Education
Brandon Dutcher | January 30, 2018
Give school districts flexibility to raise teacher pay
Brandon Dutcher
Oklahoma’s education system is enjoying near-record revenues. Unfortunately, as OCPA’s education data tool makes clear, too much of the money is cordoned off in silos. Thus we end up with unfortunate scenarios like what’s going on in Catoosa Public Schools. Citing a lack of funding, Catoosa went to a four-day school week. Yet at the same time the district bought MacBook computers for all middle-school and high-school students and built a $1.5 million press box at the high-school football field. Removing the chains that keep some of the billions of taxpayer dollars locked in various accounts could open the door for a significant boost in teacher pay.
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.