Teach for America (TFA) is an organization which, according to its website, seeks to rectify, “Our nation’s greatest injustice.” What is that injustice?

In America today, educational inequity persists along socioeconomic and racial lines…These disparities severely limit the life prospects of the 13 million children growing up in poverty today. And, because African-American and Latino/Hispanic children are three times as likely to grow up in a low-income area…

In a section of the website entitled, “Why we prioritize the recruitment and development of African-Americans and Latino/Hispanics and people of low-income family backgrounds,” TFA explains:

At the same time that we value each individual who commits to our cause, we also place a particular focus on attracting and fostering the leadership of individuals who share the racial and/or socioeconomic backgrounds of the students underserved by public schools, many of whom are African-American and Latino/Hispanic children living in low-income communities. We emphasize racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity to enhance our impact…

According to a press release from the OK House of Representatives yesterday, House Bill 3124, authored by House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Tad Jones, allows for the Teach for America Program to come to Oklahoma.

The bill will get talented teachers into our most needy classrooms, said Jones (R-Claremore):

Right now, this successful program cannot expand to Oklahoma because of barriers in our laws. Teach for America has proven results in low-income, underperforming schools where we need talented teachers the most. Even with approval of this bill, each district would be able to choose to participate or not. This is a chance to get some of the best, brightest and most ambitious teachers in the country here in Oklahoma.

Rep. Earl Sears (R-Bartlesville), a former teacher and principal, praised the Teach for America program as one of the best in the country for training teachers:

There is no question this state does a great job training our teachers, and no one is trying to take anything away from the procedure we have here in the state for our teachers, but as a principal, I would not have any hesitation in hiring a teacher from this program.

The bill passed the House with a vote of 91-10 and will now go to the Senate

The Great Schools Tax Credit Program Act, sponsored by Sen. James Williamson and Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre will be heard this coming Monday, during the 9am session of the OK Senate’s Education Committee.

For more information about School Choice in Oklahoma, check out Michael Bates’ and Brandon Dutcher’s new blog to educate Oklahomans about our choice (or in some cases, lack thereof) in where to send our kids to school, and how to pay for it. Choice Remarks: The official blog of Oklahomans for School Choice:

School choice refers to any education policy which allows parents to choose the safest and best schools for their children, whether those schools are public or private. As state school Superintendent Sandy Garrett has correctly noted, “We have a lot of choice already in Oklahoma.” Oklahoma is fortunate to have interdistrict choice, intradistrict choice, charter schools, magnet and specialty schools, privately funded K-12 vouchers, a thriving homeschool sector, and more. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have what many other states have—vouchers or tax credits which allow thousands of students to choose private schools.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 13, 2008) – Legislation changing three professional days to academic days in the school year for Oklahoma students is headed for a vote of the entire state House of Representatives.

House Bill 3122, by state Rep. Tad Jones [R-Claremore], passed a vote of the House Education Committee today. The measure proposes changing the number of academic days from 175 to 178, as well as measuring the school year in hours rather than days, which is the current standard.

Jones, who chairs the Education Committee, said the new formula would give individual school districts greater flexibility over how to structure their school years. “What we have heard is that there could be improvements in the current school day, and this bill will give schools flexibility to meet their needs,” said Jones, R-Claremore

“No school district is the same, and that’s why so often we hear the concept of ‘local control’ stressed here at the state Capitol. School officials across the state have told us that this new rule would enable them to configure their school years to fit their local community, so we’re trying to give them that freedom.”

By setting the school year at 1,080 hours, HB 3122 would effectively add three days to the length of the school year. Currently, the state requires a 180-day school year, including days for teacher development.

Yesterday, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry gave his sixth State of the State Speech, and, as the Tulsa World reports,

…called for an average teacher pay raise of $1,200, weighted toward
veteran teachers and those with advanced degrees, to bring salaries to the
regional average. The proposal would cost $68.5 million. He also wants a 5
percent pay raise for state employees, at a cost of $65 million for a full
year.

Sounds good. Now, who’s going to pay for that?

According to The Journal Record (emphasis mine, in bold):

According to Henry’s calculations, his proposal would more than pay for itself by increasing efficiencies and otherwise putting state funds to better use, leaving an extra $1 million in state coffers at the end of the fiscal year. The cost of Henry’s proposals would rise in subsequent years, however, due to nearly $190 million in bond issues he recommended.

The state Equalization Board in December certified $7.06 billion available for the Legislature to spend for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The expenditures outlined in Henry’s budget proposal come to $7.32 billion.

Henry is hoping to convince tax payers who are delinquent in their accounts to pay-up by offering them a reduction in the intererest owed, and by publishing a list of delinquent tax payers to shame them into paying. In Henry’s plan, other monies would come from adjustments made to the state workers compensation process, from from various state agencies’ expense accounts, and from bonds.

Translation: The money is coming from the same place ALL government money comes from – you, the Oklahoma taxpayer. In anticipation of objections on both sides of the aisle, Henry is quoted by NewsOK:

We cannot move forward by pushing back,” Henry said. “We must set aside partisan bickering and reactionary politics. The people of Oklahoma have nothing to gain from petty quarrels, and our time is too precious to waste in gridlock. Press releases are short-lived, but cooperation and constructive action resonate for a generation.

by Senator Tom Coburn

The federal government’s role in education today is far too intrusive and counterproductive. I believe our Constitution empowers parents, teachers and local communities — not federal bureaucrats — to manage our children’s education. Congress should do everything in its power to limit the federal role in education and return education dollars and decisions to local communities.

America became a great and prosperous nation in part through strong local education that was controlled by parents, families, faith-based groups and community organizations. I do not believe it is a coincidence that as the federal government’s role in education has greatly expanded test scores across our country have stagnated or declined. The bureaucratic administration of education in Washington, D.C., has resulted in widespread waste and duplication among more than 760 different federal education programs with virtually no benefit to our children.

Congress needs to reconnect our children’s education with the local resources and caring individuals who will make a difference in their lives. The education tax dollars we are sending to Washington would be better spent if they were controlled and managed by our local communities.

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The Norman Transcript

Transcript Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY –State leaders need a much better understanding the costs associated with meeting new education standards, the author of a controversial Oklahoma education study said this week.

John Augenblick, the president of Denver-based Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, defended his firm’s 2005 study of the way Oklahoma’s education system is funded, saying the questing of how much it cost a state to provide education services which meet governmental standards is “a pretty new question.”

Augenblick’s two-part study, “Calculating the Cost of an Adequate Education in Oklahoma,” analyzed the “adequacy of revenues available to elementary and secondary school districts in Oklahoma” for the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

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