Oklahoma has been in trouble for a while now. Governor Mary Fallin, besides not understanding some of the fundamentals of our system of government, like most Republicans, finds her state circling a toilet bowl as the result of stupid conservative policies. A couple of months ago, the Oklahoma Senate put together Senate Bill 1187. The idea was to “free” public schools from government regulation, and how were they going to do that?
Elimination of the teacher's minimum salary schedule.
Elimination of the requirement for school districts to participate in the Oklahoma Teacher's Retirement System (OTRS).
Elimination of school district provided health insurance.
Elimination of criminal background checks on school employees.
Elimination of teacher evaluation and due process protections.
Elimination of payroll deduction.
Elimination of due process protections for support staff.
Elimination of all certification requirements for all school district positions.
Elimination of negotiations between a school district and employees.
Elimination of student curriculum requirements.
Elimination of required continuing education for local board of education members.
Campaign Action
Good idea. Amiright? Fucking teachers and their stupid teaching! SB 1187 has passed through the Oklahoma Senate, because of course it did. A couple of months later the bill was put on hold indefinitely, because it’s Oklahoma, and the Republican Party is such a shit show these days they can’t even properly deny how racist they are. At the beginning of this year, Oklahoma’s public schools dodged a bullet when money was discovered in an education fund that stemmed a purported $19.1 million cut—yes, no one knew about it, that’s how insane Oklahoma is right now. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s teachers make less than virtually every other state in the Union. Can it get worse? Yes. Yes it can:
The department said lawmakers failed to appropriate funding for textbooks during the fiscal year beginning July 1st.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister spoke out saying students will be forced to use "outdated and tattered school books held together by duct tape."
The 13-member state textbook committee is expected to consider the recommendation of delaying textbook selection by a year at a special meeting later this month.
This is from a school system that had a terrible problem with textbooks being kept together with duct tape—literally—only two years ago.
Pathetic.
