OK Representative Sherrie Conley Explains The Legislative Process In Under 2 Minutes!

Watch Oklahoma Representative Sherrie Conley explain the entire legislative process in under 2 minutes. If you've ever wondered what goes on under the dome on Lincoln, THIS is for you!

Money VS Results and The Socialist Nature of Public Schools

Recently, I posted a comment on our ROPE Facebook page about the socialist nature of public school. It was in response to another comment made by someone who disagreed with an earlier post (incidentally, I wish ALL dissenters could be as polite as this commenter - we've had a great time talking back and forth and even found things to agree on over the course of numerous exchanges).
 
As we were talking about the district of Glenpool - whose superintendent was able to save money to give all teachers a $1,000 bonus by cutting some services such as cleaning services - we had a lively discussion about teachers being asked to help clean their school.
 

Is it "Us Against Them" With Some Republican Lawmakers?

Recently, a friend shared this Facebook post with me. It details an absolutely gorgeous piece of jewelry custom made by a company called Rustic Cuff (a company from Tulsa, so let's give them some props). This was shared on new-Senator-this-year Julie Daniel's Facebook page with the accompanying post,

Custom designed Rustic Cuff bracelets for the women of the Senate. Gift of Senator Bice.

Letter To Oklahoma Representatives Regarding the Final Draft of Oklahoma's New Academic Standards

Dear Representative, 

This session the Oklahoma legislature will undertake the job of approving Oklahoma's new educational standards. 

We are very excited about this prospect because we see it as a chance for our state to rise above the national rhetoric regarding Common Core repeal and the standards re-write process. Oklahoma has a chance here to shine unlike any other at this moment in time. This is why it is so important to make sure our standards are the very best possible.

ACT A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing?

Though ROPE wants to see an end to the practice of EOI's altogether, unfortunately (and as usual it appears, sadly) ROPE does NOT agree with the Oklahoma Public School Education Establishment (aka #OKlaEd). Recently, Jason James, a member of the #OKlaEd community posted a blog singing the praises of the ACT - for a second time.

I'm not going to cover all the different reasons why we disagree - five are written on the meme and we've written/published four separate blogs detailing our reasoning and outlining the research undergirding those reasons (1. 2. 3. 4) - so there's simply no point to bang our shoe.

Beyond our studied, researched reasons, however, lies another, less quantifiable concern about ACT.

Most everyone who reads this blog or knows anything about ROPE has read about the organizations that attempted to override the will of the taxpaying public and cement Common Core State Standards here in Oklahoma last year. Of those, we've written exclusively (and often) about Stand For Children, the Chamber of Commerce (national, state and city), and CCOSA to name a few (to find these, just search the blog using those key words).  Just recently, these groups - and other pro-CC organizations - have joined together as a coalition (as they did against CC) to push for the adoption of the ACT.

This flyer was sent out to both legislators and individuals very recently. For the most part, the groups listed on the flyer pushed to keep Common Core in Oklahoma law. The groups listed are PRIVATE organizations sustained by PRIVATE donations and dues that lobby for public policy in some capacity, utilizing these resources.  

Here's the rub; though these groups may use their collective voice and money to lobby the legislature, our government is "By the PEOPLE, of the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE". I fact, if our elected officials were to respond solely to the 'collective voice', we'd not be a Representative Republic, we'd be a socialist republic instead. This is absolutely true, yet I've heard the disdain echoed in the voices of coalition members following last year's Common Core defeat as they wondered aloud why the legislature 'listened' to 'the people' instead of their 'group/s'.

If I sound frustrated here, it's because I am. So often, organizations and groups with considerably more money than individual tax paying citizens for whom the government is to work, drive public policy for that reason alone. This is maddening because especially in public education today, these groups don't represent PARENTS, STUDENTS or TAXPAYERS, but 'systems' designed to perpetuate themselves at all cost to taxpayers and parents whether it works for them or not. Here's the crazy thing - these groups aren't independent entities at all. Half the groups represented on this flyer are made up of members from the other groups! In fact, there's so much political incest among these groups that their gene pool is more like a puddle. Get this:

• Oklahoma School Boards Association (OSSBA); membership consists of state school board members and superintendents
• Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators (CCOSA); comprised of 5 separate associations (Oklahoma Association of School Administrators, Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals, Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals, Oklahoma Middle Level Educators Association, Oklahoma Directors of Special Services), supported by Renaissance Learning, Scholastic and CTB/McGraw Hill, to name a few. Ryan Owens is listed as the Executive Director.
• United Suburban Schools Association (USSA), run by superintendents for independent school districts with more than 3000 students. (Shawn Hime listed as legislative Assistant - Ryan Owens listed as Executive Director) Supported in part by Renaissance Learning.
• Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition (OBEC); Executive Board includes Kaiser, all three Chambers, and Inasmuch
• Oklahoma PTA; a blog I wrote about PTA
• Oklahoma Education Association (OEA); has their own coalition comprised of most of the members listed on the flyer
• Stand For Children; Government Affairs Director Gwendolyn Caldwell has worked for the Oklahoma State Chamber previously, Great numbers of issues have surfaced with stand from misrepresenting signatures on a petition to funneling dark money into political campaigns. In fact, the Oklahoma GOP voted for a resolution condemning Stand for Children due to their poor business practices.

• Oklahoma Educated Workforce Initiative; State Chamber and Oklahoma Works Initiative (this 'initiative' is dark as to supporters - it does say the Department of Labor funds their site)
• Oklahoma Central PLAC; private membership nonpartisan organization
• Oklahoma Public School Resource Center; Funded by George Kaiser (of EduCare and ObamaCare fame), Inasmuch Foundation, Walton Foundation and Schusterman Foundation
• Organization of Rural Elementary Schools; members are all rural elementary schools in the state
• Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools; membership contains a group of 400 or so rural Oklahoma schools
• State Chamber of Oklahoma; created the Oklahoma Educated Workforce initiative
• Greater Oklahoma City Chamber; formed the ExpectMore coalition to push Common Core - included OBEC, Stand, Schusterman, PTA
• Tulsa Regional Chamber

Shocking really, when you put it all out there for everyone to see. These organizations are formed in order to advance public policy, period - to make laws that benefit their organizations. In order to advance public policy, they form coalitions with one another to make themselves look bigger in number than they are. This technique works well initially because when you look at them individually, it looks as though there are a lot of different entities. Only when you research them do you find out they're the same people/organizations creating new coalitions under different names, the magic dissipates.

So why do we consider it important to really study those organizations supporting ACT? Because when you look below the surface, you find them to be essentially the same groups that pushed Common Core; groups that organize together in order to influence public policy in a way that benefits them - not necessarily the public. Public education is NOT for the perpetuation of jobs, it's for educating children in a way that will allow them to grow and develop and become mature adults that can excel in any vocation they choose - not jobs picked for them by the Labor Department or businesses looking to fill vacancies. 

ACT is not the panacea described by the OKlaEd community. Putting anything into law without any real study as to consequences (like Common Core), is a set up for failure. Let's wait for Oklahoma's new educational standards to be developed before we move on. It only makes sense.

Legislative Update As Bills Cross Between House and Senate

I'm sad to say, but, as hard as we tried to stay on top of the education bills this year, we just couldn't do it!  There are ALWAYS too many of them and this year wasn't an exception.  Here is the list of just House Education bills for this year in case you want to peruse them and check me up on my definition of too many!  So please forgive our consistent updates.

At any rate, if you'll remember, we started the 2015 legislative session with the goals of:

1. Trying to stop the grading of teachers via surveys and high stakes testing better known as TLE. 
2. Upgrading school choice in Oklahoma to include ALL those who would like to participate. We believe the way to do this is through the establishment of Education Savings Accounts.
3. Continuing to fight for privacy protection for students from data collection.

1.  Our concern with TLE (beyond the idea that it adds another layer to what teachers are already mandated to do), is that TLE measures were built to test Common Core standards. So far, it appears that the quantitative portion of TLE will be put on hold for at least two years and the qualitative portion will be changed slightly as well.

2.  Education Savings Accounts were represented this session in the form of a bill by Representative Jason Nelson (HB2003) and another by Senator Clark Jolley (SB609).  HB2003 was heard in the Common Education Committee where it received a 9 to 9 vote and was killed.  SB609 was pulled from consideration this session before it reached the floor for a vote by the author, due to pressure to kill the bill in the Senate.  I don't want to get into a discussion about this issue, but I will say that it was very disappointing to see such emotional, untrue and mean/rude commentaries by many in the education establishment.  Though there are many issues to work through, it saddens me to hear people who say they care about the education of children, present such illogical arguments to turn the tide of public opinion.

3.  This year, HB1989 was slightly changed (HB2049) in order to create district-level data protection for students.  The bill has passed the House and has crossed to the Senate.

MOVING FORWARD
Unfortunately, we've had a fight on our hands we didn't expect - that of a repeal (in essence) of HB3399 (the bill to kill Common Core in Oklahoma) by way of SB707, a bill by Senator John Ford.  We've written numerous blogs about this issue so I won't go into detail here, but I will say that the bill is DELIBERATELY being messaged as a bill ONLY to stop End Of Instruction (EOI) exams by such organizations as Stand For Children, the Oklahoma State Chamber, COSSA, the OSSBA, individual school administrators and others.  The only reason I can think this might happen is because there is specific intent to change the wording in HB3399 to untie the tests from the standards in order to bring in an off-the-shelf test - namely ACT - to serve as a single EOI.  Don't forget, these are the same organizations that worked against us so vehemently to keep Common Core and that alone should present a RED FLAG.  It's also interesting here to note that another of Senator Ford's bills - SB708 did the same thing proponents of ditching EOI's wanted, yet it got zero discussion - another RED FLAG.

We've said it before and we'll say it again, we are FINE with removing the EOI's - it wasn't long ago that a high school student had only to complete his course of instruction with C's and above to graduate high school - PERIOD.  The problem comes in when we try to test other than Oklahoma standards - especially when we haven't even gotten them written yet - though we do now have a process to develop these approved by the State Board on Friday (March 12th) and that is very good news.

In fact, in an interesting twist, previous Common Core proponent, Andrew Spiropoulus actually penned an op-ed for the Journal Record pointing the finger at the ACT as a way to bring back Common Core, so if we're wearing tin foil hats over this one, well, you get the picture.

Enter HB1622.  This bill by Representative David Derby, would phase out EOI testing over time, (a very important step simply because education policy of late consists of rushing headlong into situations that later have to be rectified by passing more laws)  substituting them with ONE graduation test that can be both criterion- and norm-referenced as well as include our own Oklahoma standards.  This is a much better plan that doesn't involve gutting the Common Core repeal from last year.

Please stay tuned as we continue to move forward through the legislative process.  We may have to bring out those green shirts again if we can't seem to be heard on this very important issue - dust them off and be ready.  In the meantime we'll let you know something as soon as we know it.

UPDATE: 3/16/15 SB707 was passed by the Common Education Committee 11/4 with an amendment provided by Jason Nelson that puts back INTO the bill the phrase that was taken out. Though there is no record of the amendment at the time of this posting, it should be available by tomorrow morning.

School Officials Want To Start Eliminating Their ESA Competition?

I know everyone has an ideology. I know everyone is able to express their opinions about their ideology thanks to the 1st Amendment. This is fine, but I want to set the record straight about some information published in a recent blog about Tuesday's legislative session.

HB2003 was Jason Nelson's ESA legislation. It did not pass the House Education Committee on a 9 to 9 vote - all Democrats and 5 Republicans (Coody, Casey, Nollan, Henke, Thomsen) voted against the bill. Senator Jolley's bill establishing ESA's (SB609) passed out of the Senate with 6 yea and 3 nay (1 a Republican, Sharp). Incidentally, Republicans do have a plank in their platform supporting school choice.

Within this last week, I have seen two separate instances of emails supporting Education Savings Accounts copied and pasted into Facebook pages or blogs by opponents of the plan in order to incite opposing action. One was ours - which is fair game since we provide a forward button - but another was a private email circulated among a number of members of a coalition for school choice. Assuming no confidentiality laws were broken, I guess that's certainly an option, however, the hypocrisy here is stunning. 

The email was published in a blog to make people aware of the "Powerful Forces in play inside and OUTSIDE of our state who are lobbying our legislators".

Odd, but the "powerful forces" listed in the email are mostly small organizations without tons of money (Public School Options.org? Really?). The only one that could even be considered "corporatist" (a label further down in the blog) would be the Walton Foundation. 

But then, what are CCOSA, OSSBA, Stand For Children, etc. if not POWERFUL 'forces in play inside' our state? In fact, so POWERFUL are these entities, they were able to FORM A COALITION and take out 2 FULL PAGE ads in the Daily Oklahoman and Tulsa World last year against the repeal of Common Core. Kind of hard for a handful of parents and taxpayers to have THAT kind of power, but I guess power is okay if it's in the 'right' hands.

We're also told that many of these groups aren't even in our state! How can anyone outside the state weigh in on an instate issue?

Really? The National Chamber of Commerce readily applied pressure INSIDE the state during the Common Core fight, as did Mike Huckabee, and the Fordham Foundation. I didn't hear Common Core supporters running them out of town on a rail then. Recently, CCOSA brought in a representative from ACT to sell legislators (LOBBY) on ACT. ACT is a 'non-profit', but it's an ENORMOUS out of state non-profit dedicated to selling a product, but that's okay, right?

These kinds of emails go on throughout the legislative session within 'coalitions' and among private individuals all across Oklahoma. In fact, I've been forwarded school administrator association emails castigating supporters of ESA's that are NO LESS ideologically-based than those penned by ESA supporters. Odd that emails about then-candidate Hofmeister and some educators in Jenks over the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship (LNHS) last year weren't mentioned. Weren't these emails among school officials talking about their attempt to lawsuit the Scholarship - already a law - to death? Yes. 

In fact, why publish this particular email then? School administrators already have legislators wound so tightly around their fingers they have them present in committee meetings as though they were on legislative staff. I've never seen parents/taxpayers be able to do that.

Several blogs have given reason after reason as to why legislators should stop Education Savings Accounts. My favorite one stated that children don't just belong to parents, they belong to the collective. EVERYONE that touches a 'human being' (they're not even called children) has a buy-in in their education. Wow. Apparently school officials believe parents are simply acting SELFISHLY if they desire to have control over their own children and how best to educate them. 

It is fascinating to note that this same blogger sang an entirely different tune about parental rights last year during election season. In fact, so fired up was he (like ROPE and others) to get Dr. Barresi to change the 4th grade retention process, he penned the words

Do parents only have rights to make educational decisions about their child if it's okay with you [Barresi]? REALLY!?!

Ah, but this doesn't apply to ESA's - or these school officials. It only applies to parents wanting to be on a 'committee' of school officials to determine if their child can pass to 4th grade. After all, an ESA would result in educational CHOICES for the PARENT outside the walls of the public school and parents can only have choice WITHIN the PUBLIC SCHOOL box. 

I reiterate - we all have the right to our worldview and our opinions - but when talk includes the need to 'eliminate' the opposition, while calling them wolves, methinks thou doth protest too much (can you imagine what would happen if I said something like that? Holy COW!). HB2003 proponents reported that school officials frequently called students 'funding units'. While I'm sure there are many school officials who care about the children in their charge, it is easy from this rhetoric to see how some don't - how education is more an ideology based on a physical model. Yet, the act of educating a child is not about the institution of PUBLIC SCHOOLS -  it's about parents and what's best for children and families. Period. Maybe if we were to keep this mission in focus, we'd sustain a long-term education vision. Though it seems impossible now, I certainly hope we can get there.

House and Senate Education Bills Scheduled for Monday, February 16th

These are the Senate and House Education bills being heard in Committee February 16th. 

Don't forget, you can look up all bills by typing in the bill number in this form and looking under the tab that says "versions". Always read the very last bill on the list as that is the most current.

Oklahoma Senate Education Committee Meeting February 16, 2015

SB 5 Sharp – protects school employees and volunteers in the event of having to use reasonable restraint on a student in a public school setting (Sad it's necessary, but YES)

SB 20 Sharp- (Comm Sub) providing for out of state highly qualified teachers to have reciprocity for their teachers license (If we're in a teacher shortage and we're using teachers without degrees - TFA - and important Turkish teachers - Dove Academy - we can certainly allow degreed teachers from other states to come here and teach. YES)

SB 137 Brooks - Disability compensation shall not be included in determining financial need for OHLAP. (We're already paying kids to go to Universities now. Under this law, even more people will now qualify for OHLAP. This is spreading the wealth and destroying work ethic. Simply because you are poor does not mean you're unable to get into a college or university. There are scholarships for many of these situations. It may take hard work, but it's the same hard work for those not considered impoverished. Dr. Ben Carson is an excellent example of someone in poverty attending university - and beyond. NO)

SB 162 Halligan - Rules for exemptions from mandated test for the most severe cognitive 
disabilities. (It's a 'proposed' Committee Sub, but as written we have no objections. YES)

SB 404 Ford – Setting up a new program for career tech (Setting up ANOTHER program with FEDERAL FUNDS? For Career Tech - which is doing very well on its own thank you very much? ABSOLUTELY NOT)

SB 414 Brinkley – Amending eligible schools to the Oklahoma Tuition Equalization Grant (Again, don't like taxpayers funding higher education for others, but if we're going to do it, let's at least be 'fair' about it. How about repealing OTEG next year? It would help balance the budget. YES)

SB 609 Jolley - ESA bill – (We support Rep Nelson’s ESA bill (HB2003) with a few modifications. Why is this bill almost 3 times as long? If both bills pass we will watch the conference process carefully. We support Education Savings Accounts so long as homeschoolers are kept from state mandates of any kind in order to take advantage of the program. NO on the senate version.)

SB 630 Ford – Amending RSA (which has sunset). An intensive remediation plan will be established for 1st and 2nd graders who did poorly on reading tests by a Student Reading Proficiency Team who will develop reading proficiency plan. (Why is the state getting involved again in reading? This is another mandate. Local schools/districts need to determine what is best for their students without the legislature creating another law to handcuff teachers and that may work for some but not for everyone. NO)

SB 674 Halligan – Tobacco free schools and school property (Another mandate. This is a local/district issue. NO)

SB 708 Ford - Beginning with next school year, removes state-madated testing in grades 3-8, 7th grade Geography test, 8th grade Social Studies, Government & Writing Tests. (Need to stop high stakes testing. One caveat - students MUST LEARN history and government. They should be tested in this area without stakes. YES)

SB 709 Ford – A huge Teacher recruitment scheme – there will not be any money for this within this years' budget, so it shouldn't be passed. NO 

SB 711 Sparks – Letting OSDE know when and why a teacher was let go Oklahoma House (Major lack of communication here on re-hiring fired teachers. YES) 

Common Education Committee Meeting 2/16/15

HB 1823 Martin – Putting a hold on A-f School grades for one year – to study (We think they should hold it forever. YES)

HB 1685 Denney – Tobacco free schools and school property (see Halligan's bill above - NO)

HB 1027 Cannaday - Delaying the quantitative portion of TLE (We must get something slowed or eliminated for TLE. The stakes are too high, too much data is being collected on kids – it is a disaster. A bill needs to pass to work with! YES)

HB 1065 Nollan - Administer a valid and reliable criterion-referenced test that measures only reading proficiency and not proficiency in the language arts. (Last year's fight over the RSA brought to light the fact that 4th graders were not being tested simply on their reading/comprehension skills but language arts processes as well. Reading is reading, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. should not be part of the exam. YES)

HB 1272 Casey – Personal discussion indicates he is laying this bill over.

HB 2003 Nelson – ESA bill – we support this bill with some modifications and want to see the discussion begin on ESAs. Every parent needs to be able to choose the school and plan of education best for each of their children. YES)

HB 1380 Fisher – Replacing AP US History with a course teaching specified concepts creating a corresponding exam. Requiring US History courses taught in Oklahoma schools to include several specific concepts/points. (ROPE began by supporting a very similar bill because many aspects of US History are being twisted and/or omitted in public schools today. American history textbooks today often fully omit the American Revolution and the founding documents. Most students today have very little knowledge of either. YES)

HB 2014 J Coody – Allows handguns to be carried by school personnel who have successfully completed special reserve school resource officer academy. (Gun free zones are only safe as long as there are no persons with guns looking to harm students/faculty. Students/faculty should not be targets. YES)

HB 1333 Lockhart – Adding an international ranking to the A-F school grade. (The current school grading system is of uncertain facility currently. Why add anything until Oklahomans know the A-F system is accurate and informative. NO)

HB 1691 Denney – Large school districts may contract privately for educational services including the delivery of instructional service in core and noncore academic subjects (We would like to see an amendment on this bill to protect student data requiring that companies not share data gathered and that any gathered data must be destroyed upon contract end. YES with amendment)

HB 2130 Cleveland – Bill has no language in it, but it claims to be a repealer. We're ALL for repealing laws, but until we see the language, NO.

Tools To Engage in Oklahoma's Political Process 2015

(This is a re-post of an earlier blog that somehow got deleted!)

As we move forward into the 2015 Oklahoma State Legislature, it will become important to have a list of block emails in order to be able to contact Oklahoma Representatives and Senators with concerns about legislation. Below are blocks of emails for the House and Senate. When you are ready to send an email, simply copy and paste this list of emails into your "TO" header and send. This is a much more efficient way of contacting ALL your state representatives. Of course, you can get all the information - including phone numbers - for your representatives here: http://www.oklegislature.gov/

You can even FIND your representatives if you are uncertain of who they may be! If you'd like, you can watch the video where I walk you through the use of the Oklahoma Legislature website. You can track bills, locate meeting times/dates and find contact information for your legislator, and much, much more: http://youtu.be/XFWal7Z0IdI

Here is another excellent website for information on the legislative session: http://thehouseandsenate.com/state-capitol/

Here's an explanation of how a bill becomes a law. If you ever hear that a bill is "in committee" or getting ready to "go to the floor", you can look at this road map and determine where it is in the process.

                 HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

As you can see, there is a wealth of information here on engaging in the political process, so JUST DO IT! No matter how much you may dislike politics, politicians make the laws that effect your level of liberty, so get involved!

HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE EMAIL ADDRESSES:

anncoody@okhouse.gov, chad.caldwell@okhouse.gov, ed.cannaday@okhouse.gov, dennis.casey@okhouse.gov, donnie.condit@okhouse.gov, dan.fisher@okhouse.gov, katie.henke@okhouse.gov, jp.jordan@okhouse.gov, sallykern@okhouse.gov, jeanniemcdaniel@okhouse.gov, michael.rogers@okhouse.gov, jason.nelson@okhouse.gov, jadine.nollan@okhouse.gov, shane.stone@okhouse.gov, chuck.strohm@okhouse.gov, todd.thomsen@okhouse.gov

ALL HOUSE EMAIL ADDRESSES: 

john.bennett@okhouse.gov, scott.biggs@okhouse.gov, lisajbilly@okhouse.gov,mikebrown@okhouse.gov, david.brumbaugh@okhouse.gov, chad.caldwell@okhouse.gov,kevin.calvey@okhouse.gov, ed.cannaday@okhouse.gov, dennis.casey@okhouse.gov,mike.christian@okhouse.gov, bob.cleveland@okhouse.gov, josh.cockroft@okhouse.gov,donnie.condit@okhouse.gov, anncoody@okhouse.gov, jeff.coody@okhouse.gov,mariancooksey@okhouse.gov, dougcox@okhouse.gov, david.dank@okhouse.gov,leedenney@okhouse.gov, david.derby@okhouse.gov, travis.dunlap@okhouse.gov,jason.dunnington@okhouse.gov, jon.echols@okhouse.gov, john.enns@okhouse.gov

george.faught@okhouse.gov, dan.fisher@okhouse.gov, will.fourkiller@okhouse.gov,randy.grau@okhouse.gov, claudia.griffith@okhouse.gov, elise.hall@okhouse.gov,tommy.hardin@okhouse.gov, katie.henke@okhouse.gov, jwhickman@okhouse.gov,chuck.hoskin@okhouse.gov, scott.inman@okhouse.gov, dennis.johnson@okhouse.gov,jp.jordan@okhouse.gov, charlie.joyner@okhouse.gov, chris.kannady@okhouse.gov,sallykern@okhouse.gov, dan.kirby@okhouse.gov, steve.kouplen@okhouse.gov,james.leewright@okhouse.gov, mark.lepak@okhouse.gov, james.lockhart@okhouse.gov,ben.loring@okhouse.gov, scott.martin@okhouse.gov, kevin.matthews@okhouse.gov

mark.mcbride@okhouse.gov, charles.mccall@okhouse.gov, mark.mccullough@okhouse.gov,jeanniemcdaniel@okhouse.gov, randy.mcdaniel@okhouse.gov, jerrymcpeak@okhouse.gov,john.montgomery@okhouse.gov, lewis.moore@okhouse.gov,richardmorrissette@okhouse.gov, glen.mulready@okhouse.gov,casey.murdock@okhouse.gov, jason.murphey@okhouse.gov, jason.nelson@okhouse.gov,tom.newell@okhouse.gov, jadine.nollan@okhouse.gov, terry.odonnell@okhouse.gov,charles.ortega@okhouse.gov, leslie.osborn@okhouse.gov, pat.ownbey@okhouse.gov,scooter.park@okhouse.gov, david.perryman@okhouse.gov, pampeterson@okhouse.gov,john.pfeiffer@okhouse.gov

eric.proctor@okhouse.gov, rcpruett@okhouse.gov, brian.renegar@okhouse.gov,mike.ritze@okhouse.gov, dustin.roberts@okhouse.gov, sean.roberts@okhouse.gov,michael.rogers@okhouse.gov, waderousselot@okhouse.gov, todd.russ@okhouse.gov,mike.sanders@okhouse.gov, seneca.scott@okhouse.gov, earl.sears@okhouse.gov,mikeshelton@okhouse.gov, bensherrer@okhouse.gov, jerryshoemake@okhouse.gov,shane.stone@okhouse.gov, chuck.strohm@okhouse.gov, johnny.tadlock@okhouse.gov,todd.thomsen@okhouse.gov, steve.vaughan@okhouse.gov, emily.virgin@okhouse.gov,ken.walker@okhouse.gov, kevin.wallace@okhouse.gov, weldon.watson@okhouse.gov

paulwesselhoft@okhouse.gov, cory.williams@okhouse.gov, justin.wood@okhouse.gov,harold.wright@okhouse.gov, george.young@okhouse.gov

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE EMAIL ADDRESSES:

fordj@oksenate.gov, sharp@oksenate.gov, brecheen@oksenate.gov, garrisone@oksenate.gov, halligan@oksenate.gov, jolley@oksenate.gov, paddack@oksenate.gov, quinn@oksenate.gov, shaw@oksenate.gov, smalley@oksenate.gov, sparks@oksenate.gov, stanislawski@oksenate.gov, thompson@oksenate.gov

ALL SENATE EMAIL ADDRESSES:

allen@oksenate.gov, anderson@oksenate.gov, barrington@oksenate.gov,bass@oksenate.gov, bice@oksenate.gov, bingman@oksenate.gov, boggs@oksenate.gov,brecheen@oksenate.gov, brinkley@oksenate.gov, brooks@oksenate.gov,brownb@oksenate.gov, crain@oksenate.gov, dahm@oksenate.gov, david@oksenate.gov,efields@oksenate.gov, floyd@oksenate.gov, fordj@oksenate.gov, fry@oksenate.gov,garrisone@oksenate.gov, griffin@oksenate.gov, halligan@oksenate.gov, holt@oksenate.gov,jech@oksenate.gov, jolley@oksenate.gov

justice@oksenate.gov, loveless@oksenate.gov, marlatt@oksenate.gov,mazzei@oksenate.gov, newberry@oksenate.gov, paddack@oksenate.gov,pittman@oksenate.gov, quinn@oksenate.gov, schulz@oksenate.gov, sharp@oksenate.gov,shaw@oksenate.gov, shortey@oksenate.gov, shumate@oksenate.gov, silk@oksenate.gov,simpson@oksenate.gov, smalley@oksenate.gov, sparks@oksenate.gov,stanislawski@oksenate.gov, lewis@oksenate.gov, thompson@oksenate.gov,treat@oksenate.gov, wyrick@oksenate.gov, yen@oksenate.gov

Bill To Repeal And Stop Common Core Passes Oklahoma House and Senate May 23

The last day of the 2014 session, Friday, May 23rd, the Oklahoma House passed HB3399 with a wide margin.  Hours later, the bill passed the Senate and has now reached the desk of Governor Mary Fallin. All indications are that she will sign the bill, however, she could execute a pocket veto if the bill is not signed before Monday June 2.

If signed, HB3399 would be the most thorough removal of Common Core from any state of adoption in the nation to date.  The bill:

1. Repeals Common Core from state law, creating a framework for standards to be written by Oklahomans over a two year time period.
2. Directs a return to the state's previous standards and tests during the interim.
3. Requires the "mastery of the "standard algorithms in math" - the "most logical, efficient way of solving a problem that consistently works", in attempt to curb the concept of 'fuzzy math'.
4. Requires Oklahoma's new standards be compared against the Common Core State Standards to ensure they are NOT in alignment.
5. Provides legislative review and approval of finalized standards as created through the State Board of Education.
6. Prohibits the state Board of Education from entering into any agreements that would in any way cede control or authority of Oklahoma standards or tests.
7. Directs standards and tests to be developmentally appropriate.
8. Creates a paper and pencil test option in the event online testing creates issues for students.

Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE), has advocated against Common Core since 2010, working with state Representative Sally Kern as early as the 2011 legislative session to author a Common Core repealer bill.  Since that time, there has been at least one Oklahoma House bill authored against Common Core every session.

"I am gratified and very thankful to have so many in our State legislature allow us to educate them on the issue of Common Core over the years.  Had so many members not maintained an open mind and reviewed our research, there would have been no way to have passed this kind of comprehensive bill", said Jenni White, President of ROPE.  "We ALL want high standards for our children, but we especially want parents involved in the process of educating their children.  Common Core was putting a wedge between parent and teacher, teacher and administrator, and all but neutering school boards.  Local control of education has been proven time and time again to be the best system for ensuring students the best possible educational results."

"ROPE also thanks Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman and Senate Pro Temp Brian Bingman for their excellent leadership in keeping this bill moving through the process. In addition, Representative Jason Nelson, and Senators Josh Brecheen and Anthony Sykes did yeoman's work in the production of a bill to bring Oklahoma's education back to Oklahoma parents and educators and we will forever be grateful for their efforts and advocacy."

"We are so very proud to have worked side-by-side with many other great group leaders across the state this year to educate parents, grandparents and Oklahoma citizens against Common Core," White said. "Without their education of others in their neighborhoods, cities, towns and through social media - as well as the tireless phone calls and emails made to the state Capitol by countless thousands of Oklahomans pleading legislators to stop Common Core - this kind of overwhelming victory would have been nothing short of impossible.  We now humbly ask Governor Fallin to sign HB3399 into law and eagerly await the date we can celebrate with her, this tremendous win for public education in Oklahoma - and across the nation."

-X-

Does Our State Want A Museum, Or Education For Oklahoma Children?

In 2002, George W. Bush took Bill Clinton's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (created by Lyndon Banes Johnson in 1964), the Improving America's Schools Act, added a little something called AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and renamed it No Child Left Behind.  This graphic is wonderful in showing that, although the federal Department of Education has no Constitutional authority to act within states in any capacity, states have spent FIFTY YEARS kowtowing to the federal government on education policy,

all the while American educational performance has plummeted, never to recover.

In December of last year, Governor Mary Fallin issued Executive Order (2014-40) that said, in part,

...in order to safeguard against any threat of federal intrusion

Oklahoma would use Oklahomans to create Oklahoma public education standards and tests.

It is apparent Oklahoma has 'federal intrusion' in Oklahoma education today - No Child Left Behind and Oklahoma's No Child Left Behind Waiver.

NCLB under George W. Bush was simply a re-gift to the American people of Bill Clinton's ESEA with one twist - the addition of something called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  Bush's NCLB said that by 2014, ALL children would be proficient in Math and English as decided by federally mandated yearly testing that would be used to create a 'grade card' for schools.  If schools were labeled failing under AYP (it is estimated that 90% of Oklahoma schools would be thus labeled), and/or if states weren't 'proficient' in Math and English by 2014, schools would be forced to take 20%  of their Title 1 funds (created by the first ESEA) and re-direct it to the federally mandated categories of supplemental educational services (such as reading programs) and school choice efforts.

In Oklahoma, our State Department of Education has said this figure would amount to $27,198 million dollars plus $3.8 million dollars for additional staff to administer the red tape associated with becoming a 'failure'.

We are also told by the OSDE that if we don't test students as required in grades 3-8 and 10-12, we will lose ALL federal funds from the USDE totaling $361,396,105 so the loss of the Waiver only amounts to 8% of all the federal funds we currently take.

Currently, many in our state legislature are concerned about losing our NCLB Waiver and providing the extra money necessary to perform federally mandated services that Oklahoma has already said - through our Governor - we don't recognize.

Why not use the state Unclaimed Property Funds designated to complete the Indian Cultural Center (40 million) to offset any loss of flexibility in spending Title 1 funding? 

Though Oklahomans have been clearly reticent to complete what has become another improperly funded project, the Governor has pushed for its completion.  Despite what Oklahomans want, Mary Fallin wants BOTH Common Core and the Indian Cultural Center.

Clearly she should prioritize CHILDREN over a museum.

Our Governor also needs to follow her own Executive Order and tell the federal government to take a long walk off a short pier. In fact, our Governor and legislature should be on the same page on this issue.  What in would happen if we lost the waiver?  What would happen if we just stopped following NCLB in the first place?

1.  Texas has an account (the Permanent School Fund) they use to offset the need for federal funds, allowing them (when they desire to) hold the federal government at bay and stand on the 10th Amendment. Oklahoma can and should work toward doing the same - now.  The unclaimed property money could seed that account.
2.  Washington State has lost their waiver over TLE.  In a recent blog post, Washington's Policy Center (similar in nature to Oklahoma's OCPA) has said this opens the door to another program that could allow for better implementation of school choice.  How can the argument be Oklahoma will have greater federal control if we throw off federal control?
3.  Indiana is at risk of losing its waiver now that they have attempted to redesign their 'College and Career Ready' standards.  So are Kansas, Arizona and Oregon, according to EdWeek's analysis.  How can Common Core be state led then? Doesn't that invalidate that entire argument?
4.  Gosh, if parents decided they were going to finally take back their parental rights and stop subjecting their kids to unnecessary and punitive testing, our state would break NCLB altogether.  What does that say about federal intrusion into Oklahoma education?
5. The federal government only has the powers the STATES allot it.  Why is it that when we bring up this fact with many legislators, there is eye-rolling (ostensibly, "nobody cares about that", "that's just silly") and/or a discussion about all the federal money we could lose for other projects like roads - again, all unconstitutional.
6.  Oklahoma is already adjusting our NCLB waiver for other issues, if we must pretend the Constitution doesn't exist, we can always amend/adjust the Waiver further.
7.  Much anecdotal evidence exists to indicate that Title 1 monies are not spent as required.  Maybe a loss of Oklahoma's waiver would actually provide desperately needed financial accountability.

It is apparent; NCLB is not appropriate for states, schools, parents, or kids. Why would Oklahoma continue to attempt to support NCLB when there are ways to circumvent it and our Governor indicates her disdain for federal involvement?  These are important questions to ask that should be clearly delineated election items in November.