Challenges remain, but Lora upbeat about district

AURORA Lora appears none the worse for wear after what was a trying first year as Oklahoma City’s public school superintendent. If she’s discouraged, it doesn’t show.

Lora has been heartened by the community's support as the district works through a particularly challenging financial situation, she told The Oklahoman’s Ben Felder in an interview last week. “It is still my dream job,” she said.

Lora served as a high-level administrator in the district for about two years before moving into the superintendent’s post. During her first month as superintendent, she had to cut $30 million from the budget —achieved, among other ways, through reductions in teaching, administrative and operating positions.

While that was painful, the budget concerns have “allowed us to be very thoughtful and look at every dollar we’re spending, to find ways to be more efficient with taxpayer resources,” Lora said. This has included such things as reviewing bus routes and making sure lights are turned off when rooms are unused. Every bit of savings helps.

The 2016-17 school year started with several schools experiencing problems with air-conditioning units, and with some bus-related hiccups. Money from a bond issue approved in 2016 by Oklahoma City public school patrons went toward buses and building upkeep. The start of this school year, which began Aug. 1, was much smoother for students and teachers, Lora said. (It grew a bit bumpy for her this week when some board members, reacting to last weekend’s violence in Virginia, suggested renaming four schools that are named for Confederate officers.)

The biggest headaches from Lora’s first year in charge resulted from her efforts to close low-enrollment schools, as a way to save money. Both proposals were rejected following outcry from parents and community members and, in one case, from an Oklahoma City Council member who was particularly critical of the superintendent.

Lora said those incidents provided “a good, positive lesson” for her and her team about the importance of gathering stakeholder input before making such difficult decisions.

And they’re decisions that could be needed again this school year. Lora noted that none of the $30 million removed from the budget in her first weeks on the job ever returned. District classrooms will have more children in them this year than they did a year ago, in an effort to stretch dollars, “but we’re running out of choices,” she said.

With no guarantee that funding from the state will improve in 2018, the district plans to revisit the idea of school closures, probably in October or November, Lora said. The idea will be to figure out “what are the things we can be willing to do for the coming year to make sure that kids have the resources and things they need to be successful? And it’s going to require probably some really tough choices.”

Lora is upbeat, regardless. “I love this city and I love the kids,” she said. That spirit carried her through a rough first year. Perhaps the district will enjoy smoother sailing in Year 2.