Issue Position: Education Reform

Issue Position

As a father of 4 and a concerned citizen of thousands, a quality education for all is a top priority. While Oklahoma's educational system is doing well in some areas (such as, our high school graduation rate is above the national average), we are lingering in others (such as, our average ACT score is tied with the national average -- we can do better than the rest of the nation.) A hot button item of course is our shortage of 1,000 teachers; I am committed to ensuring we have enough qualified teachers to continue the progress our students are making. I am proud of the education I received at Broken Arrow Public Schools from Kindergarten through high school graduation, and I would like to see all Oklahoma students be afforded a quality education.

I support:

1. Fixing our statewide shortage of approximately 1,000 teachers by increasing teacher pay by $3,000, which would bring OK teacher salaries to par with the surrounding states. Coupled with our existing benefits, our overall compensation package would be very competitive. However, I do NOT support either of the recently proposed funding mechanisms: the David Boren Sales Tax (which would make OK the highest sales tax state in the US and therefore hurt our retail business owners) or the Governor's proposed $1.50 increased cigarette tax. Using a cigarette tax to fund teacher pay increases would put teachers in an awkward position: continue to be a proponent of good health and steer kids away from smoking, or, hope / encourage kids to smoke as it subsidizes their salary. Instead, augmented teacher pay can be funded through reform of our overly-generous business tax incentive program and through school district consolidation.

2. Making statewide school administration more efficient by consolidating many small, underperforming school districts. This would reduce administrative overhead and duplication of services; this would not close schools. It would also reduce the number of superintendents, which constitute the highest paid salaries. Just as example, the Berryhill Superintendent earns $130,000 plus benefits -- this is nearly 3x what the average teacher makes. Consolidation of many inefficient school districts could free up resources to be used towards higher teacher pay. I support SB 1382 by Sen Brian Bingman, which is a responsible and over-due approach to consolidating many of our inefficient school districts.

3. Empowering parents to make the right educational choices for their children through a School Choice Tax Credit of $500 per child. A SCTC would help tax-paying parents who enroll their children in alternative schools and would have no effect on the State Aid Formula.

4. Decreasing the number of mandatory testing, especially in the third grade. Over-testing is an unnecessary burden and distraction that disrupts teachers' momentum with students. At the same time, we want to be able to gauge baseline performance; I support replacement of EOY graduation tests with a national standardized test, such as the ACT, which will showcase student learning achievement in a low cost and low disruptive manner.

5. Placing greater emphasis on Career Tech education. Not every kid needs to go to college. There are many high school graduates who are being counseled, pressured, or stigmatized into college enrollment who end up floundering only to incur costly student loans and missed time that they could have used towards a more appropriate trade school or the military. Imagine a skilled Oklahoma workforce: it would attract high tech manufacturers and subsequently raise the standard of living.

6. Re-prioritizing public university funding to encourage greater STEM program offerings and enrollment. STEM graduates have an immediate economic impact to the state as they tend to earn high income, establish companies that employ other skilled workers, and promote Oklahoma's image as a national leader in innovation. Let's empower those that are going to move our state forward.

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