Tag Archives: Education Oklahoma

State should not penalize parents

By Jonathan Small

Oklahoma, like most states, has a compulsory education law. If you don’t homeschool or send your child to a private school, you are required to enroll your child in a public school. Failure to do so means you can face fines and up to 15 days imprisonment on a third offense.

But if parents enroll their child in the “wrong” public school, they can face up to one year in jail.

Put simply, the potential consequences for neglecting a child’s education are far less severe than the consequences for trying to get your child in a safer public school with a better academic atmosphere.

Fortunately, one lawmaker wants to put an end to that mixed message.

Oklahoma Senator Ally Seifried
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Bill Would Require School List of Materials

By David Arnett

Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, filed legislation to ensure public and charter school libraries are free from inappropriate materials. Senate Bill 1208 would require each public school district and charter school to submit an inventory of their library materials to the State Department of Education each year.

In a statement today, Hamilton said, “Children are too often exposed to material that is explicit and not age appropriate, and the last place that should be occurring is in our state’s schools.

“This legislation would put safeguards in place to not only ensure that students are protected from reading or viewing inappropriate content, but that the school districts are held accountable for the availability of such materials,” Hamilton added.

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OK Education Vs. Union(s) Fake Controversy

By David Arnett

State Superintendent Ryan Walters highlighted the tremendous success of the teacher singing bonus initiative in a message to media today.  The pioneering program awarded signing bonuses to 523 certified teachers hired to teach in critical shortage areas of PreK – 3 and Special Education, including 67 who moved across the country to teach Oklahoma students and take part in the program.  Out of the 523 awarded teachers, 76 percent were employed in high-poverty or rural districts.

“Innovative solutions like the teacher bonus program are the key to getting Oklahoma schools back on the right track,” said Walters. “Any fake controversy Democrats and Republicans controlled by the teachers unions try to drum up will not dim the overwhelming success of this program. Previous small-scale programs have not worked, so we had to disrupt the market clearly and decisively to invest in our high-need areas. We will continue to disrupt the status quo, introduce free market principles in our education system, and unleash to power of innovation to reward our best teachers and help our students achieve great things.”

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