The edge commission think tanker's comments.

Danen Boyd
Guest User


11/01/2003 02:00:24
I have a concern about the lopsidedness of Oklahoma High Schools. We have many high schools who have a hard time paying things as simple as books, school supplies, and teachers salaries. On the other hand, we have high schools such as Jenks, Tulsa Union, Broken Arrow, etc...., that have so much money they have to find things to spend it on. I'm interested in a state budget that doesn't allow teach lay-offs and doesn't allow frivolous spending by other state high schools.
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Antoinette Harrison
Guest User


11/01/2003 21:33:53
Why do some high schools have more funds than other schools? Is there an unevenness in Boards, hiring practices, Board Selections. We are taining the best teachers than we ever have; yetI believe the best teachers are born not made. We can continue to "train" teach but we still cannot keep those teachers whose talents are outside the classroom from being inside the classroom. Why is this so?
Leona Williams
Guest User


11/03/2003 11:37:51
My daughter and son-in-law have been teachers in Oklahoma for over 25 years. They are dedicated teachers. That is the only reason they are still in Oklahoma. We have a great disparity between funding for schools. It must be equalized, but I am not sure how to accomplish this. Each school district must vote the millage necessary to support their schools. Recently a local school failed by 2 to 1 to support the construction of a new school building, even tho it was needed. What are we to do if the local citizens refuse to support their schools?
Glenn Hayes
Guest User


11/03/2003 14:20:57
I am not an expert, but I have heard that one of the problems with the budgeting process is that schools must spend 98% of their budgets. They can not keep funds in reserve, making it difficult to plan for much for than the norm and with little or no reserves there is little to no flexibility during difficult times.

As far some schools getting more than others, one thing I have found is, schools that hire the best teachers, coaches, reach out to the public and keep the public informed do the best.
Caedmon Ryan
Guest User


11/03/2003 16:40:46
Maybe if the state would generate tax revenue from the biggest black holes in the Oklahoma economy then we would not have to worry about cutting jobs or generating additional funds for our schools. If there was an equal playing fields for all businesses. The Native American casinos and the smoke shops that do not pay tax and send there revenues out of state and the country to stock holders. We as taxpayers are giving money to other states and countries. Other states have regulation over Indian casinos and both parties are compensated look at Kansas.
Tony
Guest User


11/04/2003 22:24:49
The answers always seem to lead to more taxes. Today more money is spent per student per year than ever before.

The stadiums are getting taller, and the fields are getting greener, but the kids are coming out of school dumber and dumber all the time.

Black teenagers who graduate high school have the most trouble because the ones fortunate enough to graduate do so with a middle school reading level. Even in schools that claim to have somewhat adequate funding levels, "smart" is not cool, and so students who don't want to be accused of "not being black enough" would rather fail to learn than to excel. This is the failure of the teacher to lead and encourage young people towards an attitude of excellence.

Meanwhile, most Democrats and some Republicans are opposed to liberating these kids by giving their parents a choice through vouchers. The voucher system has proven to work time and time again, but to some educators, lobbyist, and legislators it is more important to hold on to their jobs than it is to educate students effectively.

I often wonder what it would be like if there were no such thing as a public school. I imagine that the private sector would be clamering to deliver the highest quality education across a variety of highly specialized fields in a manner that would increase the education of this nation's students by ten fold.

It's obvious that as the rest of the world clammers to do our labor, odd jobs, and other tedious task, that the successful people are going to be the ones who have received the best education, even if it's only a high school diploma.


Bill Bauer
Guest User


11/10/2003 00:20:06
Tell you what. My son is educationally handicapped. They gave him a bunch of tests when he was in elementary school and they said he would never be more than 12 years old mentally speaking. He has an IQ of 72. They put him in special education classes and they even tried to put him in ESL (English Second Language) because he is fully bilengual. English and Spanish and is fluent in both. I had to put up a terrible fight to keep them from doing that to him. The reason they wanted to do that was because they get extra money for ESL kids as well as for educationally handicapped kids.

When he got into the 5th grade he was never bringing any homework with him from school so I went and asked the teacher why that was so. She said that his tests show that he will never be any more than a 12 year old kid mentally speaking and he was 12 years old at the time so he had reached his full potential by that time and there simply wasn't any use trying to teach him anymore. So they just let the kids be in school and fight and raise cain in class. No teaching going on at all.

I told that teacher that if they weren't going to teach him anything I was taking him home and home schooling him and I did. I didn't let him go back to school until he was ready for high school and then we put him in Mooe Public Schools instead of OKC schools. They worked miracles with that kid. He was down in Moore schools for 2 years and he learned more in those 2 years than he did in 5 years wasted in OKC schools. Then we put him back in OKC schools to finish his education and he graduated in 2000 but he still couldn't read good or do math or spell good.

Once he started staying home he started being on the computer most all the time. He had to learn to read and write or he couldn't understand what was being said on the computers. And learn he did. He still isn't great but he learned more all by himself than the OKC schools ever taught him.

That should tell us all what our big city schools are worth. Not a plugged nickel. And yet they want more and more and more.

Let them learn how to be teachers first and prove they know what they are doing by turning out some quality kids first. Home schoolers are beating the public schools by miles and miles.

Obviously more money isn't the answer.  ¶ 11:34 PM