Articles
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Education
Some Oklahoma schools have more than a month of ‘virtual days’
Roughly one in five Oklahoma school districts shifted students to “virtual learning” for at least three work weeks of the school year. Two lawmakers say the overuse of “virtual days” is unfair to parents, students, and taxpayers.Ray Carter | February 13, 2024
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Education
School-board election change gets strong support
The bill’s author says moving local school board elections to November will increase voter turnout and save taxpayer dollars.Ray Carter | February 12, 2024
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Education
Oklahoma schools using virtual days to poach teachers, cook records
At some Oklahoma public schools, more than one in four school days are occurring online rather than in person, effectively generating bogus attendance records for schools, helping districts poach teachers from schools that do provide in-person instruction, and producing as little as 30 minutes of teaching per day even as taxpayers are funding full school days, according to state lawmakers.Ray Carter | February 6, 2024
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Education
Widowed mother of three among Oklahoma school-choice beneficiaries
Widowed mother Emily McDonald is raising three children, including a son with autism, on a modest income. When her daughter started to be bullied in kindergarten and came home crying nearly every day, Emily knew she had to make a change.Ray Carter | February 5, 2024
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Education, Law & Principles
Oklahoma school virtual days harming parents’ jobs
Some Oklahoma public schools’ excessive use of virtual days for non-emergency situations is threatening the incomes of working parents or requiring them to use up most of their vacation time, according to state Sen. Kristen Thompson.Ray Carter | February 1, 2024
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Education, Law & Principles
Oklahoma groups want school board elections on Election Day
Voter turnout for local school board elections is notoriously low. Several Oklahoma groups are working to boost voter turnout by moving those elections to Election Day.Brandon Dutcher | February 1, 2024
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Education, Law & Principles
Oklahoma parents resort to desperate measures to save their children
To obtain a better education for their kids, some parents lie about their place of residence and thus face up to a year in jail. (To determine residency, one Tulsa Union employee demanded to inspect a 12-year-old girl’s bedroom.) Oklahoma can do better.Jonathan Small | January 29, 2024
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Education
Already short school year includes virtual days at some Oklahoma schools
In most states, public schools provide around 180 days of instruction per year. But in Oklahoma, schools can provide 165 days or fewer. Indeed, students in one district may receive just 148 days of in-person instruction in a school year.Ray Carter | January 25, 2024
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Education, Law & Principles
Oklahoma lawmakers look to limit school misuse of virtual days
Two state lawmakers hope to rein in public-school reliance on virtual-learning days, which have been strongly linked to major learning loss due to the often-subpar product provided.Ray Carter | January 23, 2024
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Budget & Tax, Education
Oklahoma school reserves hit $1.2 billion high
The amount of money that Oklahoma public schools carried over at the end of the last state budget year, a sum representing both cash-flow reserves and savings, hit a new high of $1.2 billion on June 30, 2023, according to state government figures.Ray Carter | January 15, 2024