With the recent national publicity of Oklahoma teachers on strike and the one-on-one interviews national reporters have done with Oklahoma teachers and parents regarding the lawmakers at 23rd and Lincoln do you wonder how all this plays out for our state image? I would imagine those who work at the Chamber of Commerce who are trying to recruit out of state businesses to relocate to Oklahoma are regrouping and rethinking games plans to promote our state.

While I support 99.9% of what teachers are seeking at the same time I wonder when/if/how this might help our imagine on a national level?

Coburn wanting to do a petition to vote on undoing the tax hikes hurts, too. It shows to outsiders that Oklahomans are not united in advancing the state for the common good. The November elections will be a battle for the soul of Oklahoma. Do the people want to invest in the state and its people via better funded education or not? If not, outsiders will be writing off Oklahoma more than ever. With education continuing poorly supported, Oklahoma will have trouble growing from within as well.

I’m of two minds.

Obviously, the statistics about classroom funding, pictures of textbooks and classrooms, tales of teachers working three jobs etc paint a terrible picture of our state. And it has been all over national news.

But I’ll throw out a contrarian point: the images of thousands of teachers standing up for themselves and the kids, peacefully, and almost all of them have been very well-spoken and passionate, have stirred up empathy, I think. I think a lot of everyday Americans are proud of the teachers. If they get most of what they ask for, a lot of people will see them as heroes. That would have the power to paint Oklahoma in a better light.

Teachers would be seen as heroes if they get what they want. Else, why would anybody come if your local government won't even support the foundation?

The school districts share part of the blame themselves. Oklahoma does not need 522 school districts. It should be more like 50. This has been addressed in the past. It seems that every small school district pressures their legislator to keep them as they are. A legislator who supports redistricting will not get elected. It would save over 100,000,000.00 for education in Oklahoma. Every one of the 520 school districts has superintendents, administrators, maintenance facilities and other costs. To put this in perspective, Oklahoma has under 4million people and 520 districts while states like Florida have 12 million people with 70 school districts. If the legislature is looking for funding for education you would think they would start there. It will never happen because of politics.

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I don’t disagree that in many cases consolidation would be a good idea, but this article does a good job of explaining the other side of this, including the unintended IN-efficiencies that would be caused in some instances. Also makes the case that the savings would not be as much as you might think:

http://oklahomawatch.org/2014/06/28/is-oklahoma-spending-too-much-on-school-administration/

https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2017/12/01/governor-pushes-for-consolidation-but-school-leaders-say-administration-isnt-waste/

They’re worth the read if you believe consolidation is a magic bullet.

So you cut taxes and cut education funding by 30% and the first place to start is consolidation? You don't wanna raise revenue to previous levels and increase funding to previous levels? It's asinine and ignorant to think like this. This is why we suck at education I wonder if people in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, The Netherlands, Estonia, or even China? Do they say you know what instead of increasing education funding we'll focus on consolidation. The fact is education should be the number one thing to invest in. Has country or state ever said we spent way too much on education or you know what we are way too educated.

The real question we should be asking is why aren't education standards much higher why do we set the bar so low? Why don't we double or triple state funding and invest money into teacher training, increasing time in class, and even giving students a longer lunch really helps. I am actually in favor of consolidation but why didn't the Legislature implement it if they think it's so important. Hell let's consolidate right now let's go from 500 districts to 150 or even 100.. Maybe even 50 districts but that still doesn't solve the problem of low standards, low teacher pay, 4 days a week of class, underfunded schools, outdated textbooks, and a long list of other problems. The fact is education funding should probably be doubled the students deserve it.

Instead we'll complain about consolidation but we will not consolidate and increase funding by a little. Let's give a big middle finger to the children of Oklahoma. I do think teachers protesting does give the people of Oklahoma a good image. But our leaders give us an ignorant selfish image. I showed some of these comments to people I do business with in Hong Kong, Seoul, and China and asked them what they thought of it.. What do you think they said about this?

But I’ll throw out a contrarian point: the images of thousands of teachers standing up for themselves and the kids, peacefully, and almost all of them have been very well-spoken and passionate, have stirred up empathy, I think. I think a lot of everyday Americans are proud of the teachers. If they get most of what they ask for, a lot of people will see them as heroes. That would have the power to paint Oklahoma in a better light.

I currently live out of state and I got a lot of questions from people about the walkout. All of the people seemed to be impressed with it, the support from the public, and the impression that it was working. In other words, they were focusing much more on the positive aspect of it than any negative aspect.

So you cut taxes and cut education funding by 30% and the first place to start is consolidation? You don't wanna raise revenue to previous levels and increase funding to previous levels? It's asinine and ignorant to think like this. This is why we suck at education I wonder if people in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, The Netherlands, Estonia, or even China? Do they say you know what instead of increasing education funding we'll focus on consolidation. The fact is education should be the number one thing to invest in. Has country or state ever said we spent way too much on education or you know what we are way too educated.

The real question we should be asking is why aren't education standards much higher why do we set the bar so low? Why don't we double or triple state funding and invest money into teacher training, increasing time in class, and even giving students a longer lunch really helps. I am actually in favor of consolidation but why didn't the Legislature implement it if they think it's so important. Hell let's consolidate right now let's go from 500 districts to 150 or even 100.. Maybe even 50 districts but that still doesn't solve the problem of low standards, low teacher pay, 4 days a week of class, underfunded schools, outdated textbooks, and a long list of other problems. The fact is education funding should probably be doubled the students deserve it.

Instead we'll complain about consolidation but we will not consolidate and increase funding by a little. Let's give a big middle finger to the children of Oklahoma. I do think teachers protesting does give the people of Oklahoma a good image. But our leaders give us an ignorant selfish image. I showed some of these comments to people I do business with in Hong Kong, Seoul, and China and asked them what they thought of it.. What do you think they said about this?

Not just an Oklahoma issue but a national one as well. Why isn’t the federal government raising standards and providing more tax funding to secondary and higher education? If the US wants to remain a world power we need to invest in our future which is in the hands of our kids.

The more federal funding you rely on, the more control you give them. Like mandatory over testing. One size doesnt fit all, and if it was no strings attached, then great. But it doesnt work that way.

So what evil plans does the federal government have for our children if they allocate more education funding to the states. Will they indoctrinate our children with the history of the slave trade, will they force them to learn physics, or worse will they teach them Trigonometry?

One size fits most I realize there are some students that don't need to or want to go to College. So if the feds allocated money to indoctrinate young people in trade schools would it really be that bad. The federal government isn't that savior of all problems but its also not the cause of all problems either.

Oh well after November we'll have the same problem in five years we'll have the same problem. We are not investing in our most important resource. People are much more important than oil. In the words of the evil comic book villain Elon Musk "people are underrated."

Ok, be intentionally argumentative. You're so edgy.

My mothers school gets a third of its funding from federal funds. Those funds are tied to tests. Those tests didn't include history as of this year. Guess what she was told not to teach? They wanted her to focus only on areas for the federally mandated tests.

That "teaching to tests" mindset and method needs to change.

Today Is The Anniversary Of The Worst Federal Education Law Ever Passed (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-left-behind-anniversary_us_5a538591e4b003133eca7a05)

^^^^^^^
I don’t disagree that in many cases consolidation would be a good idea, but this article does a good job of explaining the other side of this, including the unintended IN-efficiencies that would be caused in some instances. Also makes the case that the savings would not be as much as you might think:

http://oklahomawatch.org/2014/06/28/is-oklahoma-spending-too-much-on-school-administration/

https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2017/12/01/governor-pushes-for-consolidation-but-school-leaders-say-administration-isnt-waste/

They’re worth the read if you believe consolidation is a magic bullet.

I definitely think consolidation at least of administrations would be a good idea. There is no one magic bullet to fix all this and any cuts that will save money without really impacting students will help...which is why it makes me laugh when people make the argument that consolidation shouldn't be explored because it wouldn't save that much money. Anything that can save money and increase efficiency should be taken into account.

I definitely think consolidation at least of administrations would be a good idea. There is no one magic bullet to fix all this and any cuts that will save money without really impacting students will help...which is why it makes me laugh when people make the argument that consolidation shouldn't be explored because it wouldn't save that much money. Anything that can save money and increase efficiency should be taken into account.
As a person that spent 40yrs in Moore Public Schools, all in the classroom, and watched administrators come and go and the number of admin jobs explode, I agree 100%.

That "teaching to tests" mindset and method needs to change.

Today Is The Anniversary Of The Worst Federal Education Law Ever Passed (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-left-behind-anniversary_us_5a538591e4b003133eca7a05)

That's why teacher training is very important. Teaching to the test only teaches students how to pass a,test. But if you teach students an actual skill and apply the test material while developing this skill then they are actually learning something. The test material is only a means to an end use it only because you have to. Use it as well as other materials to develop critical thinking and any other skills you want you your students to develop.

Some things on test are important other things aren't. There also important things that aren't on the test or even in text books. Bring them into the classroom and teach in the same lessons along with the test material.

As a person that spent 40yrs in Moore Public Schools, all in the classroom, and watched administrators come and go and the number of admin jobs explode, I agree 100%.

Jeez, 40 years?!? how many grades did you have to repeat??? :tongue:

Jeez, 40 years?!? how many grades did you have to repeat??? :tongue:
The last 18 of those years I was Sr Class Sponsor at WHS. I would tell my senior class every year at graduation, you all get to graduate from Westmoore, but I never do. Finally I made it with the class of 2016.