Articles
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Education
Education leaders denounce OKC firing of teachers over masks
Top state education officials denounced Oklahoma City school officials for firing six teachers who did not comply with the district’s legally questionable mask mandate, saying school district leaders harmed the educational opportunities of the children they are supposed to serve.Ray Carter | November 5, 2021
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Education
Academic outcomes vary in Oklahoma schools, but decline the norm
Newly released district-level data from this year’s state testing shows outcomes varied among Oklahoma school districts, but decline was the norm.Ray Carter | November 3, 2021
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Education
Oklahoma still segregates public schools
The most powerful tool for racial segregation the American government ever had was its school system—not just in the past, but today.Greg Forster, Ph.D. | November 2, 2021
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Education
Teacher shortage persists despite massive pay raises
In 2018, Oklahoma lawmakers approved hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases, which officials said were necessary to significantly increase teacher pay and reduce the state’s teacher shortage. New figures from the Oklahoma State Department of Education show that approach did not achieve the promised results.Ray Carter | October 29, 2021
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Education
COVID learning deficits to last for years, experts warn
Learning loss from the COVID shutdown of public schools will take years to overcome and many students may leave Oklahoma’s K-12 system without ever catching up, experts told lawmakers during a study that examined how federal bailout funds may be used to address the problem.Ray Carter | October 29, 2021
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Education, Good Government
Oklahoma lawmakers call on OSSBA to act
Fifteen members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives have called on the Oklahoma State School Boards Association to publicly denounce the National School Boards Association’s recent request for federal law enforcement officials to investigate parent protesters under anti-terrorism and hate-crimes laws.Ray Carter | October 26, 2021
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Education
Quality, not seniority, stressed for teacher pay
Among the reasons Oklahoma struggles to retain quality teachers is that existing financial incentives encourage teachers to leave the classroom and that basing teacher salaries on seniority, rather than performance, discourages good teachers and leads them to quickly abandon the profession, officials told lawmakers during a recent study.Ray Carter | October 21, 2021
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Education
OSSBA declines to publicly condemn attack on parents
The head of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association said his group is not planning to publicly condemn the National School Boards Association’s recent request that parent protesters at school board meetings be investigated by federal officials under anti-terrorism laws.Ray Carter | October 21, 2021
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Education
Testing results show need to fund students, not systems
Previously, only about one-third of students performed at grade level in key subjects. Today, things are even worse.Jonathan Small | October 20, 2021
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Education
Activist groups file lawsuit against HB 1775
A coalition of activist groups has filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Oklahoma state law that prohibits public schools from teaching children that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.”Ray Carter | October 20, 2021