Education
Stitt Cabinet official’s concerns over Oklahoma education agency finances prompted resignation
OKLAHOMA CITY — The governor’s former education secretary said she resigned from her position after three months because the state superintendent’s administration limited her oversight of his agency. Katherine Curry said she repeatedly asked for financial documents showing how the agency budgeted and spent money, but the Oklahoma State Department of Education never provided them. […]
New law blocks local school board members from joining Oklahoma’s top education board
OKLAHOMA CITY — State lawmakers hope a new law that takes effect Wednesday will limit potential conflicts of interest between the state’s top school board and local districts. House Bill 2678 prohibits the appointment of a local school board member to the Oklahoma State Board of Education, which supervises the state’s public education system. The […]
Opinion: Sudden exodus of textbook publishers should alarm Oklahomans
Parents, business owners and taxpayers should be alarmed that qualified math textbook publishers no longer want to do business in Oklahoma. Somehow Oklahoma’s education climate has become so abhorrent, controversial and politicized in the past year that companies specializing in teaching children how to count apples and bananas and calculate the shortest distance to grandma’s […]
Oklahoma’s top school board denies requests to change trans students’ gender records
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday denied two requests to change students’ gender markers on school records. The requests came from Cushing Public Schools and Moore Public Schools. A student in each district obtained a court order from district judges to change their gender markers on all records. Although State […]
Native American education council still short on members despite legislative effort
OKLAHOMA CITY — As an advisory board on Native American education approaches a milestone year, the group is still hamstrung by a lack of members. The 18-person Oklahoma Advisory Council on Indian Education has seven vacancies despite recent legislation intended to improve the member appointment process. The council and the Oklahoma State Department of Education […]
No more attending classes: These community colleges let students learn at their own pace.
Jaqueline Yalda, who has been a campus police officer at El Paso Community College in Texas for a decade, sought a promotion earlier this year. But first, the department required her to complete a college-level course in criminal justice. It had been many years since Yalda had taken any college classes. And at age 38, […]
Oklahoma Tax Commission approves rules for school choice tax credits
OKLAHOMA CITY — Rules to implement the state’s new school choice tax credits advanced Tuesday, though questions about the program’s accessibility still persist at the state Capitol. Gov. Kevin Stitt now has 45 days to OK the rules after the Oklahoma Tax Commission voted unanimously to approve them. The regulations are automatically rejected if the […]
Textbook publishers withdraw from Oklahoma as fight over classroom content grows
OKLAHOMA CITY — An increasingly politicized fight over what is taught in public schools has caused growing alarm that Oklahoma, as a result, could be losing out on quality textbook publishers and curriculum providers, including one of the few companies that tailors its materials to the state’s academic standards. Already eight companies have withdrawn from […]
Oklahoma attorney general files lawsuit to overturn Catholic charter school approval
OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorney General Gentner Drummond has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to overturn the state’s approval of the first religious charter school in the nation. Drummond filed a lawsuit on Friday with the Court against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. He urged justices to intercede as the Catholic virtual charter school […]
Gov. Kevin Stitt fills two vacancies on Oklahoma State Board of Education
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Kevin Stitt on Friday appointed two men to fill the remaining vacancies on the state’s top school board. Stitt announced he’s appointing local school board member Zach Archer and Alex Gray, a former Trump administration official, to the seven-member Oklahoma State Board of Education. Both appointees will ultimately need to be […]
Absenteeism a chronic issue in Oklahoma and U.S. schools
OKLAHOMA CITY — Math was a struggle for Jami Cole throughout her years of schooling, and she can pinpoint exactly where it began. While her first-grade classmates learned foundational math skills, Cole was sick in the hospital for months of the school year. The same thing happened again in third grade. While her teacher covered […]
Oklahoma lawmakers review possible bans on college diversity, inclusion programs
OKLAHOMA CITY — Legislation to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Oklahoma colleges could return to the state Capitol next year, despite these initiatives being mandatory for public universities. Conservative speakers at a Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday provided model legislation for state lawmakers to use as a template to ban public universities […]