School choice is opening doors

"A newly released report says as many as a third of elementary and middle school students in Oklahoma are involved in bullying," the Associated Press reports. Here is a story of a bullying victim in another state who was rescued by school choice.

Study says school choice boosts student learning

[Guest post by OCPA intern Emily Solomon]

A recent C.D. Howe Institute study suggests that school choice makes children smarter. The study surveyed standardized test scores in Ontario, Canada over a 14-year period, and found that test scores in areas with more competition among publicly funded educational institutions improved more than in areas with less competition. It is believed that competition encourages school administrators to improve their schools, which leads to higher test scores.

OKC school bus driver arrested

"Police said they pulled over an Oklahoma City school bus driver who was driving recklessly and was clocked driving nearly 50 mph on a 25 mph street," KOCO reports. "Anthony Atchison was arrested after officers discovered he had a suspended license and an outstanding warrant for speeding."

Jewish school-choice leader laments Americans' golden-calf worship

Israel Teitelbaum, co-founder of the group Parents for Free Choice in Education, sends a reminder that Jews the world over are fasting and praying for forgiveness during Yom Kippur (which began last night at sundown).

This day corresponds to the day Moses returned from 40 days of prayer on Mount Sinai 3,320 years ago, seeking atonement for the sin of the golden calf, at which time forgiveness was granted. Those who worship America's "golden calf" have indoctrinated generations of our youth to stray from age-old traditions of right and wrong, resulting in destroyed lives, broken families, devastated cities and a society in decline.

Prior to seeking atonement, we need to mend our ways and restore our "inalienable" right to individual and religious liberty.

This calls to mind a certain Southern Baptist who also made the golden calf analogy.

Jewish group calls for school choice

The National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE) is pushing for universal school choice.

Bullying a problem in Oklahoma schools

"A newly released report says as many as a third of elementary and middle school students in Oklahoma are involved in bullying," the Associated Press reports today.

Send your kids to our jails or we'll send you to jail

"Parents of truant students could face fines and even jail time under a contract approved Monday night by the Oklahoma City School Board," Wendy K. Kleinman reports today in The Oklahoman.

In other words, parents could go to jail if they don't send their children to unsafe places with metal detectors and security guards and which are sometimes put on lockdown.

If compulsory attendance and compulsory taxation be our lot, shouldn't we at least have the option of choosing schools that are safe and that teach children to read and do math?

UPDATE: Similar news from Tulsa.

Blind boosterism is not helpful

In Sunday's Oklahoman, some Oklahoma City civic leaders offered up "10 things that make our city great." One of the 10 things listed was ... "schools." I assume they're talking about the ones that aren't locked down, but even so the graduation rate in Oklahoma City is less than 50 percent. There's nothing even remotely "great" about that.

'Charter schools find success where traditional schools fail'

So reports Janice Francis-Smith today on the front page of The Journal Record. "Members of the House Education Committee met Thursday to discuss how some charter schools in high-poverty, urban areas are graduating successful students while their neighboring public schools continue to garner low test scores and high dropout rates."

Either way, taxpayers are paying twice for K-12 education

Matt Montgomery, editor of the student newspaper at Oklahoma City Community College, reports that "nearly 80 percent of Oklahoma's community college students have to enroll in remedial or zero-level coursework." He quotes a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education who suggests that students may not be to blame for their unpreparedness, but rather -- um, how to put this? -- "their preceding educators might be to blame."

Ho hum ... another day, another teacher raping a student

The Associated Press reports today that "second-degree rape and forcible sodomy charges have been filed against a former Ponca City middle school teacher. Ashley Renea Flores, 26, pleaded not guilty in Kay County District Court Wednesday to having a month-long, sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student in her math class earlier this year."

You may recall that a recent analysis by the Associated Press found that "sexual conduct plagues U.S. schools" and suggests that sexual misconduct among male schoolteachers is at least as common as among male priests. A 2004 U.S. Department of Education study found that one in 10 public school students is sexually harassed or abused by a teacher or other school employee at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade.

Districts fail to notify parents of choices

[Guest post by OCPA intern Emily Solomon]

A recent article in the Tulsa World exposed the fact that schools in 19 Oklahoma districts failed to notify parents that their children’s school was on the Needs Improvement list, meaning the schools failed to meet No Child Left Behind test benchmarks. It is required by law that schools not only notify parents of their status on the Needs Improvement list, but also that they allow transfers within the district (if applicable) and provide bus transportation for participating students.

It's sad that students continue to go to underperforming schools because someone dropped the administrative ball. But it's even worse that parents didn't get to choose where to send their kids in the first place. It's likely that many of them knew the schools weren't the best, but couldn't afford to move or send their children to a private school. Wouldn't it be great if we had some kind of voucher or tax credit system to help parents make the best choices for their kids?

Unsafe-schools watch

Another Oklahoma City high school was put on lockdown today, as was a Tulsa high school, where police recovered three handguns. Meanwhile, a former Tulsa elementary-school teacher pleaded guilty to a felony peeping Tom charge after setting up a video camera in an air vent in a boys restroom, and a mother in Gore, Okla. says her first-grade daughter was sexually assaulted on the school playground. "You send them to school so they're going to learn and be taken care of," the girl's mother says in this video. "You don't send them to school just so they can get half an education and get their clothes ripped off."