Another lefty acknowledges money isn't the problem

First it was a big-time lefty documentarian. Then a prominent community organizer. And now Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter weighs in:

You know, the problem has not been that we haven't spent enough on education. The trend lines on that are straight up over the last 25 years. But we're not getting our money's worth ...

Jeb Bush's influence felt in Oklahoma

"In state capitals across the country, numerous lawmakers and officeholders say they are determined to follow the ambitious and often polarizing education blueprint fashioned by [Jeb] Bush, a Republican, during his two terms as Florida's governor," Education Week reports ('Jeb Bush's Influence on Education Policy Spreads').

Mr. Bush, 57, says he urges them to act boldly, even if it causes them grief and costs them political capital.

"If they want to be elected and be popular, then they probably ought to go do something else," he said in an interview. "This takes a lot of hard work, and it's typically pretty controversial.

"What I try to tell people interested in starting down this path is [that] taking an idea, converting it into policy, turning that policy into law, and then executing that law is a process that's not dissimilar to a political campaign," he added. "You're going from start to finish. You have to be intensely focused on this."

Mr. Bush's work with state policymakers is hands-on.

Earlier this year, he phoned individual Oklahoma legislators to urge their adoption of a Florida-style program to provide vouchers to students with disabilities, according to his aides, a measure that eventually became law.

Meanwhile, children's lives continue to be devastated

Oklahoma's education system saw "devastating budget cuts" this year, Megan Rolland reports today in The Oklahoman.

Readers can decide for themselves whether the adjective "devastating" belongs in a straight-news story. Before making your decision, I encourage you to examine the charts below. And be sure to keep an eye out for the January issue of OCPA's Perspective, in which the cover story demonstrates that Oklahoma's education system has nearly as many non-teachers as teachers.

School system creating 'national security burden'

"Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday," the Associated Press reports.

"Too many of our high school students are not graduating ready to begin college or a career — and many are not eligible to serve in our armed forces," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. "I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America's underperforming education system." ...

The report by The Education Trust found that 23 percent of recent high school graduates don't get the minimum score needed on the enlistment test to join any branch of the military. Questions are often basic, such as: "If 2 plus x equals 4, what is the value of x?"

The military exam results are also worrisome because the test is given to a limited pool of people: Pentagon data shows that 75 percent of those aged 17 to 24 don't even qualify to take the test because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn't graduate high school.

Educators expressed dismay that so many high school graduates are unable to pass a test of basic skills.

"It's surprising and shocking that we are still having students who are walking across the stage who really don't deserve to be and haven't earned that right," said Tim Callahan with the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, a group that represents more than 80,000 educators. ...

Tom Loveless, an education expert at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the results echo those on other tests. In 2009, 26 percent of seniors performed below the 'basic' reading level on the National Assessment of Education Progress.

Delicious irony: Choice foes validate Friedman's dictum

"It took a bit of time, but some northeastern Oklahoma school boards have finally come to their senses regarding a state law for special-needs students," The Oklahoman editorializes today.

Why the change of heart? Why would the lawbreakers in Owasso and Bixby suddenly fold? "Maybe all it took for the wake-up call," posits Sand Springs Leader executive editor William Swaim, "was the possibility of ouster for school board members, who would not have the legal expenses for their defense covered by taxpayer dollars."

Ah yes. What was it that (ahem) school-choice champion Milton Friedman once said? You don't spend other people's money as carefully as you spend your own.

Oklahoma lawbreakers garner national attention

In the current issue of School Reform News, Ben Boychuk reports on the Tulsa-area school districts which are disobeying a new state law providing scholarships for special-needs students.

“It appears the school boards are trying to bait parents into suing them, which will probably happen,” said Brandon Dutcher, vice president for policy at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. [Hey, someone should make a movie about that.]

“Since the constitution trumps a mere statute, they claim to be duty-bound to disobey the statute,” Dutcher explained. “At least one recent poll finds Oklahomans, by a margin of better than two to one, disagree with that approach.”

Even foes of the law expressed disbelief at the boards’ noncompliance.

“I can think of no precedent for it in over 40 years of practicing law,” said Bill Wilkinson, a Tulsa attorney and former commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

Mr. Wilkinson is quoted in the article as saying the law places financial burdens on school districts and is open to abuse, but

Dutcher says concerns about parents abusing the special-ed vouchers are overblown. Instead, districts may be responding to financial incentives, he said.

“Broken Arrow Superintendent Jarod Mendenhall said, ‘It’s not about the money,’ and since education bureaucrats are famously indifferent when it comes to money I see no reason to doubt him,” Dutcher said. “Except he also said his district isn’t complying because ‘We don’t have enough money to fund what we do now.’ So, yes, I would say it has to do with money.”

Mendenhall’s office did not return calls seeking comment.

“I try not to chuckle when public-school boosters say they’re worried about waste, fraud, and abuse,” Dutcher said. “Especially after all these years of the special-ed bounty system — labeling kids ‘disabled’ who aren’t disabled, permanently altering the course of their lives, just so [the district] can get extra money for the government schools. Now they can’t bear to let any child ‘escape.’”

Pressing their luck

Here's one for the stupid criminals file: Jarod Mendenhall and Broken Arrow's law-breaking school board members are actually inviting a uniformed police officer to the scene of the crime.

'Vouchers seem poised to make a comeback'

"Private-school vouchers seem poised to make a comeback," David Harrison reports today for Stateline. "Newly-elected Republican governors in Florida, Nevada and Wisconsin are pushing plans to give private school vouchers to thousands of families, as is Indiana’s Republican Governor Mitch Daniels. In all of those states but Nevada, Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, giving the voucher plans a good chance of passage."

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

educational opportunity.

'This is a wake-up call for our state'

Incoming school superintendent Janet Barresi doesn't think it's too much to ask for Oklahoma to outpace Azerbaijan.

OKC homeschoolers headed to national championship

Homeschoolers pretty much dominated a regional robotics competition this month, and the students from Oklahoma City are headed to the national championship at the ESPN Pavilion in Orlando.

Bixby, Owasso lawbreakers relent

They have now decided to obey the law.

Edmond superintendent respects your right to break the law

Edmond Public Schools superintendent David Goin respects the right of school boards to break the law. Oklahomans disagree with him by a margin of better than two to one.

Very disappointing. One more bureaucrat who just doesn't get it.