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Today you should know that higher education leaders are optimistic they can avoid the cut in state funding that Governor Mary Fallin proposed in her fiscal year 2015 budget. OU President David Boren said Oklahoma can avoid cutting higher education by postponing tax cuts and reducing a tax break for horizontal drilling.
Northeast Oklahoma business and education leaders held a conference to discuss the importance of public education for strengthening Oklahoma’s workforce. Oklahoma’s median wages lag well behind the national average and lower than all but 10 other states. With few exceptions, the states where workers earn the highest wages are the states with the most college graduates.
A DHS child welfare worker and her supervisor have been charged with criminal wrongdoing related to the death of a special-needs teenager in Oklahoma City. Both are accused of failing to properly investigate concerns that he was being neglected. The State Department of Education said repealing Common Core educational standards in Oklahoma would cause the state to lose a federal waiver that provides leeway on the use of Title I Funds. The House has voted to repeal Common Core standards, but repeal has not been heard in the Senate.
Superintendent Barresi defended the number of tests students take, claiming they take up less than 1 percent of instruction time. The okeducationtruths blog shared educators’ responses to Barresi’s claims. The Barresi campaign has made an open records request for all communications records between Jenks Public Schools employees and Republican primary challenger Joy Hofmeister. All four of Hofmeister’s children attended Jenks, and she has been a member of the board of the Jenks Public Schools Foundation.
The OK Policy Blog shared an OETA report on the minimum wage debate in Oklahoma. President Obama has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 over the next three years, and 21 states already have higher minimum wages than the federal minimum of $7.25. An Oklahoma City group seeking a municipal vote to do away with jail time for possession of marijuana said they were on pace to surpass their goal for signatures.
Reflecting a trend across the nation, Tulsa County jurors are increasingly reluctant to call for the death penalty. Out of nine defendants that prosecutors sought the death penalty for since 2007, juries came back with the death penalty only once. Tulsa World editor Julie Delcour discussed how a growing number of Oklahomans are struggling to care for aging family members without training.
The Number of the Day is the unemployment rate for Hispanic Oklahomans, the 2nd lowest among the states. In today’s Policy Note, The Atlantic examines the challenges of being the first person in your family to go to college.
In The News
Oklahoma higher education leaders hope to avoid budget cut
Higher education leaders are optimistic they can avoid the cut in state funding Gov. Mary Fallin proposed in her fiscal year 2015 budget. The governor’s budget includes a 5 percent reduction for most agencies because estimates show the state will have about $188 million less to appropriate for FY15. “I’m pushing to at least make up the 5 percent cut,” Rep. Harold Wright, R-Weatherford, said last week. Wright, chairman of the House Higher Education and CareerTech Committee, said he thinks lawmakers can keep the funding level and keep tuition as low as possible.
Business leaders says education needed to strengthen economy
Business, industry and education leaders from across northeast Oklahoma met on Wednesday, March 12, 2014, to discuss the importance of quality education, at all levels, to reinforce the importance of public education to strengthening our workforce in Oklahoma. Participants heard from business and workforce development leaders David Stewart (administrator, MidAmerica Industrial Park) and John Hawkins (Governor’s Council for Workforce Development) on how important a strong, educated workforce is to strengthening Oklahoma’s economy.
DHS child welfare workers charged in death of special-needs teen
A DHS child welfare worker and her supervisor have been charged with criminal wrongdoing after a police investigation into the 2013 death of a special-needs teenager. Rachel Qualls and supervisor Paul Kim Myers were charged Friday in Oklahoma County District Court. Both are accused of failing to properly investigate a sister’s concerns the boy was being neglected at his Oklahoma City home. The supervisor also is accused of falsifying computer records after the boy died in an attempt to cover up their failures. The boy’s father, Michael David Wood, meanwhile, has been charged with child neglect.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma legislators open new chapter in Common Core debate
The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted to repeal Oklahoma’s Common Core academic standards last week, opening yet another chapter in the school curriculum chaos that has engulfed Oklahoma schools the past few years. The Common Core standards are a rigorous set of academic standards for kindergarten through 12th grade students in English laguage arts/literacy and mathematics. The standards are designed to make sure students are ready for college and careers when they graduate, according to the state Education Department. The standards were developed by state education chiefs and governors from 48 states and have been adopted by 45 states, including Oklahoma.
Superintendent Barresi Defending Number Of Tests Students Take
I hear from educators and parents throughout the state about “teaching to the test” and time spent on testing. I agree teachers should spend more time teaching and students should spend less time worrying about tests. But I want to clear up some myths. Out of all the hours required for instruction in a school year – 1,080 hours by state law – less than 1 percent is spent by a student taking state- or federally mandated tests. Other assessments may be given by teachers or required by school districts.
Read more from the Oklahoma Department of Education.
See also: Like a myth to a flame from okeducationtruths
Barresi campaign seeks record of Hofmeister contact with Jenks Schools
State Superintendent Janet Barresi’s campaign has requested all communications records between Jenks Public Schools employees and Republican challenger Joy Hofmeister dating back to 2007, a move Hofmeister said is just another “public intimidation tactic.” All four of Hofmeister’s children have attended Jenks Public Schools since kindergarten. Only one child, a son, remains in Jenks Public Schools. He is a senior. She also has been a member of the board of the Jenks Public Schools Foundation. As both a parent and board member, Hofmeister has had extensive communication with Jenks school employees. Any communication between Hofmeister and a teacher regarding a child is exempt from the request because it is a student record, but they must be accounted for in a privilege log.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Watch This: Should Oklahoma increase the minimum wage?
President Obama has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 over the next three years, and 21 states already have higher minimum wages than the federal minimum of $7.25. In this segments of the Oklahoma News Report, OETA examines what would be the effects of increasing the minimum wage in Oklahoma. University of Tulsa professor Scott Carter, who is interviewed in the video, also recently wrote an op-ed in the Tulsa World explaining why increasing the minimum wage is sound economics.
Petition to lessen punishment for marijuana in Oklahoma City gains momentum
A local group said Saturday that a petition to change the penalty for possession of marijuana in Oklahoma City is gaining traction quickly. “The purpose of the petition in Oklahoma City is to take away jail time for the simple possession of marijuana,” said petition proponent Mark Faulk. If passed, the measure would make the punishment for possession of marijuana similar to a traffic violation. “It will reduce it basically to a traffic ticket, $500 or less,” Faulk said. Those who filed the petition said they were on pace to surpass their goal for signatures.
Tulsa County jurors reluctant to hand out death penalty
Reflecting a trend across the nation, Tulsa County jurors are increasingly reluctant to levy the death penalty, handing out the ultimate punishment in just one case filed since 2007, a Tulsa World analysis shows. It’s not for lack of trying by prosecutors, however. Tulsa County prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against nine defendants in murder cases filed since Jan. 1, 2007. Jurors came back with a death penalty in one case, following the 2009 trial of Raymond Eugene Johnson. County juries also gave the death penalty to two other defendants since 2007 in cases filed earlier, records show.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Julie Delcour: An army of caregivers with no basic training
“You don’t know how tough you really are until you’ve had to diaper your own dad,” a friend told me several years ago after we ran into each other at the airport, and I’d asked the perfunctory question: “So, how’s life treating you?” She looked worn out. She’d spent months shuttling between Tulsa and the South, caring for her aging father in his own home — splitting duties with a sister and in-home aides. Her father had been in and out of hospital, and she wasn’t sure honoring his wishes to remain at home was the best. Caring for an invalid parent had proved far more challenging than raising three children. “I’m not always sure I know what I’m doing,” this woman with the mind of a Mensa member and the heart of Mother Teresa confided to me. She is far from alone. At 600,000 strong, family caregivers in Oklahoma outnumber the entire active-duty U.S. Army.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
We’re trying to predict how an 8-year-old will pass a test on one day. These are kids whose very first standardized test is a high-stakes test.
-Sandi Calvin, executive director of elementary education at Union Public Schools, who said the district is keeping portfolios of all students’ work throughout the year to use for good cause exemptions in case they fail the 3rd Grade reading test (Source: http://bit.ly/1nxBhRM)
Number of the Day
3.7 percent
Unemployment rate for Hispanic Oklahomans – vs. 10.3 percent nationally and 2nd lowest among the states, 2012.
Source: US Senate Joint Economic Committee, “America’s Hispanic Population: An Economic Snapshot.”
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
What It’s Like to Be the First Person in Your Family to Go to College
When Harry arrived at Vanderbilt University in 2008, he became the first person in his family to attend college. His parents were immigrants from Nicaragua, and he had attended a so-called “academically and economically disadvantaged” high school on the North side of Miami. Even after completing a rigorous IB program as a high-school student and receiving a scholarship, he arrived on campus feeling like an outsider. “Never before had I truly felt such an extreme sense of estrangement and alienation,” he says of his first few months. “I quickly realized that although I may look the part, my cultural and socio-economic backgrounds were vastly different from those of my predominantly white, affluent peers. I wanted to leave.”.
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