Former Edmond band director charged with soliciting sexual conduct with a minor

The Oklahoman has the story.

OSU profs say new AP US history guidelines are biased

Read more over at The Okie.

Oklahoma student ‘proficiency’ rates inflated by low standards

Excellent editorial today in The Oklahoman.

OEA membership decline continues

Education reporter Mike Antonucci has the latest (2014) official National Education Association membership numbers. NEA has lost 10.7 percent of its active members over the past five years—and its state affiliate in Oklahoma has fared even worse.

• OEA had 18,963 active members (employed teachers, professionals, and education support workers) in 2014. That's a 20.9 percent decline over the past five years.
• As for total membership (which includes retirees, students, substitutes, and all others), OEA's 2014 count of 21,291 is a 20.2 percent drop over the past five years. 

"With the exceptions of Illinois and Minnesota," Antonucci writes, "it is difficult to find a healthy NEA state affiliate between New England and the Pacific coast."

OCPA to host tele-town hall forum on ESAs

How would you like to bank a portion of your child’s per-pupil funding and use it for private school tuition, tutoring, or a customized mix of options? Parents in other states already have this option, and some Oklahoma lawmakers are trying to make education savings accounts (ESAs) a reality in our state as well. Please join us on July 31 at 10:00 AM for an informative tele-town hall meeting. To sign up, go to: http://www.ocpathink.org/tele-town-hall.

ESAs are the future of choice in education

"Several state governments in the United States have taken a bold step to give parents the ability to control their education by offering K–12 education savings accounts (ESAs)," Dan Lips writes for the Atlas Network. "ESAs are flexible spending accounts that parents can use to purchase education services for their children, and a significant refinement of Milton Friedman’s original school voucher idea. This article explains how ESAs could be a key to improving the nation’s knowledge capital, and explains how think tanks in the United States are driving this change."

Lankford: Some children can't afford to wait

U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) delivered an excellent speech on the Senate floor this week in which he reminded us that some children need educational options—and they need them right now.

Lamar Alexander brought an amendment out that would have been great to have. It allowed parents to choose their school regardless of whether it is public or private. Education union leaders had kittens about that saying that the public schools are getting better, so we don't want to take funds away from the public schools. We want to keep all those funds in the public schools, but the parents are saying, “I understand that school is getting better someday, but my child is there right now.” While certain leaders in schools will say we can't have federal funds move to follow the child, I would say, would you allow the parent to help that child have the one shot that they're going to get to get education and allow them to choose wherever they want to go?

That’s why I’m also a supporter of things like the D.C. Opportunity scholarships that will allow children in Washington, D.C., to be able to choose the school that they attend. The President has fought adamantly against that. So have the education unions. But quite frankly, the parents here in D.C. want to have the option to send their child anywhere they choose to be able to send them. 

Start watching at the 5:19 mark here:

It isn't 'teacher bashing' to want to get rid of bad teachers

"If we care about kids, we have an obligation to get bad teachers out of America’s classrooms," writes Erika Sanzi, a mother of three sons who has taught in public schools in Massachusetts, California, and Rhode Island.

It isn’t teacher bashing or even anti-teacher to want consistently underperforming educators exited and replaced with excellence. 

In fact, removing incompetent practitioners—who either can’t or won’t improve their practice even with support and coaching—not only honors the kids in the seats; it honors the educators whose expertise, talent and devotion to students are undermined by colleagues unwilling to do their part.

Education Secretary's children to attend $30K private school

"We wish Arne Duncan’s children every success," The Wall Street Journal editorializes today. "Too bad he didn’t fight for similar options for families not as fortunate as his."

UPDATE: "It has been more than 50 years," Ronda Ross of San Jose, Calif., writes in an excellent letter to the editor, "since George Wallace stood in an Alabama school-house door and sought to deprive minority students access to a decent education. Fast forward five decades and Arne Duncan and the Democratic Party are only lacking the state troopers and the dogs."

A useful addition to the teacher-pay conversation

Here's a helpful map released today by the Tax Foundation.

Parent says ESA 'gives us freedom, flexibility, hope'

Terrific essay by Mary Kurnik here.

It's time for the Blaine Amendment to go

"For the sake of freedom, peace, and unity," writes Neal McCluskey, "it is time for Blaine to go." Oklahoma's largest newspaper agrees.

'Push to redefine gender plays out in public schools'

Lynde Langdon has the story.