Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said his goal is to increase voter participation.
More than 80% of districts are teaching students in person. One district leader wrote, “It is obvious that the schools are not super spreaders and masks have been the difference maker for us.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt's office said he was taken out of context by Fox News, which reported that Stitt said Oklahoma was considering beginning the next school year a couple of weeks early.
When asked about his plans for the federal emergency block grant, Stitt said he's still considering how best to distribute the stimulus money earmarked for education.
The reason we have school board elections in April is that state law says we have to.
Almost every other elective office in the state is on a different schedule: primary in June, runoff in August, general election in November.
The National Center for Education Statistics has released its analysis of per-pupil spending rates across the nation for the 2016-17 school year and found Oklahoma's $7,921 was a distant last among the six other states in the region that year.
On Tuesday, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed the final version of House Bill 1230, which supporters said would expand transparency for the Lindsey Nicole Henry scholarship program.
“The survey shows the historic investment in teacher pay is beginning to put a dent in the teacher shortage. The overall hiring of more teachers is an especially encouraging sign, but it’s also obvious the teacher pipeline is weak,” said OSSBA Executive Director Shawn Hime. “The teacher shortage crisis is not over.”
Related: Summit focuses on new teacher 'pipeline' to help address statewide shortage
Applications for emergency certifications used to be a rarity, with just 32 emergency teaching certificates approved in a single year in 2011-12.
Applications for emergency certifications used to be a rarity, with just 32 emergency teaching certificates approved in a single year in 2011-12.
Applications for emergency certifications used to be a rarity, with just 32 emergency teaching certificates approved in a single year in 2011-12.
Supporters held a press conference at the Capitol to say a lot of misinformation has been spread about Senate Bill 407.
In Woods County, the tiny Freedom School District is spending at a per-pupil rate that is more than 3½-times higher than the state average, allowing for a five-to-one student-teacher ratio.
Nearly 14,000 Oklahoma children attend schools that are so rich that they don't need appropriated state aid. In Woods County, the tiny Freedom School District is spending at a per-pupil rate that is more than 3½-times higher than the state average, allowing for a five-to-one student-teacher ratio.
According to the just-released National Center for Education Statistics annual report, Oklahoma’s annual expenditures trailed the regional average by nearly $1.3 billion for the 2015-16 academic year, the most recent data analyzed.
Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso, is the author of Senate Bill 33.
Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso, is the author of Senate Bill 33.
The Canadian County Republican Party sent a letter to lawmakers last week urging the state to no longer manage the public school system, or to at least significantly consolidate the number of districts.
The free forum will address State Question 801. The Oklahoma Watch forum will be from 6-7 p.m. at the Central Center in Centennial Park, 1028 E. Sixth St., in Tulsa.
Since he first got to the Legislature in 2007, Sen. John Sparks, D-Norman, has been trying to wean the state's budget from its dependence on gross production taxes.
The state question would amend the Oklahoma Constitution and eventually move all gross production tax collections from oil and natural gas to a protected reserve fund. Currently, those collections provide millions of dollars in dedicated funding to schools, and the Legislature recently increased the gross produciton tax to help underwrite the teacher pay raise. The state question puts that revenue at risk with no guarantee of other revenue to offset the loss.
The ballot measure would create another state savings account using gross production revenue. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Education Association remains neutral on the issue.
Oklahoma is moving closer to changing the way it funds schools after a yearlong look at the education funding formula by a group of lawmakers and educators.
The fifth annual survey to gauge the extent of the state’s teacher shortage by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association was completed by 276 districts that serve nearly 78 percent of all public school students.
