Articles
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Education
School choice coda: Let them lick toes
Right now, school board elections are dominated by school employees and other insiders, with tiny turnouts that protect their power. Let's move school board elections to the normal election cycle so that normal voters participate.Trent England | March 13, 2024
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Education
Senators vote to restrict school virtual days
Members of the Oklahoma Senate have voted overwhelmingly to limit brick-and-mortar schools’ use of virtual days to emergency situations, saying children need as much in-person learning as possible.Ray Carter | March 12, 2024
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Education
Feet-licking fundraisers impact election debate
Two Oklahoma school districts have received national attention for videos showing students licking peanut butter off the feet and/or armpits of other individuals. This highlights what many see as a looming gap between parents and the people in charge of running the schools.Ray Carter & Maddison Farris | March 7, 2024
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Education
Oklahoma Senate votes to bar teacher coercion
Under legislation approved by the Oklahoma Senate, it could soon be illegal for school officials to pressure or require teachers to participate in union activities.Ray Carter | March 7, 2024
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Education
With anti-school-choice Republicans ousted, Texas seeks to catch up to Oklahoma on school choice
After the March 5 primaries in Texas—what one school-choice advocate called “a massive moment in American politics”—parental choice may finally come to the Lone Star State.Ray Carter | March 6, 2024
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Education, Culture & the Family
Experts: Schools should teach children the success sequence
For years, researchers have found that people who do three basic things—graduate high school, get a full-time job or enter college, and marry before they have children—almost always avoid poverty as adults and are able to provide for themselves and their family. Now, experts say information on that “success sequence” needs to make the leap from research papers to the classroom.Ray Carter | March 5, 2024
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Education
Deer Creek incident shows need to move school-board elections to November
The toe-licking antics in Deer Creek highlight how far afield an administration can stray when officials don’t face serious oversight.Jonathan Small | March 4, 2024
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Education
Oklahoma teacher empowerment bill wins strong support
Teachers would be free to choose whether to pay union dues, rather than having school districts handle that process before the teacher receives his or her paycheck, under a bill approved by a Senate committee.Ray Carter | February 27, 2024
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Education, Law & Principles
Treat bill aids homeless children; Democrats oppose
Legislation tweaking Oklahoma’s parental choice tax-credit program has advanced from a Senate committee. But one Democrat questioned why homeless children were being offered the opportunity to benefit from the program.Ray Carter | February 26, 2024
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Education, Law & Principles
Oklahoma Republicans join Democrats to reduce parent role in school-board races
A handful of House Republican lawmakers joined Democrats to kill a bill that would have moved school-board elections to the November ballot. However, a similar bill remains alive.Ray Carter | February 20, 2024