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Oklahoma City to host Jan. 24 “town hall” during National School Choice Week
January 22, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment
A gathering of school choice advocates is on tap for Tuesday, January 24 at Constitution Hall on the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) campus in Edmond. The event is intended, organizer Stuart Jolly said, “to support the future workforce of America.”
In addition to leading school choice advocates from Oklahoma, presenters at the event will include John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, and former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, a former member of Congress from Norman.
The event comes just a few months after national news stories pointed to Oklahoma as an apt metaphor for what advocates dubbed “The Year of School Choice.”
Context for the gathering, and some of the national attention it is gaining in advance of the event, comes from the Sooner State’s recent history.
Choice legislation was enacted both in 2010 — when then-Governor Brad Henry (a Democrat) supported and signed a bill benefitting special needs children – and in 2011, when Governor Mary Fallin (a Republican) supported and signed into law the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act.
In an interview with CapitolBeatOK, Jolly, Oklahoma state director for Americans for Prosperity (AFP) said, “the core appeal, the central issue, is parental rights to choose. Parents simply have the right to select the school to which they send their kids. I’m looking forward to this conference, as we look back to celebrate and support what has already passed in Oklahoma, and what we have planned for the future.”
Americans for Prosperity is a national activist organization that works for limited government and free markets.
Another sponsor of the school choice event is the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a “think tank” that focuses on economic liberty, tax policy and state governance issues.
Concerning this year’s likely or potential legislation at the state Capitol, Jolly reflected, “I expect to see a virtual school bill, a process to create a clearinghouse at the state Department of Education. I believe Senators John Ford [a Bartlesville Republican] and Gary Stanislawski [a Tulsa Republican] may both be pushing that idea. Another proposal is to relieve individual school districts from the burden of negotiating with virtual education providers.”
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Three new charter schools to get millions in Oklahoma funds
January 7, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment
The remaining increase in state aid will be distributed to the state’s 522 school districts and 16 other charter schools.
The new schools are Epic One on One, which received $5.8 million; Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy, $1.9 million; and Cherokee Immersion Charter School, $465,179, records show.
Each December, school districts statewide are notified of adjustments made to their July state aid allocations because of changes in student enrollment and other factors during the first nine weeks of the school year.
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Tulsa Public School dropout rates spike
December 7, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
“We use those alternative education sites and programs as incentive, as a way to bring dropouts back in – either into our virtual school or into our alternative schools. Many times we are successful, many times we are not. Many times they drop out again and we continue to reach out to them to try to bring them back in,” Rodrequez said.
Likewise, Tulsa Met-Franklin, an alternative education school for middle school and junior high students, saw its dropout rate increase from 5.3 percent to 19.5 percent, but its enrollment also spiked 51.5 percent, from 132 to 200 students.
Larry Smith, assistant superintendent for school accountability, told the board that the effort to help at-risk students succeed is worth any negative reflection on TPS’ dropout rates.
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