Standing in the gap for our kids
Our public schools deserve the choice not to be a battleground for politicians. Oklahoma children in public schools deserve the choice not to be marketed and sold as investments in profiteering schemes.
Our parents deserve the choice not to have their kids subjected to high-stakes testing at the whim of politicians.
Our dedicated teachers deserve the choice to be paid like the professionals they are, who invest countless hours in shaping the very future of the state we call home. You cannot put kids first if you put teachers last.
And we, the faithful taxpayers, deserve a choice. We should have a say that the tax money that generation after generation has invested in Oklahoma’s educational assets and infrastructure not be trampled and defunded. Careless initiatives that transfer funds we all collectively place into the public trust for the maintenance and health of our public schools is at stake.
We have lost our way when we convert these precious children into numbers and A-F grades. Schools are more than that, kids are worth more, and we know it.
Schools should give all children in Oklahoma the opportunity to succeed, regardless of the “performance standards” of the week. The success of a school isn’t based in what a test reads at that moment. Success of our schools is judged by how we are providing the resources for our children to grow fully into who they have been designed to be. To fulfill their complete God-ordained potential — not what a politician says a test score should read.
The free public education, while guaranteed by our state constitution, is not actually granted by a government, but is a provision of God. Faith convicts us that all children deserve the chance at a great education.
There’s a sickness at 2300 N. Lincoln. A sickness that wants to take from the many to give to the few. A sickness that has no problem converting Oklahoma kids into profits for their buddies. It’s perverse. It’s not right.
In a state that consistently ranks near the bottom of education funding, the mental gymnastics one must attempt to explain how we can afford a second layer on top of our current school system is baffling.
As Pastors for Oklahoma Kids, we stand with Oklahoma public school children, their teachers, administrators and communities. We are tired of outsiders attacking and threatening our public schools and communities while couching their rhetoric in the language of choice.
We have a choice as the faithful: to be informed by our religious heritage. A heritage that recognizes the importance of each man, woman, and child being able to read for themselves and think for themselves. A heritage that historically across the varied denominations has risen to defend public school kids.
As pastors who work with people every day, we are keenly aware that choices have consequences. Therefore, we choose to preserve public education as a right of all Oklahoma kids.
As constitutional conservatives strengthened by our faith, we choose to stand in the gap for our 693,710 Oklahoma school kids and we invite you to join our movement at pastorsforoklahomakids.com.