Let the sun shine in

Sunshine Week, spearheaded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, will be observed March 15-21, 2009. That would be a good time for state Superintendent Sandy Garrett to announce that Oklahoma's per-pupil expenditure in FY-2007 was in fact $10,942, and that from now on Oklahoma's education officials will no longer mislead taxpayers about the real costs of public education in this state. Read more at Sunshine Review, a terrific new wiki on government transparency.

Freedom fighters prevail

According to the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators Consociation (OCHEC), state Senator Jonathan Nichols (R-Norman), chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, has declared that Senate Bill 308 and Senate Bill 472 will be killed in committee.

Quote of the day

From "School Choice as Simple Justice," a classic article by Berkeley law professor John E. Coons which appeared in the April 1992 issue of First Things:

We still arrange education so that children of the wealthy can cluster in chosen government enclaves or in private schools; the rest get whatever school goes with the residence the family can afford. This socialism for the rich we blithely call "public," though no other public service entails such financial exclusivity. Whether the library, the swimming pool, the highway, or the hospital—if it is "public," it is accessible. But admission to the government school comes only with the price of the house. If the school is in Beverly Hills or Scarsdale, the poor need not apply.

Senators discuss education reforms

The chairman and vice chairman of the state Senate Education Committee stopped by OCPA today to address a gathering I hosted of a couple dozen conservative leaders.

Sen. John Ford (center) and Sen. Clark Jolley (bottom right) outlined three key education reforms:

— Senate Bill 834, the School District Empowerment Program, which removes many of the state mandates from local school districts;

— Senate Bill 1111, which increases the transparency and accountability of student achievement data (along the lines discussed here); and

— Senate Bill 882, the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Educational Scholarship Act, which provides school-choice opportunities to students in low-performing schools and students with special needs.

Monson: Expanded school choice is 'going to happen, clearly'

Former state Sen. Angela Monson, a candidate in the Oklahoma City school board chairman's race, recently told The City Sentinel that the march toward educational choice will continue.

"That's going to happen, clearly." But she does not share the enthusiasm of advocates who want to extend options for inner city youth to include both private schools and a more robust charter system.

She reflected, "The reason there is such support for charter and private schools is that many public schools have not succeeded. They have not met the needs of our kids. They have not succeeded. Charter schools can require parental involvement, parental participation. That's crucial."

BOK president points to ‘inflated scores’

More earned media today for an important new study showing that education officials are misleading Oklahoma parents about student achievement.

Stan Lybarger, president and CEO of BOK Financial Corp., has an important editorial ('Inflated scores') in today's Tulsa World. He writes:

As CEO of a public company, I would never ask our chief financial officer to also serve as the bank's auditor. Proper checks and balances are required of public companies and are prudent for all business and government activities. It does not represent a lack of trust in the people involved; it is simply good governance to separate functions to protect the interests of all the stakeholders.

Oklahoma's K-12 education system, however, lacks appropriate checks and balances in its testing systems. The state Department of Education controls all functions of the state system, including developing the tests and interpreting the results.

Now, I hate to say I told you so — oh, who am I kidding? I don't mind it one bit — but I've been writing about this for 10 years. In one article (Reading Between the Lines), I pointed out that

The chief problem is simply that government is the main source of information about student achievement. No man should be a judge in his own case, but this is precisely what happens in education. The government owns and operates the schools, administers the tests, gathers the data on student performance, prepares the official reports announcing the results, and (perhaps most importantly) writes the attendant news releases.

'More than one way to skin a cat'

"A House committee Tuesday defeated a measure that would have required insurance companies to provide coverage of treatment for autistic children," The Oklahoman reported today.

Fortunately, as Democrat Senator Jay Paul Gumm pointed out, "There's more than one way to skin a cat around here, and we’re going to do our best to try to stand up for these kids." Parents should turn their attention to SB 882 by Democrat Senator Judy Eason McIntyre. It provides scholarships for students with special needs.

And of course homeschoolers are notorious for their laziness

"I care about the kids not getting an education," state Sen. Jim Wilson says in this article. "What we're talking about is people too lazy to teach their kids."

I offer a few comments at the end of the article.

'An education stimulus?'

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. From a Washington Post house editorial:

Education is poised to win big under the economic stimulus plan hurtling through Congress. But it remains to be seen whether America's schoolchildren really will be helped by the huge investment of public funds that is being planned. After all, it seems that much of the billions of dollars of new federal spending is aimed at continuing programs and policies that largely have failed to improve student achievement. For the amount of money being spent, Congress should insist on real change, not simply more of the same.

HT: Mike Antonucci

Lost in translation?

The state's largest newspaper today makes mention of my cuddly little love note to state Senator Mary Easley.

Feds keeping track of school-choice progress

The federal government's National Center for Education Statistics has just updated its State Education Reforms (SER) website, which compiles and disseminates data on state-level education reform efforts, including school choice.

School-employee labor unions impeached!

Greg Forster reports from Washington.

Senator calls for truth in advertising

As I never tire of repeating, Oklahoma's education officials are misleading parents and taxpayers about student performance in this state.

Today in The Oklahoman, state Senator Clark Jolley (R-Edmond), vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee, points to yet another study showing the same thing. The study "suggests our system leads children into a false belief they are prepared for college and/or the work force by inflating test scores," writes Sen. Jolley, himself a former public school teacher. "If you are a parent, you should have confidence that your children are performing at the level their scores suggest. If you are a taxpayer, you have the right to know how Oklahoma students truly compete nationally."