Every candidate for office will give education lip service, and tell you how important it is to him or her. Instead of listening to rhetoric, let's look at what has been done. The answer, for the last few years in Oklahoma, is unfortunately not much. Funding for education, per student, has decreased more in Oklahoma from FY 2008 to the present than any other state. We must find a way to ensure that our schools are properly funded.
Ultimately, the key to our children receiving a quality education is directly tied to the quality of the teachers who teach them. With Oklahoma continuing to lag behind the regional and national average for teacher pay, many of our best educators go elsewhere to make a difference. The pay given to our teachers ranks 48th in the nation, while the salary paid to Legislators is 16th in the nation. Where are our priorities? We must contribute more funds to increase teacher pay and develop new ideas to incentivize the best teachers to teach in Oklahoma instead of Texas or other states. Instead of cutting taxes where the majority of people save only $29, what would happen if we focused funds spent foolishly elsewhere to go directly to education? We must work together as a team to find ways to increase teacher pay. This is not too much to ask to ensure that our children receive the best education they can.
We can also incentivize schools to receive more money if they can show that they are wise stewards of the money being given them. The more you save, the more you receive, with the goal of it going directly to the classroom as much as possible.
Moreover, when we continue to add more and more quality teachers, we will ensure that our schools are held to higher standards. Instead of relying on standardized tests where teachers are confined to "teaching to the test," we can be confident that our children are actually learning skills that will benefit them further in life. And, while we need to set certain standards to ensure that all students are learning effectively, we should not tell our teachers how to teach. Elements of standardized tests and the A-F Grading system can lead to the stifling of our most creative and brilliant teachers, and this can only hurt our children in the long run.
Quite simply, we must allow our administrators, teachers and parents work to achieve what is best for that particular school. Education decisions need to be made by these groups, since they are the real experts in educating our children, not politicians. Too often, politicians try to insert their political agendas into decisions with our schools and children. Make no mistake, there are special interests groups out there influencing legislators to vote a certain way for ulterior motivations. I can promise you that I will listen to three special interest groups -- Administrators, Teachers, and Parents.
We also need to set up programs to help those kids who may be falling behind for whatever reason, including those children living in poverty. After-school programs would keep kids out of trouble and provide many with the chance to improve their learning skills and social skills. There are numerous community programs with which the State could partner to provide such valuable resources.