It is no
secret that I am an Oklahoma girl. I love my state, like really love it. I love
our history, I love our natural beauty, and I love the people. Oklahomans are
the epitome of Southern hospitality.
They’ll go above and beyond to help their neighbors in need and
unfortunately, that is a rare occurrence these days. Want to know what I (and
many others) don’t love about our state? Our education system. . .
In the last
18 years, our schools and our scores have deteriorated. Oklahoma scored a
staggering D+ (68.3%) in the Education
Week report card for 2017, which ranks Oklahoma 47th
in the nation. Talk about disheartening. Why are Oklahoma students and Oklahoma
schools so far behind? Negligent lack of funding for education? Is it due to a
deficiency of skilled instructors? Uninvolved parents? Lackluster
administration and school boards? Honestly, I believe it is a combination of
all the above.
There have
been SIX revenue failures
since 2000. That means budget cuts have occurred six times over the last 17
years. This means that the total spent per student has decreased and
“rebounded” to almost the same amount during that time. In 2000, OK
spent $7,917 per student, today, they are spending $8,083, but there are many
years were they spend less. In an age of digital learning, how can we not
provide our students with the tools they will need to succeed? At the very
least, we should be providing them with updated materials and textbooks. My
local school has not received new books since I was in school! At this rate,
Porter could have the same exact education that I had, which was fine for me,
but times have changed. My history books did not mention 9/11 or the war that
followed afterwards. My science books still have Pluto listed as a planet, not
a dwarf planet. There have been so many advancements
since the millennium and yet they remain unknown to our children because their
teacher’s do not have updated materials. Teacher’s today depend on BoxTops for education for basic
classroom necessities. Let me reiterate this, teachers and students have to
clip box tops from grocery items to FUND THEIR CLASSROOMS. How did we, as
parents, students, teachers, administrators and legislators let it get this
bad?!
A few years
ago, I had a younger cousin (who attends the same school I attended) ask for
some help with her algebra homework. I have an affinity for all things math and
science related so I agreed to help her. When she brought over her homework it
comprised of two pieces of paper that had handwritten (poorly, I might add! I
had a difficulty reading some of the numbers) problems to be solved. I asked
her if I could look at her book because the book will show step-by-step
instructions on how to solve these problems, but she told me that she was not
allowed to bring it home because there were not enough books for each student!
Shocked, I asked what happens if you need an example to look off of or an
answer to check your work and she told me that she would have to wait until the
beginning of the next class period to look at her book and hopefully it would
be enough time before the teacher took up the homework. Thankfully, I found a
website that walked me through a similar lesson so we figured it out, but there
are many students who are not as fortunate. This was 3 years ago and these
students are using the exact same textbooks.
I keep
seeing pictures shared by students that show broken desks, leaking ceilings,
destroyed books and outdated materials. Art teachers cannot teach art because
the school cannot afford paint, construction paper and other materials. PE
teachers have to fill in as substitute teachers if a teacher is out sick so
students miss PE time. Biology and chemistry classes cannot do experiments
because the lab equipment is too expensive to maintain. How are these students
going to fare in College if we cannot prepare them in the most basic of ways?
We are
losing qualified teachers every year.
Not just qualified, but good teachers. Oklahoma issued 1,160 emergency teacher
certificates in 2017. That is
1,160 “teachers” who have never taken an education or childhood psychology
course. These emergency certified teachers are babysitting our children while
qualified teachers are moving states or quitting the profession altogether. Not
only are our teachers not compensated fairly, they are then expected to supply
their own classrooms with their insignificant salary. Schools have limits or
bans on the amount of copy paper one can use or whether or not a class can take
a field trip because they’ll have to purchase the bus fuel and pay the driver
out of their own pocket.
Do you know
what these current students will be doing in 10-20 years? They’ll be our
accountants, pharmacists, police officers and our teachers, but only if we give
them the primary education that will allow them to be successful later on in
life.
This is not
a Republican vs. Democrat issue. This isn’t even a people with children in
public schools vs. people who do not have children in public schools issue. This
is an Oklahoma crisis. I don’t have an answer on how to solve this mess. I’m
not even qualified to give an opinion (READ: I haven’t researched possible
funding revenues from trusted and reputable sources). What I do know, is that
if we don’t do something soon, we are failing our students. We are failing our
communities.
What can we
do moving forward? Get involved. Demand that our lawmakers listen to us. Vote for
legislators who know the importance of education, but also the importance of a
balanced budget. Vote for school board members who are EDUCATED and who
understand business processes. Check in with your children’s teachers and hold
them accountable for what your children are learning. Save your boxtops, volunteer
when needed and most of all be compassionate to educators. They are fighting
for all our children, grandchildren and the future of Oklahoma.
