Proposed education budget leaves schools in a hole

Educating school-age children is the state of Oklahoma’s biggest responsibility. But in recent years, our investment in education has been on a severe decline. Since 2008, Oklahoma has made the third largest cuts to per pupil spending in the nation,… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s public schools have relatively low administration costs

A breakdown of Oklahoma's school spending by category shows that shuffling dollars around won't fix the funding shortfall. There are simply not enough savings to be found from cutting administration to significantly improve funding for instruction, and even while spending on administration remains low, administrative burdens on schools have increased due to new mandates approved by lawmakers. [More...]

Upcoming Event: FOCU$ on Education Forum

The Oklahoma League of Women Voters is hosting “FOCU$ on Education!”, a panel discussion about the importance of funding public education in Oklahoma. Panelists include David Blatt from the Oklahoma Policy Institute; Sharon Rodine from the Oklahoma Institute for Child… Read more [More...]

New report examines 30 years of education reform efforts in Oklahoma (Guest Post: Kathy McKean)

Kathy McKean is the director of the Oklahoma Technical Assistance Center, which provides evaluation and professional development to Oklahoma schools. The drive to improve education that began with the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 has continued for… Read more [More...]

Educational Reform in Oklahoma since 1980

Download the full report Download the Executive Summary Changes in Oklahoma’s education system in recent years are just the latest in a long line of reforms going back decades. As we debate this latest batch of reforms, some important questions… Read more [More...]

What the Texas backlash against high-stakes testing means for Oklahoma (Guest Blog: John Thompson)

Dr. John Thompson taught for 19 years in Oklahoma City.  He blogs for This Week in Education, the Huffington Post, School Matters, Living in Dialogue, and elsewhere.  His book, Getting Schooled: Battles Within and Without the Urban Classroom, is under… Read more [More...]

New issue brief examines how the third grade retention law will affect Oklahoma students and schools

In 2011, Oklahoma amended the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA) to ban social promotion (promoting a child based on age rather than academic achievement). The new law requires schools to retain students who do not pass a reading test and do… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s New Third Grade Retention Law

In 2011, Oklahoma amended the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA) to ban social promotion (promoting a child based on age rather than academic achievement). A new issue brief by OK Policy and CAP Tulsa provides an in-depth analysis of how this law will affect Oklahoma students and schools. Read more. [More...]

What’s unaffordable?

In her 2013 State of the State address, Governor Mary Fallin reiterated her opposition to accepting federal dollars to provide coverage to uninsured Oklahomans through Medicaid, as provided under the Affordable Care Act. In states that extend Medicaid, the federal… Read more [More...]

Severe education funding cuts threaten Oklahoma’s economic future

Oklahoma has made some of the deepest cuts to funding for local schools of any state in the country. These cuts have serious consequences for educational quality and economic growth. Read more. [More...]