OKLAHOMA CITY — Changes made to the state’s third-grade reading sufficiency requirements last year would become permanent under a bill adopted Monday by the Oklahoma House of Representatives’ Common Education Committee.
House Bill 1523, by Reps. Katie Henke, R-Tulsa, and James Leewright, R-Bristow, would eliminate the sunset date from the legislation passed in 2014 over Gov. Mary Fallin’s veto.
That legislation delayed a requirement that most third-graders pass a year-end reading test to advance to fourth grade. Instead, such decisions were left to parents, teachers and administrators in consultation with each other.
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Without HB 1523, or something like it, the reprieve from the test-only provision expires at the end of this school year.
Several Common Education Committee members said they were concerned that eliminating the test mandate would torpedo efforts to increase literacy. Henke said the purpose of the bill is to let teachers “do their jobs.”
HB 1523 passed 10-5, with six Republicans joining the four Democrats on the committee in support.
The bill was one of several heard by the committee dealing with student testing.
HB 1535, by Rep. Todd Thomsen, R-Ada, seeks to change the direction of state school testing to diagnostic instead of “punitive,” as Thomsen put it. The bill sparked a lengthy debate of the state’s proper role in education, with some arguing that correcting individual students’ deficiencies should be left to the students and the “free market.”
The bill was finally laid over until Tuesday.
The committee also laid over Henke’s HB 1522, which attempts to impose some oversight on private schools that receive state funds.
A measure sought by Tulsa Public Schools, HB 1691, by Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, won unanimous approval. The bill would allow large school districts to use outside vendors for academic and administrative services.
Education-friendly HB 1786 was shot down by the Appropriations and Budget Committee. Proponents said the bill would bring an additional $20 million a year to education by removing the requirement that at least 35 percent of the Oklahoma Lottery’s sales revenue go directly to education.
Removing the requirement, it was argued, would allow the Lottery Commission to increase prizes, which in turn would increase sales. Executive Director Rollo Redburn said the strategy has worked in other states, but the committee voted the proposal down 13-10.
