#OklaEd teachers’ employer-paid retirement benefits are worth 23% of annual salaries. By contrast, the typical private-sector employer contribution to a 401k plan amounts only to about 3% of employee pay. #okleg https://t.co/BsH44cU1Nt— Choice Remarks (@SchoolChoiceOK) April 27, 2018
Monday, April 30, 2018
No, teachers are not underpaid
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Priorities
Superintendent who’s paid nearly a quarter-million dollars annually to lead an #OklaEd district where the majority of students lack proficiency in every subject says this $22.5 million stadium project is totally worth it you guyshttps://t.co/8w1fa3KYoU @trentengland @davejbond— Brandon Dutcher (@brandondutcher) April 28, 2018
An uncomfortable truth
Some public schools allow Black student-athletes to play for their majority-white high schools even though they can't read or write at grade-level, writes Nehemiah D. Frank, founder and executive editor of The Black Wall Street Times in Tulsa.
School choice is the solution to school bullying
"In government-run public schools across the country, too many students are unable to escape bullying, even after they leave school grounds," researchers at the Heartland Institute write.
The problems aren’t isolated or minor, either. Twenty-one percent of students aged 12–18 reported being bullied at school during the 2015 school year. During this same 10-year period, there was a steady uptick in youth suicide.
Ruthless cyberbullying, which can terrorize children 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has become endemic because of social media. This suggests that bullying exerts a bigger toll on young people due to its expansive digital presence—tragically pushing desperate students over the edge.
Incessant intimidation and bullying also lower learning potential. In 2015, 14 percent of 15-year-old students attended schools that reported student learning was hindered by students harassing or bullying their peers. Perhaps U.S. students’ stagnant education performance, despite massive increases in school funding over recent decades, can be partially attributed to the hostile learning environments many students are trapped in.
School choice is a viable solution to the problems many children encounter inside and outside of public schools. Parents are desperately searching for more school choice options because government schools cannot protect their children from bullies and other forms of school violence. In fact, nearly two-thirds of people support school choice, including 41 percent who strongly support it, according to a 2018 survey of likely voters conducted by the American Federation for Children. Support is even higher among Latinos and African-Americans.
In March, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) set a precedent more states should follow when he signed into law the Hope Scholarship Program, a tax-credit scholarship program allowing public school K–12 students who are victims of bullying, harassment, and violence to transfer to another public or private school.
The Heartland Institute is dedicated to improving student safety. In its newly released “Protecting Students with Child Safety Accounts” Policy Brief, Independent Institute Research Fellow Vicki Alger and Heartland Policy Analyst Tim Benson propose giving public school students a parent-controlled savings account they can use if their children’s current school environment is a danger to their wellbeing.
Under Heartland’s plan, state education dollars, which are annually allocated for public school pupils, would fund a Child Safety Account (CSA), which would be made available to every student facing a dangerous school environment. The funds could be used to transfer eligible students to a safer school (public, private, charter, or virtual) within or beyond their residential district. The funds could also be used for homeschooling expenses. Parents and other private donors could further fund, or “top off,” the CSAs if the state-allocated money is not enough to cover education expenses.
As it currently stands, wealthy families possess a major advantage if they want to transfer their victimized children from a dangerous school because they can afford to pay for private schools or to homeschool kids. CSAs equal the playing field because they allow all students to attend a safe school. CSAs ensure vulnerable students who are unfairly disadvantaged by the financial circumstances of their parents have the opportunity to receive an excellent education—free from constant bullying and harassment.
Alger and Benson contend, “CSAs would offer parents a near-instantaneous solution to school safety problems by empowering them with the ability to quickly and easily move their child to the school they determine to be the best and safest fit. … CSA programs would not be a silver-bullet solution to the bullying and violence problems plaguing America’s public schools, but they certainly would allow all families, no matter their income level, much greater access to the schools best-suited for their children and their unique safety and educational needs.”
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Former Oklahoma teacher tried to marry a student. Now she's charged with soliciting a minor
The Miami Herald has the story.
Heavy-handed rules keep minority operators from opening charter schools
Informative post by Greg Forster here.
Parents urge Fallin to weigh in on student-on-student sexual abuse
"The parents of an Oklahoma middle school student who allege in a federal lawsuit that school officials did nothing to stop sexual attacks against the boy during an 18-month period are urging Gov. Mary Fallin to exert her political influence to draw attention to student-on-student sexual assaults," the Associated Press reports.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Yukon school plan raises questions
"Yukon school officials recently announced they will close school for November's general election," The Oklahoman's editorial board notes today.
Said Superintendent Jason Simeroth, “Educators have spoken at the Capitol and now we will make it much easier for our advocates to express their concerns for those that do not support education, and to support those that do support education by voting.”
So Yukon officials think inconveniencing and disrupting the schedules of parents will increase voting? Or is the message that teachers, unlike other adults who also work on Tuesdays, are unable to vote before or after work or take advantage of Oklahoma's simple absentee voting process? The implied message underlying this announcement is muddled, at best.
It also ignores the fact that, in many instances, primary elections on June 26 and subsequent runoffs on Aug. 28 will be more consequential than the November elections, since many legislative seats have a strong partisan tilt. While the June elections will occur during the summer break, Yukon is scheduled to start the 2018-19 school year on Aug. 16, so the runoff elections will be conducted after school starts. In many instances, the large number of candidates in districts means more runoffs are likely this year. Why not cancel school on Aug. 28 to “boost” turnout?
And if Yukon officials really think school interferes with voting, then why is the district not canceling school to “boost” turnout in the spring elections that decide school board races and bond proposals? Aren't those elections even more important to education?
Friday, April 20, 2018
Deer Creek teacher charged
My office has charged Deer Creek teacher Jeramy Gregston after an undercover investigation by the @OBNDD found he attempted to meet a minor for sex.— Mike Hunter (@AGMikeHunter) April 20, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/zWFlrYklSp
Bullying has 'life-changing consequences'
"Quite frankly, in my role here at the school, I see a lot of this leading to increased mental health issues for our kids," says Jenks High School student assistance program coordinator Paula Lau. "Things like depression, anxiety, not wanting to come to school."
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