OKPOLICY.ORG
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can find past Capitol Updates archived on his website.
There’s a published story last week by eCapitol reporter Christie Southern about an education study released by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The 2-year study of education in various countries by a bipartisan panel of legislators and staff from 28 states alarmingly finds that “according to the latest data, out of the 65 countries, the U.S. placed 24th in reading, 36th in math and 28th in science. Another report, which looked at millennials in the workplace, placed the U.S. last in problem solving, according to NCSL.”
NCSL is a bipartisan national organization of state legislators and legislative staff that exists to help states develop sound governing policies by providing information and ideas through research and discussion. One of the members of the panel studying education was our own Sen. John Ford (R-Bartlesville), Chair of the Senate Education Committee for the past several years.
Sen. Ford was quoted in the report expressing his frustration that “many states have implemented individual education reforms but have not accomplished the results hoped for. One of the most important lessons I have learned during this study is the value of having a well thought out and widely accepted vision that includes the coordination of multiple reforms to produce a world-class education system.” He was likely referring to some of the education “reform” legislation that has passed in Oklahoma recently only to be later repealed or heavily amended.
The NCSL report debunks the excuses we’ve used in the past to explain why the programs developed in other countries won’t work here such as “we educate everyone” and “take out poor kids for better results” and “these nations are all homogeneous and we are very heterogeneous.” NCSL had a strong influence many years ago in Oklahoma during the early development of what later became HB 1017, the Education Reform and Revenue Act of 1990. I hope the ideas in this recent NCSL report gain some traction in Oklahoma and help form the broad political backing to give our educators the support they need and our kids the education they deserve. I think our people are ready.
