Education is focus of study requests
NO fewer than three interim studies have been requested by Oklahoma House members interested in delving deeper into public education. One of them even has a bipartisan bent – a welcome approach.
Reps. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City, and Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, want to compare and contrast our state’s educational system with those across the country.
In a news release, Fetgatter said he and Walke have come to see that “we can no longer afford to have Republican ideas and Democrat ideas. What we need are good ideas that are going to move this state in a better direction.”
Walke added that the goal is to give lawmakers “the latest cutting-edge innovations in education so that we can make sure we are providing our students with the resources they need for the 21st century.”
Amen to both sentiments, although this is potentially a tall order. The sad reality is that the teachers’ unions and their allies generally align with their liberal brethren around the country and work to rebuff changes to the status quo. Indeed, during Oklahoma’s teacher strike in April the notion of pursuing reform was never mentioned by union leaders.
Even so, Walke and Fetgatter are to be commended for their willingness to work together on this front.
A request by Rep. Tom Gann, R-Inola, is an extension of his unsuccessful effort this year to tap the Commissioners of the Land Office to help fund teacher pay raises.
Gann’s House Bill 3440 would have, among other things, directed the CLO to disburse capital gains from its $2.4 billion portfolio as bonuses to school teachers. However, an opinion by the state attorney general said the bill was contrary to state and federal law and the state constitution.
Gann says he isn’t looking to have the land office depart from its core mission of supporting public schools, nor does he want the CLO to draw from its corpus. Instead, he says he wants to focus on investment earnings and bringing more transparency regarding how the trust’s funds are spent and distributed.
CLO revenue is included in an interim study request by Republican Reps. Sean Roberts of Hominy and Tess Teague of Choctaw. They want to review six bills filed during the Legislature’s second special session.
One of the bills requires the land office to provide every K-12 teacher with a $500 annual stipend for classroom supplies. Other bills include a cap on superintendents’ pay at that of the governor ($147,000), consolidation of superintendents in non-urban counties, and reallocation of some lottery funding for textbooks and curriculum technology.
Roberts says lawmakers “owe it to our citizens to look at ways that we can save taxpayers money and still provide for our state’s core services.”
Large pay raises for K-12 teachers and the twoweek walkout served to make public education the pre-eminent issue of the 2017 legislative session. It remains a front-burner topic as the dog days of summer approach.