Latest news with #OklahomaStateDepartmentofEducation
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Oklahoma Senate confirms Gov. Kevin Stitt's four new state Board of Education nominees
The Oklahoma State Board of Education officially has four new members handpicked by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt as he overhauled the board. The Senate confirmed Stitt's nominations of Michael Tinney, Chris Van Denhende, Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson to the board without debate on Tuesday, May 27. The board governs the Oklahoma State Department of Education and sets policies for K-12 public schools. While Carson was confirmed to the board by a 47-0 vote, the other three nominees all received some pushback from the far-right wing of the Senate's Republican caucus. Tinney, from Norman, was confirmed by a 36-11 vote. Van Denhende, from Tulsa, advanced on a 32-15 vote, and Deatherage, from Kingfisher, by a 33-15 vote. The education board is chaired by Republican state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, but the governor has the power to appoint its six other members. Stitt shook up the board's membership in February, saying it was due to 'ongoing controversy' at the Oklahoma State Department of Education and disappointing standardized test scores. The move also came as Stitt and Walters were increasingly at odds over a wide range of policies, including Walters' proposal to require schools to not just ask for the immigration status of students, but also of their parents. Stitt named Tinney, Deatherage and Van Denhende to the board on Feb. 11 to replace three sitting members. He named a fourth new member, Carson, from Edmond, to fill an open seat on April 28. Walters, who sets the board's agenda, had received no pushback from the board on multiple controversial decisions during his first two years in office, such as issuing a statewide Bible-teaching mandate. That's changed since Stitt appointed Tinney, Deatherage and Van Denhende to the board. During three meetings, the three men have challenged Walters on multiple occasions. Tinney's nomination drew additional interest when the senator from his home district, Sen. Lisa Standridge, R-Norman, declined to carry his nomination, citing her friendship with the board member Tinney replaced, Kendra Wesson. In similar situations, the Senate president pro tempore can carry a nomination, which that title holder, Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, initially declined to do before reversing course before Tinney's confirmation hearing in the Senate Education Committee. Standridge was among the group of senators voting against Tinney's nomination. Van Denhende's confirmation hearing included fiery statements from Paxton, Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, and Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, the committee's chair, who all decried an email campaign aimed at derailing the nomination. The emails sent to Republican members of the committee compared Van Denhende to the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and included personal attacks against Van Denhende and his family. Senators also criticized an anonymous conservative blog post opposing the nomination. Other nominations approved without opposition by the Senate included: • Dennis Casey of Morrison to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Casey, a former lawmaker, district superintendent and championship-winning football coach, has spent the past five years on the board that governs Oklahoma's 25 public colleges and universities and currently serves as its chair. He'll now serve a full nine-year term. • Tracy Poole of Tulsa to the OSU/A&M Board of Regents, which governs Oklahoma State University along with Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami and Connors State College in Warner. Poole, a venture capitalist, will serve an eight-year term. Poole is the founder and managing partner of FortySix Venture Capital in Tulsa. • G. Rainey Williams of Oklahoma City to the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. Williams will serve a seven-year term. He is president of Oklahoma City-based Marco Capital Group, an investment partnership, and serves as chair of the University Hospitals Authority and Trust and the chair of OU Health. The OU board oversees OU campuses in Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa as well as Rogers State University in Claremore and Cameron University in Lawton. • Connie Reilly of Okemah to the Regional University System of Oklahoma board. The vote extended Reilly's tenure on the board, which governs six universities: the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and East Central University in Ada. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Senate confirms four nominees to state Board of Education
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘I don't want my kids hearing that': Oklahoma parents look to opt out of new social studies content
Erica Watkins, center left, joins members of Defense of Democracy Oklahoma, now called We're Oklahoma Education, and LGBTQ+ advocates holding signs opposing state Superintendent Ryan Walters outside the Oklahoma State Department of Education building in Oklahoma City on April 25, 2024. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Frustrated with religious content and polarizing language added to Oklahoma academic standards, some parents say they plan to opt their children out of 'ideologically charged' social studies lessons in public schools. Families and liberal advocates across the state, relying on parental rights laws that Republicans championed, are drafting letters to exempt their children from new social studies content that conservative leaders enacted this year. 'Now that it's being codified and now that it's being brought more into the public eye, the liberals have realized that those are our rights too,' Tulsa parent Lauren Parker said. The 'biggest glaring red flag' in the new social studies standards, Parker said, is language that casts doubt on the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. President Donald Trump has refused to concede defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 race, despite courts across the country dismissing Trump's lawsuits claiming election fraud. Under the new standards, Oklahoma high school U.S. history classes will be required to have students 'identify discrepancies' in the 2020 election results, including the 'sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of 'bellwether county' trends.' State Superintendent Ryan Walters quietly added these claims without acknowledging them until after the standards passed a vote by the Oklahoma State Board of Education. Half of the board later said they were unaware of the new content when they voted on it. A lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court is challenging whether the Education Department and the board followed proper procedures when approving the standards. Parker said she contacted her home district, Tulsa Public Schools, to opt her children out of being taught about 'election fraud that never happened.' She also objected to Walters' new requirements that Oklahoma schools incorporate Bible stories and Jesus' teachings into their curriculum — an effort she views as Christian nationalism and religious indoctrination. 'It literally was one of the most painful experiences of my life growing up in Christianity, and so it's the last thing that I want my daughters to learn about in school,' Parker said. 'Of course, we discuss things, but it's just that this isn't about history and facts. It's about pushing their faith on us, and that's unacceptable. It's un-American.' Walters said he implemented the biblical content not to convert students to Christianity, but to ensure they understand the beliefs that inspired America's core principles and that influenced the country's founding fathers. It's 'concerning that parents would opt their kids out of understanding American history,' Walters said Thursday, but it's a choice they have a right to make. 'We want parents to have opt-outs,' Walters said. 'We want parents to be able to make those decisions. I think that's a bad decision on their part.' Local organization We're Oklahoma Education, or WOKE, is distributing sample opt-out letters through social media. Members of the group are known for regularly attending state Board of Education meetings and protesting Walters. The organization has about 200 active volunteers in Oklahoma and 1,000 followers on its social media and email lists, director Erica Watkins said. Many of them are parents frustrated with Walters' far-right brand of politics and the 'ideologically charged' content he inserted into Oklahoma's academic standards, said Watkins, a mother of two students in Jenks Public Schools. WOKE, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the label Republicans apply to left-leaning opponents, formed as a liberal counter to Moms for Liberty, a conservative national group also focused on education policy. 'If you believe parents know best, then that applies to all parents,' Watkins said. 'And so that's why we went ahead and used the channels that they put in place to push back against some of their more indoctrinating things that they're putting into our schools.' Watkins said her family isn't religious, so she intends to exempt her children from new standards teaching the Bible. She said the 2020 election language is also out of the question. 'I don't want my kids hearing that,' Watkins said. 'That's propaganda, and I don't think it's appropriate to be taught in school.' Stillwater Public Schools parent Saralynn Boren, a WOKE member, said the group first started drafting opt-out letters after Walters invited public schools to use 'pro-America kids content' from the conservative media entity PragerU. The letters also invite parents to opt out of conservative content from Hillsdale College, Turning Point USA and even from 'any interaction' with Walters himself. The group extended the letter template to add social studies standards on Judeo-Christian values, God, the Bible, the 2020 election and other topics. Watkins said they did so after the Republican majority in the state Legislature declined to take action on the academic standards. A GOP-led attempt to disapprove the standards emerged in the state Senate, but the chamber's Republican caucus decided to allow the new content to pass after having a closed-door meeting with Walters. The Senate's leader, President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said he is supportive of parents who are now choosing to opt out of the standards. 'I think we give parents the ability to opt out of lots of things,' Paxton said. 'If that's what they want to opt out of, I would certainly support them being able to do that.' Oklahoma law guarantees parents the right to direct their minor children's education and moral or religious training. Parents are allowed to withdraw their children from any learning material or activity on moral or religious grounds. Boren, of Stillwater, said her past opt-out requests over PragerU were 'well received' by her children's district. Stillwater district spokesperson Barry Fuxa said families always have had the right to choose an alternative assignment or learning material. He told Oklahoma Voice the district has not yet received any opt-out requests over new social studies standards. 'At this time, our response to families with concerns would be to ask them to give us time to learn more about the standards and to allow our admin and teacher teams time to develop plans of how the standards will be implemented in our curriculum,' he said. Tulsa Public Schools also upholds parents' rights to review instructional materials, both under state law and school board policy, the district said in a statement through its spokesperson, Luke Chitwood. Tulsa will spend the 2025-26 school year selecting instructional materials that align with the new social studies standards and will implement the new content in 2026-27, Chitwood said. That selection process will involve teachers, parents and community members, he said. More parental engagement in education is a positive thing, said Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City. But Kirt said she's concerned political divisions are becoming wider. The new academic standards, as well as other efforts supporting state-funded religious education, could be a wedge driving Oklahomans further apart. 'If we have separate schools for everybody who has different beliefs, we're going to have some real challenges about living together and working together and having an economy together,' Kirt said. 'So, I'm worried about how that's going to turn out. But do I want my child learning inaccurate information in their classroom? No, I don't.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oklahoma lawmakers reject Ryan Walters' proposal to track immigrant students
A resolution rejecting state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters' proposal to track immigrant students and their families is on its way to the governor's desk. Senate Joint Resolution 22, which covers proposed education policies, passed without opposition on the House floor on Wednesday, May 21, but not before a long debate about whether to amend the resolution to green light Walters' immigration-check rule. The resolution now awaits the approval of Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has been a staunch critic of the proposal. 'Collecting 6-, 7-, 8-year-old kids' addresses and immigration status in the state of Oklahoma, that's not a public safety issue,' Stitt said in February. 'Let's go after the bad guys, the people that are committing crimes, and let's not terrorize and make our kids not show up at school.' The proposed rule from the Oklahoma State Department of Education, which is led by Walters, would have required schools to seek information about the immigration status of students and their parents during enrollment. Another proposed rule by that agency that's in line for rejection is one that would require Oklahoma teachers to take the U.S. Naturalization Test to renew their teaching license. Attempts to revive Walters' immigration rule were rejected multiple times by lawmakers in recent weeks. On Monday, Rep. Molly Jenkins, R-Coyle, introduced an amendment to do so in the House Administrative Rules Committee, and it failed on a 10-3 vote. On Wednesday, Jenkins tried again, proposing a similar amendment on the House floor. It was ultimately tabled by a 75-12 vote. The House immediately then voted 90-0 to approve the resolution. Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, also tried to revive the rule on the Senate floor earlier in May, but his proposed amendments were tabled. More: Attempt to revive Ryan Walters' immigration-check rule in Oklahoma schools fails Walters, during a news conference at the Capitol on Friday, accused the Legislature and the governor of not being transparent about the issue. 'It's incredibly disappointing that we see the Senate not provide that type of transparency for taxpayers,' Walters said. 'Let's just be real clear. Our rule says that we are going to account for how many taxpayer dollars, how much goes towards illegal immigrants in our schools. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OK lawmakers reject Ryan Walters' proposal to track immigrant students
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Oklahoma schools superintendent: Bibles will be in classes despite no money to buy them
Oklahoma schools superintendent: Bibles will be in classes despite no money to buy them Show Caption Hide Caption Ryan Walters announces $3M request to purchase Bibles for Oklahoma schools Ryan Walters announces a $3 million request to purchase Bibles for Oklahoma schools during OSDE board meeting on Thursday. OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma's top education official is insisting classrooms will all have Bibles by fall, even though the state's Republican-controlled Legislature has no plans to give him the $3 million he requested to buy the books. Whether that — or state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters' broader attempts to require schools to teach from the Bible — will come to fruition could depend on the outcome of multiple lawsuits pending in Oklahoma courts, one of which will soon have an important hearing. Without providing specifics, Walters said during a May 16 news conference that his agency has "already been exhausting multiple avenues" to acquire copies of the Bible. His remarks came days after legislative leaders and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a deal for the fiscal year 2026 budget, dismissing Walters' $3 million request to buy more Bibles despite slightly increasing funding for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. 'The Legislature can put the money there or not," Walters said. "We're going to have a Bible in every classroom this fall. So that's going to happen. So we're doing that. We've been very straightforward on how we're doing that.' Conservative lawmakers across the country have been leading an effort to spread religious teachings to public school classrooms, including introducing the Bible into reading lessons and requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. In Louisiana, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a law in June 2024 directing every public classroom to post the Ten Commandments. The law was later blocked by a federal judge who declared it unconstitutional, and was also challenged by parents and several civil rights groups. In November 2024, Texas officials proposed a curriculum incorporating teachings from the Bible in schools. It's not the first time. GOP leaders are calling for religion in public schools. How Oklahoma school districts responded to Bible mandate Walters announced his Bible-teaching mandate for public schools in June 2024. Most large Oklahoma school districts have largely ignored the directive during the 2024-25 school year. Since then, Walters made multiple attempts to spend up to $3 million in taxpayer money from the 2025 fiscal year's budget to purchase so-called "Trump Bibles," endorsed by President Donald Trump, who has received fees for his endorsement. While Walters' attempts to spend millions of dollars on Bibles have met pushback, Walters' agency purchased 532 Trump Bibles for less than $25,000. Walters said on May 16 that he's had Oklahomans tell him they believe students need to learn how Christian values forged the country's history. "That is absolutely something that I will continue to fight, till every kid understands that the history of America includes the Bible, includes biblical principles," he said. "I mean, my goodness, you would have to walk around with a blindfold throughout American history to not see that." A lawsuit over the mandate and the attempt to purchase Bibles is pending in the Oklahoma Supreme Court. As part of that lawsuit, the state's highest civil court paused Walters' most recent effort to buy Bibles. After the court order, Walters partnered with country music artist Lee Greenwood on a nationwide campaign to encourage donations of Bibles to Oklahoma classrooms. Asked how successful that effort has been, Walters did not offer specifics, saying only "quite a few" Bibles have been donated to the agency. "This is what's amazing about our state and our country," Walters said. "Once we started to say, 'We want to make sure that our kids understand the role the Bible played in American history,' once we started to get this out, once I started to go and talk to folks, and again, it's Oklahoma parents. It's Oklahoma teachers that say: 'Look, we want this.' We have continued to see the generosity of individuals say, 'Hey, if they're not going to fund it, we'll pony up.'" Who is Ryan Walters? What to know about Oklahoma's controversial top educator Oklahoma's new academic standards include religious references Walters also has infused new Oklahoma social studies academic standards with dozens of references to the Bible and the Christian faith. Those standards took effect earlier this month, when the state Senate and House declined to take action on resolutions that would have disapproved them and sent them back to the state Board of Education. Those standards, which include 2020 election-denial language slipped in by Walters, are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a group of Oklahoma taxpayers represented by former state Attorney General Mike Hunter. The lawsuit focuses on the methods used by Walters to push the standards through during a February board meeting. The lawsuit also addresses public concerns voiced by three new board members who said they felt Walters deceived them by making last-minute additions to the standards without notifying them or the public. It contends that board members were not provided enough time to review the revised standards. They were urged against tabling a vote on the standards after Walters falsely told them a vote had to be taken that day to meet legislative deadlines, when the board had two more months to submit the standards to the Legislature for approval. Oklahoma County District Judge Brent Dishman has set a hearing on May 22 to consider a request for a temporary restraining order by the plaintiffs, which, if granted, would halt the implementation of the standards. The timing of that hearing resulted in the monthly state Board of Education meeting, which had been set for May 22, to be moved to May 21. The agenda for that meeting must be posted at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
My biggest problems as a high school teacher ― none were the school's fault
Here we go! It's the obligatory but all-important EDUCATION column. But let's skip the ivory tower talk. I'm writing as a foot soldier ― a teacher who's been in the trenches. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women now make up roughly 60% of the college population. It's one of several reminders that young men are falling behind. But this column isn't just about boys. It's about raising the tide for all boats. Here were the four biggest problems I faced as a high school teacher: 1. Smartphones 2. Absenteeism 3. Sleep deprivation 4. Incomplete homework Let's pause to acknowledge something: Policing these issues isn't the school's job ― it's the parents'. Warning — Put on your bib. On the menu is humble pie. Please, please, please read on. According to Statista, 95% of teenagers now own a smartphone. (Oddly, only 90% of adults do.) These weapons of mass distraction should be regulated with the same urgency we apply to gun safety. While Oklahoma's new Bell-to-Bell-No-Cell law may reduce screen time during school hours, the rest is on parents. Next up: Attendance. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, 1 in 5 students is chronically absent, meaning they miss at least 10% of the school year. Parents, it's your job to get your kids to the school's front doors every morning. And guess what? There's a free Uber-like service already in place. It's called the school bus. More: Worried about porn in libraries? Do you know what your child is looking at on their phone? If your child is sleeping through class, they're effectively absent. Kids are young mammals. And all young mammals need sleep. What's your household policy? A.) Lights out and phones off, or B.) Midnight scroll-a-thons and TikTok marathons? As for homework, there's a direct correlation between doing it and succeeding in the classroom. Do parents need to be tutors? Absolutely not. There are hundreds of excellent YouTube videos on every subject. But someone still needs to proctor the homework habit. While I have your attention, the icing on the cake would be weed-free, polite kids who come to school with an attitude to learn. These are your family's representatives ― not the school's. Now, schools ― it's your turn. You've been entrusted with educating the next generation of CEOs, community leaders and public servants. Even the future president of the United States is a student somewhere. The stakes couldn't be higher. Every other year, the NAEP issues the 'Nation's Report Card,' testing fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide in reading and math. Contrary to popular belief, it does not rank states 1–50. But here's how Oklahoma performed: Reading proficiency ― fourth grade: 23% (national average: 30%); eighth grade: 20% (national average: 29%) Math proficiency ― fourth grade: 31% (national average: 39%); eighth grade: 17% (national average: 27%) If you must know how Oklahoma ranks nationally, try 43rd, 48th and 49th ― per U.S. News & World Report, EdWeek and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, respectively. Rather than focus on the fundamentals of reading and math, too many decision-makers seem more interested in sparking culture wars with trigger words like "woke agenda," "Bibles" and "terrorists." It's like jangling keys to distract from what really matters. God forbid educators hold themselves accountable. More: I'm a former high school teacher. We need DEI, but discourse must center on civility | Opinion And here's a stat you don't hear much about: According to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, per-student spending has risen from $9,067 in 2017 to $13,736 in 2024. That's a 51% increase! Even accounting for temporary federal COVID relief (which ended last September), that's significant. All the money went to teacher pay and smaller classrooms. I'm JOKING! State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters and school districts, when ― if ever –― does the buck stop with you? After 38 years in Los Angeles, K. John Lee recently boomeranged back to his Oklahoma roots. He is a financier, real estate investor, former high school teacher and a father of two young men. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Schools can't fix all the problems with education | Opinion
