Governor Fallin says, "Stop whining or you'll get no more education funds."

I simply must say that I seem to be never-endlessly stymied by the course of Republican leadership in Oklahoma today. 

Here is the latest antic by Governor Mary Fallin, covered in an article in the Tulsa World; Gov. Fallin Counters Critics of A-F Grading System For Schools.  The article begins;

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 asking for 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 grading system and stop endorsing a report that criticizes it.

I think we should all ask ourselves why our Republican governor is backing the 'reforms' instituted by a Republican State Superintendent who has so little support for re-election at this point - due in large part to her "my way or the highway attitude" I might add - that a Republican challenger has vastly out-paced her in campaign contributions. 

To hear our Governor literally THREATEN, not only educators in Oklahoma, but PARENTS and TAXPAYERS is completely out of bounds. She may be threatening educators in this article - and make no mistake, this is a threat (because who apparently steers legislation through the capitol?) - but she is also threatening parents who are against her education 'reforms' as well. 

As I recounted several weeks ago, State Troopers were called during our peaceful, quiet demonstration against Common Core at the Oklahoma History Center - the middle of three "whistle stops" in the state where Governor Fallin announced her intention to run again for Governor. 

Republican or Democrat makes no difference, this is a clear violation of FIRST AMENDMENT rights to dissent. Why should we re-elect someone who is NOT an educator, yet will back a NON-EDUCATOR Superintendent who has implemented national education reform consistently and to the detriment of the LOCAL CONTROL so prized by so many in our state - and proven to be the best method for decades. 

PLEASE SHARE THIS ARTICLE FAR AND WIDE! Please comment to this article and the Tulsa World and let everyone know - especially if you're a Republican - that you do not approve.   

Our only hope is that our Governor will understand well that TONY BENNETT - A REPUBLICAN - was BEATEN in INDIANA over Common Core and education 'reforms' such as A-F grading. 

We can do the exact same thing here in Oklahoma with our own governor. 

Parents are the ones that know best for their children, not non-educator politicians who institute educational policies that limit our children and who threaten before they listen to their constituencies. 

I urge you to read this EXCELLENT article by Pat McGuigan, "The Good News Is That The Bad News About Kansas Was Wrong."  In it, he SHOWS USING SPECIFICS how the REPUBLICAN party in Oklahoma has fallen down on their job - certainly of fiscal conservatism.  Fortunately, there is an election for many of them looming in 2014.

Parents, now is the time to stand! Make your voices CLEAR - you will not be threatened or silenced!  You will not continue to prop up POOR STATE LEADERSHIP!  

There are a lot of really great Republicans in the House and the Senate, but let's make very clear that we will simply not tolerate those that want to tax and spend their way into oblivion - or those that want to force public school districts to do it their way (a way not tried nor tested, a way that doesn't appear to work, but that makes our children guinea pigs every day!) when they don't even have the training to identify the "right" way if it jumped into their lap and bit them on the thigh! 

 

I love this picture!  Yes, this is then Congresswoman Mary Fallin at the Nation's Capitol holding up a sign during the health care debacle.   Yes, she did listen to the people and RETURN the 45 MILLION federal dollars SHE TOOK to attach Oklahoma further to the purse strings of the feds and healthcare reform, but that ear has apparently gone deaf!

Let's let our governor know NOW that she is clearly on the wrong track and must stop immediately, or face the real possibility of losing a gubernatorial re-election bid.

How Do You Solve The Problem Of Dr. Barresi?

Superintendent Janet Barresi is making daily news of late.  Today we read, "Authors dispute claim by Barresi".  

Apparently Dr. Barresi spoke to the Tulsa County Republican Women's Luncheon and told attendees that the authors of the study which debunked the state's A-F grading system had recanted. 

One of the attendees, Jenny Hudspeth, a member of the Tulsa Area Parents Legislative Action Committee (PLAC) says, 

"She also said she would like an apology from the authors with as much fanfare as the release of the report."

Notice the force of that statement.  Oftentimes, those who wish to mislead use hubris to elicit an "appeal to authority" response in listeners:  facts are replaced by an emotional statement, which, when provided by an authority figure, creates a sense of urgency - an appeal to the listener for solidarity.

An abuse of the public trust such as this is bad enough, but once caught, Dr. Barresi throws Assistant Superintendent Meridyth McBee under the bus by saying her remarks were the result of a misunderstanding between herself and McBee - another apparent falsehood.

Moreover and possibly more interesting in the Tulsa World article, was the comment made by Patrick Forsyth, one of the A-F critque researchers,

"I just think that there isn't anyone at the state Department (of Education) who can really understand the scope of the critique," he said. "From what was reported to me, the superintendent is just essentially dismissive of the report."

ROPE was able to read and digest the report and produce an informed opinion echoing the thesis of the researchers.

Interestingly, ROPE has had the exact experience described by Dr. Forsyth.

In 2011, Representative Sally Kern - the only Oklahoma State legislator to ever really question the Common Core State Standards initiative - was granted an Interim study before the House Education Committee on the issue.  Because the Heritage Foundation is among the strongest critics of the CCSS, Lindsey Burke, a Heritage Expert, came to Oklahoma to testify before the few legislators that attended the study.  ROPE also gave a presentation to the committee based on our several years of research on the issue.

Dr. Barresi was given the opportunity to make her case for the CCSS directly after we presented our case against the initiative.  We have video encompassing the entire study.  In her initial remarks, Dr. Barresi told the committee,

"We are all entitled to our own opinions.  We are NOT entitled to our own facts." 

It was obvious to nearly all in attendance, that Dr. Barresi was disparaging our research - actual research made up from over 100 different citations to government websites and other papers and articles (that has now been read and cited thousands of times).

During the study, Dr. Barresi also made disparaging remarks to Representative Kern, who then asked Dr. Barresi to supply the legislature with a written summation to include specific ways in which the Heritage Foundation and ROPE were wrong in our presentations.

The response took many weeks and inquiries from Representative Kern's office to make it's way to her desk.  Once produced, the 'report' was found to be, unarguably, the most unenlightened, uninformed piece of writing (research?) anyone could read.  It was clear from the first sentence that Dr. Barresi's staff had simply gone onto the Common Core website, lifted quote after quote on the initiative and placed them into a quickly-worded response - as though they believed they were never actually going to be expected to produce the promised rebuttal.  There was no indication of research or information gleaned from sources other than those connected to the CCSS.  It was truly nothing more than an opinion piece which appeared as more of a marketing exercise than a true literature survey or formal response of any kind.

In fact, we were so dismayed by the comments, ROPE wrote a statement in response.

All this information should be troubling as it shows clearly a pattern in which the Oklahoma Department of Education under the leadership of Janet Barresi, neither understands nor appreciates informed opinion and/or the tenets of basic research.  How can a department of "education" exist in this realm?

Clearly it can not.  Clearly, this kind of administration must seek outside assistance for creation and support of educational programming and initiatives - as we have seen with the OSDE and the Foundation for Educational Excellence - because there is apparently not enough utilized expertise in the Department to creatively attack educational issues on a state (local) basis.

Republicans must wake up.  Instead of swallowing every line of every candidate and/or elected official with an "R" behind their name, hook line and sinker, we must do more.  We must SEEK TRUTH.

Ronald Reagan uttered the the 11th Commandment in 1966, "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."  The Republican Party has been unable or unwilling to let go of that thought since, and it has completely ruined our Party.  Though both Democrat and Republican parties have been infiltrated by Progressives bent on destroying this country from inside by increasing government and government regulation of American lives at every turn, much of the Republican establishment remains firmly rooted in 1966, bowing at the alter of Reagan while the world crashes down around us (INCALCULABLE NATIONAL DEBT FOR EXAMPLE?)

I loved Ronald Reagan - I perceived him as a father figure that must have been the sweetest soul to ever have walked the planet.  He was the first president for whom I cast a vote.  You can not tell me he would be pleased with the Republican Party today - there is nothing in his memoirs that would suggest such a thought.  You can not tell me he would sit idly by while Republican Progressives destroyed the Party's base - by undermining it's long-held tenets of smaller government, lower taxes and personal freedom.

Wake up REPUBLICANS.  WAKE UP!  Your Party is no longer the Party of Reagan and if we don't start making those who wear an "R" beside their name accountable to the platform of its grass roots, we will lose our Party and our Country!  Let us with boldness declare the truth.  Let us with boldness stand for our principles.  Let us with boldness hold accountable those who would undermine our ethics and our beliefs and let us start NOW.