud High School and school leaders aren't doing enough to stop them."

Obama's single mom got to choose a private school

School choice ... among some of the poorest people on Earth

Taxpayers being gored

The Sequoyah County Times reports on the "financial crisis" in the Gore public school district, a district which is spending $8,041 per pupil, according to Census and NCES data. (I can think of any number of private schools which would love to have a "crisis" like that.) Yet despite these resources, of the Gore students who made it to Oklahoma colleges in recent years, more than 4 in 10 -- and in some years a full two-thirds -- have needed remedial coursework.

Once again, Chester Finn's excellent article "Why school systems cannot lose weight" is a helpful guide.

Underfunded-schools watch

The Tulsa World reports that "Jenks head football coach Allan Trimble would have likely received more than six figures in pay from the district this year, had part of his coaching stipend not been taken away as part of a suspension, records show."

As an instructional program director, Trimble will still receive his base salary of $83,219 per year, a $2,400 car allowance, a $300 phone allowance and $300 in district paid retirement benefits, according to the district's records. Trimble's head varsity football stipend is $16,243, but Trimble's suspension agreement states that he would only be suspended without pay for one semester, and the coaching stipend for the 2009-10 school year was cut in half to $8,121.50.

In total, if he receives or has already received the remainder of his coaching stipend and allowances, Trimble will be paid around $94,340.50. Prior to his suspension, Trimble was scheduled to receive $102,462 from the district.

'SQ 744 is not the solution'

Brad Henry's hometown paper says "Oklahomans can brace themselves for higher taxes and fewer services if a state question being pushed by the education lobby is approved in next year's general election."

Building the farm team

I have talked before about Oklahoma's burgeoning conservative infrastructure, of which a key component is a group called American Majority. As the Tulsa World reports, American Majority is actively recruiting and training candidates for school board.