Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is warning educators that continuing public criticism of the state’s A-F school grading system may affect whether common education gets additional funding next fiscal year.
“It’s not helpful to anyone’s cause. It seems to be some opponents are absolutely bent on undermining the credibility of the entire system,” said Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz. “The fact of the matter is this grading system, regardless of whether or not you believe it should have been put together differently, is the law.”
Last week, state Superintendent Janet Barresi unveiled her education budget request for fiscal year 2015, in which she is requesting an additional $174.9 million for a total of $2.5 billion. On the same day, the governor’s office spoke out on the A-F issue, urging education supporters to get behind the A-F system and stop endorsing a report that criticizes the school evaluation. The A-F grades for schools across the state are expected to be released this week.
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Weintz said the governor is “dismayed” to see groups representing the education community touting a report issued by University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University researchers as a way to wage a campaign against A-F.
Weintz cited a portion of the report that he says indicates the authors believe that schools are only responsible for 20 to 30 percent of student achievement. In that portion, the authors question whether school performance should be based solely on student standardized test results.
Weintz said the governor believes test scores are an adequate way to measure student performance, and she does not support the findings in the report.
Read more in Sunday's World.