Articles

As enthusiasm for school choice rises across the political spectrum, opponents remain determined and willing to spend lots of money, some of it from the public well, to reverse, cap, or smother choice. Meanwhile, the vast majority of school-age children most in need of better education remain stuck in schools based on ZIP code, rather than on the preferences of students or parents.

The vast majority of Oklahomans agree that teachers have earned a significant pay raise. But hiking taxes to fund raises is a risky and damaging proposition. Fortunately, my colleagues have identified hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings in state spending that would fund those raises, with no tax increase at all.

School choice increases integration, and that’s good for everyone.

Oklahoma voters and parents “emphatically support school choice expansion.” That’s the assessment of respected public-opinion researcher Pat McFerron, president of Cole Hargrave Snodgrass and Associates, after reviewing the results of the firm’s latest survey.

“I support school choice,” some education policymakers say, “but we need to make sure parents choose good schools!” In order for parents to choose good schools, of course, they need good information. Not information from government bureaucracies—which have a long track record of measuring the wrong things and deceiving parents—but from emerging resources such as Great Schools, Global Report Card, School Grades, and more. Better information, not tighter regulation, is the best way to let parents improve school quality.

Many policymakers—including some in Oklahoma—insist on applying 20th-century accountability constructs to a 21st-century education system, a system which includes vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts. But the world is changing, and many analysts are recognizing the need to adapt.

By eliminating some of this unnecessary spending, Oklahoma could pay teachers what they deserve without raising taxes or jeopardizing funding for roads, bridges, public safety, or the social safety net. That’s a better path – one Oklahoma lawmakers should take in the upcoming 2016 legislative session.

When Oklahoma’s new A-F report cards were released last month, many in the education community were quick to pronounce the grading system “flawed” and “unfair” and to insist that the grades don’t accurately reflect student performance. Tulsa World columnist Jay Cronley noticed the defensiveness and remarked (sensibly, I thought) that “if people focused more on improving themselves and their families than complaining about everything from the headline in the newspaper to the testing procedure, maybe more schools would improve their grades.”

For the United States as a whole, we see that there are fewer pupils per teacher today than at almost any time in the past 50 years. Put the other way, we currently have more teachers per pupil than we’ve had in the past.