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So You Think School Choice Will Solve Education Issues In Oklahoma? James Lindsay Wants You To Think Again…

http://www.alec.org/issue/education

“School choice is going to be very popular – it’s gonna poll very well – it has an enormous…everybody’s ‘spidey’ sense should be tingling because of  how much money’s behind the school choice lobby.  Like who writes your checks?  Why on earth is so much money being dumped into this school choice lobby?” 

James Lindsay via Unwokeable.

Ever wonder why James Lindsay was the greatest thing since sliced bread when he was going after CRT, but after he began talking about the false choice of school choice, his influence has disappeared in Oklahoma?  Hint:  our HUGE school choice mafia – I mean lobby – don’t want YOU to hear what he has to say, lest it hurt their plans to make all schools public schools.

If you like James Lindsay and like what he has to say about DEI, CRT and all the other nonsense feeding into our public schools and society, you had BETTER listen to this podcast.  Here, Mark Ousley (Unwokeable) and James Lindsay discuss why the School Choice movement is a FALSE MOVEMENT and why.  Don’t have time to listen?  Put on your airpods and listen while you work.  THIS IS IMPORTANT.

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The Frontier Newspaper Blasts Oklahoma’s Every Kid Counts For Not Disclosing Its Donors, But There’s More

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/billionaire-philanthropists-pushing-charter-schools-and-school-vouchers-also-fund-oklahomas-secretary-of-educations-six-figure-salary/

Though The Frontier blasts Every Kid Counts Oklahoma (EKCO) for not disclosing their donors, the real story here appears to be that an Oklahoma non-profit embroiled in controversy on several levels has no publicly-filed 990 since 2019.  Though there are Republicans who might dismiss information ferreted out by The Frontier as ‘biased’ or ‘ax-grinding’, the research I’ve been doing independently for some time, supports most reports made by The Frontier.

Here’s what I have found – including as always – screen shots and URL locations where you can find this information for yourself and not take my word, or the word of an ‘independent’ newspaper supported by funds from enormous leftist Tulsa donors, including Kaiser and Schusterman. 

ECKO – BEGINNINGS

{All information listed is from documents filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s Office unless otherwise mentioned.}

12.6.2016 – The beginning of ECKO lies with a non-profit organization founded in December of 2016 called Upward Oklahoma, Inc.  It’s purpose was to engage in “various charitable, educational, and scientific activities in the state of Oklahoma”.  

Secretary of State filings show that the Registered Agent was Brett Farley (now Executive Director of the Catholic Conference) addressed from a post office box at the Post Office on Covell in Edmond.

The principle Incorporators were Brett Farley, Cordon DeKock (former Vice-President of Political Affairs for the Oklahoma State Chamber), addressed at 330 NE 10th Street (the address for the Oklahoma State Chamber) and Jason Reese (former General Counsel to Governor Stitt) addressed at 100 Park Avenue Suite 500.  Upward Oklahoma’s Directors are listed as the same three men.

2.10.2017 – February 10th, 2017, An Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Upward Oklahoma Inc. was made, describing it as a 501(c)(3) entity officing from the 10th Floor of Two Leadership Square and the Registered Agent as McAfee & Taft A Professional Corporation.  At that time, Jennifer Carter (former Chief of Staff to former State Superintendent Janet Barresi and Senior Advisor for American Federation for Children Oklahoma) and Kyle Beauregard (a tax manager from Oklahoma) were added to the list of incorporators.

3.30.2020 – Upward Oklahoma is re-named ECKO (Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, Inc.).

Interestingly, the Scissortail Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that houses the Choice Matters school choice program headed, until recently, by Robert Ruiz (now the Executive Director of External Affairs At Oklahoma City Community College) and funded in large part by grants from the Walton Foundation, filed for trade name reports for ECKO and Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, January 14th, 2020.  March 30, 2020, both were withdrawn.

Under the March 30 filing, the business is described as being located at 16212 Sonoma Park Drive in Edmond (a building housing Atlas Construction) and Trent Smith (Governor Stitt appointee to the Oklahoma State School Board) is listed as ‘President’.  Smith’s LinkdIn account also verifies that he carried this title.  AJ Griffin (former state Senator and Director of Government and Community Affairs for PayCom) is listed as the Secretary of ECKO.

12.3.2021 – Finally, in December of 2021, the address for ECKO is changed to 309 NW 13th Street, Suite 103, OKC (the site of the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center) and the President is listed as Jake Yunker (former Policy Director for Governor Mary Fallin and the President of the Board of ECKO) and the Treasurer listed as Cory Christofferson (Vice-President of Corporate Banking at Bank of Oklahoma and ECKO Board Member)

ECKO – TAX FILING

From 2016 to 2019, it appears that Brett Farley dutifully posted 990-N postcards for the non-profit Upward Oklahoma from the post office box on Covell.

But after that – filing stops.  The IRS has no record of anything filed after 2019.

ECKO – TAXES AND TIMELINE

From 2016 until March of 2020 when Upward Oklahoma is re-named Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, little seems to have happened in the life of the organization.  In fact, it looks like the State Chamber and friends were considering a new school choice venture at some point and secured a non-profit filing with the Secretary of State toward that end.  In fact, a June 26, 2020, press release verifies that “Oklahoma Achieves Transitions To [a] New Reform Initiative” called “Every Kid Counts”.

No harm, no foul – lots of people create organizations, even changing names and personnel along the way.  

The State Chamber ran the initiative, Oklahoma Achieves, from 2013 to 2020 – fighting FOR the Common Core State Standards along the way – and hiring Secretary of Education Ryan Walters in May of 2019.  Walters then became CEO of the transition initiative ECKO. 

There is no line item on the Oklahoma Achieves 990 filing for 2019 for a ‘Ryan Walters’ salary and the IRS has no public 2020 990 filing for Oklahoma Achieves at all.  Walters worked for Achieves until he was named CEO of ECKO in the summer of 2020.

This is also the case with ECKO – there are no public IRS filings for 2020 or 2021 for an organization that – today – reports having six employees, (though according to their LinkdIn profiles, it appears 2 may be contract employees and 3 were hired in 2021 – April, August and December) and CEO – Ryan Walters – who makes over $100,000 dollars per year. 

According to The Frontier, Every Kid Counts produced ‘tax forms’ (there was no specific information provided as to what kind or for what year) after a month of asking.  They also report these ‘tax forms’ showed that ECKO raised just under $140,000 in 2020 – nothing is reported for 2021.  Of interest on those ‘tax forms’ should be the salaries and expenses of ECKO compared to the $140,000 raised.  Where’s that information?

ECKO – DONORS

I’m going to make this very clear:  I don’t fault any non-profit for raising funds – that’s what a non-profit does to advance their mission statement.  I do think, however, that the public should know who the largest donors of non-profits are, as that provides an idea of that organization’s political lean.  

Our organization also believes that if Ryan Walters is directing education policy as the Governor Stitt-appointed Secretary of Education, his work for an education non-profit (501(c)(3)) where there is a LOT of crossover, should be 100% transparent because of the ethics concerns this type of situation generates – how easy is to push the agenda of ECKO through legislative policy when the CEO of ECKO is a legislative liaison?  

The Frontier has reported that some of ECKO’s funds come from The Walton Foundation.  This I cannot corroborate.  The Walton Foundation has a very transparent search tool in their grant database that identifies the organizations to which they donate and no search ever returned a grant for “Every Kid Counts” or “ECKO”.  The Walton Foundation filed an extension on their 2020 990’s and don’t have a publicly filed 2021 990 via the IRS, so there was no way to corroborate via that method either.  

The Walton Foundation DID provide a total donation of $500,000 for Oklahoma Achieves over three years (2017, 2019, 2020), however, under the name Oklahoma Education Excellence Initiative.  If the Walton grant was given to ECKO under a different name, I didn’t find that either. 

I did locate a $10,000 donation to ECKO from the Koch/Walton start-up non-profit, Yes. Every kid, for 2020.

It is of interest that the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center – the building in which ECKO offices, has received MILLIONS of dollars from The Walton Foundation over the years, but then OPSCR is very transparent that it is funded via “annual membership fees [and] 4 foundations that fund the OPSRC: The George Kaiser Family Foundation, The Inasmuch Foundation, The Charles & Lynn Schusterman Foundation, & The Walton Family Foundation.”  According to the filed 990 for 2020, OPSCR collected 3.7 million dollars in funding.  It also had a payroll of 1.3 million and gave grants to schools in excess of 2.6 million dollars.

Suffice it to say, ECKO has a long, interesting history and discovering exactly how ECKO has supported Ryan Walter’s $100,000 + salary and numerous employees on the $140,000 reported by The Frontier, has raised more questions for yet another blog.  

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Far Left American Library Association Urges EVERYONE To Report “Threats To The Freedom To Read” While Defending 10 Most Challenged Books

Today I opened the American Libraries Association (ALA) “State Of American Libraries Report” to find that not only is the ALA rabidly defending sexually explicit texts, ALA President Patty Wong reminds readers that, “ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom encourages everyone to report any and all challenges to materials, online resources (including databases), programs, speakers, displays, reading lists, and author visits. No matter is too insignificant.”

Ms. Wong also posits that, “As book challengers try to ban materials they believe tell an unflattering version of our country’s history, they are restricting us from books that support equity, diversity, and inclusion.”

Interesting take.  

Here are the 10 most challenged  books from 2021 compiled from 729 challenges to over 1000 books – up from 156 in 2020 in graphic form as found in the annual report.

Here is a graphic compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom regarding the reasons why the 10 books were challenged.

What is the LARGEST reason for reporting a book challenge?  The books were found to be SEXUALLY EXPLICIT.  

Here are a few photos from the book Gender Queer:

To get the real flavor of Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”, watch former state senator Josh Brecheen read a portion of the book on the floor of the Senate during the vote for the bill that repealed the Common Core State Standards from Oklahoma law in 2014 at minute mark 8:28.  Poor Josh had to spell most of the passage and was even embarrassed to do that!  That’s how sexually explicit The Bluest Eye is.

Now let’s not forget, Ms. Wong told us that book ‘banners’ are “restricting us from books that support equity, diversity, and inclusion”.  So how is that Ms. Wong?  Does equity = sexually explicit material?  What about diversity?  Does diversity = sexually explicit material?  Wait, inclusion must.  Inclusion must = sexually explicit material!  Obviously, Ms. Wong is framing her horror about book challenges completely out of context.  Odd for a librarian who should understand context, huh?  So maybe it’s less about context and more about foisting an agenda of sexually explicit literature on our kids.

In an interesting note; ahead of the 10 most challenged book list, the ALA put out a press release to name the books and include a survey, commissioned by the ALA, to show that ‘Voters Oppose Book Bans‘ and have a “near-universal high regard for librarians and recognition of the important role that local public libraries and school libraries play in communities.”

A former published scientist, I love to laugh at ‘surveys’, because results fully depend upon 3 factors:  1. what population was polled for the survey (where in the country do they live, etc.)  2. the number of people polled for the survey (the larger the sample size the more predictive of the community as a whole)  and 3. how the survey questions are asked (was pertinent information included or were the questions missing information).

The library survey included only 1000 people called ‘voters’, and 472 parents of children in public school, all who were a mix of Democrats, Republicans, Independents.  Importantly – we’re not told if the sample was an EQUAL mix of each category, or where in the country the survey was taken.  In addition, none of the questions asked about banning books contained the words “SEXUALLY EXPLICIT” just “objectionable” and “upsetting”.  Unsurprisingly, most anyone then should consider this survey at best a fun exercise and at worst disingenuous to its core.

Parents, it’s high time you understood that the ALA and most libraries are COMPLETELY LEFT in their ideology and not at all interested in supporting a Christian notion of family. 

Apparently they’re interested instead in a notion of inclusivity, diversity and inclusion that all seems to add up to the force-feeding of sexually explicit literature into our children through school and public libraries. 

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Sports VS Education – Do We Really Care About Education As Much As We Do Sports?

Not long ago, I off-handedly created a meme that went viral. It basically said that if Oklahomans worried more about the education of our children than who was going to be OU’s next head coach, we’d start taking our country back.

I don’t hate sports: I coached middle school girls softball for 3 years, the second oldest daughter was in a traveling basketball league several years, the next youngest girl played softball nearly all her time in elementary school and the two boys played a bit of baseball.

Here’s the problem: a focus on sports that eats into, or usurps academics, and that problem is enormous.

As a teacher I saw it often. In middle school I had a parent who literally told me she didn’t care about her child’s grades because he was going to play basketball and wouldn’t need an education.

An extension of this thought process comes to light when you talk to college professors. Many will tell you that, often, sports ‘stars’ will send surrogates to class for them so they don’t have to attend or do the work themselves. It’s all done with a wink and a nod and accepted as ‘the way it is’ because, well, sports and all the money athletics brings into the school. DON’T FORGET: money and power are the drivers of nearly every rotten thing.

 As a high-school science teacher, I had a basketball star in my Ecology class one year. He did nothing but fall asleep in the back row. Consequently, he received the ‘F’ he deserved, making him ineligible for play that week. After the ineligible list was published, the mother called the principal and the principal called me into the office. I was to meet the mother before class – at 7am – each Wednesday morning to discuss what her son needed to do to stay on the eligible list for that week.

Three weeks of meetings and the student still wasn’t putting in enough effort to get above a ‘D’. During the last meeting, the mother told me that the reason the son wasn’t making the eligible list was because I was a racist (and this was in the early 90’s!) and she would have him moved to another class.

Of course the principal moved the boy to a class where he – and the rest of the team – could stay eligible. I never received an apology for the mother’s actions, nor was the child ever made to perform at grade level. Problem solved.

This example, frankly typified much of my teaching career in public schools, unfortunately – parents threw a fit, student got what they wanted and teacher was the one punished in the end.

Sports can teach valuable lessons, this is true, but not when sports become the idol of the school or the family and, sadly, this case is more often than not, while academics becomes relegated to last place.

Taxpayers don’t own their own property, in part, thanks to the MASSIVE school bond issues passed to create multi-million dollar sports facilities for high schools. School budgets strain disproportionately toward sports (in many schools) and administration, when those dollars could better used for tutors, more challenging curricula and teachers with Master’s degrees in subject areas – not courses on how to teach.

Yet, in a blind grope to increase academic output, the state and federal governments continually usurp power over parents and the community by creating law after law to the point that the hands of all those concerned become tied, making it impossible to create changes for the betterment of students even if they wanted to. 

Look at Title 70 – the section of law referring to public education in Oklahoma – it is enormous and convoluted, to my point.

Truly, there are but two ways to ‘save’ public education: for governments to stop trying to control the practice – and for better or worse – hand it back to the communities to which it makes the most difference, and for parents to assume full responsibility for their own children. 

But yet, human nature will never allow that to happen… governments necessarily want to control, human nature allows parents to let them and the cycle continues unabated.

Until we understand that PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is the key to freedom and happiness and that this character trait – though it flies in the face of our lazy natures – is our ULTIMATE CONTROL over every aspect of our lives, human beings will forever be doomed to control by those who crave control and our system of public schools will never produce the results we expect.

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Parents Have To Parent – It’s A Tough Job To Be Sure – But No One Can Do It But You

The other morning I read a horrible news story about a 12yo girl who was beaten and tortured by 2 other 12yo girls at what was supposed to be a ‘sleep over. That is a horrible situation and the girls must be punished – but let’s talk honestly here.

How many parents know the families of the children with whom their children interact? Sorry to say, I expect MOST don’t.

Sadly – and factually – most all the nonsense going on in public schools about which parents have (rightly) complained, could have been solved by parent involvement at even the basic level of knowing the families of their children’s friends – yet I will go so far as to say that a majority of parents have abdicated so much of the responsibility of caring for their children to the now-government-sponsored systems of daycare and school, that knowing the families of their children’s friends is simply meaningless and unnecessary to them.

How could I make such a statement? I’ve seen it firsthand.

I taught science for 7 years in the public system and 3 years at a homeschool coop. In between those years, I sat on the PTA of our kid’s government elementary before they were pulled to become educated at home. Consequently, I have about 30 years of involvement in many different forms and levels of education.

In EVERY educational situation in which I’ve found myself, I’ve seen FEW parents actually interact with the education of their children.

In fact, there’s even a segment of parents who call themselves “homeschoolers’ who simply drop their children off at ‘coop’ and go about their merry way – they don’t interact with other families, help with coop duties, or even inquire as to how their kids are doing in their subjects – they simply EXPECT others to do their job for them because, for whatever reason, they can’t or won’t do it for themselves.

Since the 1960’s and LBJ’s War On Poverty – where the government offered the benevolent hand of government to ‘help’ families care for themselves – we’ve seen SKYROCKETING dissolution of families, SKYROCKETING single-parenting and SKYROCKETING abandonment of even basic parental duties. 

Why would a couple stay together when they can get ‘free’ money from the government to raise their kids separately? Why would a parent make the effort to educate or feed their children when the government does it for them without them having to expend any effort to do so? ‘Free’ daycare, ‘free’ education, ‘free’ lunch… the government programs are endless.

Human nature tends toward laziness – it’s the main reason we have technology – our very nature tells us we have to “work smarter, not harder”.  Consequently, when the government inserts its ‘helpful’ hand, society is destroyed. 

Solomon said, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece” (Proverbs 16:27) because humans will – by and large – attempt to do very little work. Once we don’t HAVE to keep ourselves fed, or clothed, or a roof above our heads, we’ll simply stop trying and allow others to do those jobs for us.

Then comes the death spiral; government provides ‘help’ to citizens, citizens stop providing for themselves, personal responsibility fails, government increases to counteract the lack of personal responsibility by creating more and more laws, citizens become oppressed, free society falls.

America is in this death spiral – and at this point we may not be able to recover. 

If we ARE going to recover, however, MORE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IS NOT THE ANSWER. The answer is MORE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

So here’s my request: If your child is in a government school of any kind – get them out and assume the responsibility of educating them yourself without excuses. In this way, citizens can create lifeboats of self-educated families and individuals who can then extend a hand to those who need help exiting the system for whatever reason through their church or other non-governmental group.

Taking control of the personal responsibility for our own actions and consequences (and modeling this for our children and others) is THE ONLY WAY to improve ourselves and this country in a lasting way for generations to come.

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Oklahoma Education Liberty Coalition Statement Opposing The Advancement of Public Funds Into Private Education:

Oklahoma Education Liberty … by Reclaim Oklahoma Parent Emp…

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Is SB1647 (Education Voucher) Now Only For Homeschooling Families? An Analysis.

Often, it takes hours to really read a bill because it’s important to look up associated laws and terms that may not be obvious to the reader. Then it requires reading passages over and over and comparing them to other passages to make sure of context. Truly, to do it right, each bill requires a substantial time investment to read properly. And to think – legislators must read hundreds of bills during just one half  of session alone…

I am not going to paste the entire bill into this post. Please find it here and download the version that was posted March 3rd, labeled, “Senate Floor Version March 2, 2022”.

PLEASE NOTE: ROPE will never be for an education voucher system – only a tax credit system. This analysis simply explains the major issues we’ve found in the bill.

*Page 1: Section 1B: “by directing State Aid for which each child is eligible to the education provider of their choice”. 

Page 16: Section 5 lines 3 and 4 – fund is to contain “appropriations, gifts, grants, donations, and bequests”.  

This is a mixing of public and private funds and certainly not simply “State Aid” making these sentences inconsistent.

*Page 2: Section 2 A3: “OEA means the account in which funds are deposited by the Agency…” 

Page 7: Section 2G1: “The Agency shall notify the State Department of Education and request calculation of the amount of State Aid for which the student is eligible.”

Page8: Section 2 G2: “The State Department of Education on a monthly basis shall transfer to the Agency for deposit into the OEA Revolving Fund”

Page 15: Section 5 creates the Oklahoma Empowerment Account Revolving Fund to which “All monies accruing to the credit of the fund are hereby appropriated and may be budgeted and expended by the office of the Agency (State Treasurer) for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the OEA”. Monies “received by the office of the State Treasurer from appropriations, gifts, grants, donations, and bequests”.

Another apparent inconsistency: The Agency deposits funds, the OSDE transfers funds, “appropriations (State Aid?), gifts, grants, donations, and bequests” are placed in this account. 

*Page 2: Section 2 A4: “Education Service Provider means a person, business, public school district, public charter school, magnet school, institution within the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education or organization that receives payments from a parent directing an OEA…”

Why would the OEA pay a PUBLIC school for any service? Wasn’t the idea for kids to go OUTSIDE the public school? So this bill uses state and private funds to pay public schools? Why? For what function?

*Page 2: Section 2A5: “Eligible student means a resident of this state who is eligible to enroll in a public school in this state…” 

“Eligible student shall not mean a student who is educated pursuant to the other means of education provided for in subsection A of Section 10-105 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes”.

An “eligible student” then is: 1. Any student who can go to public school 2. Whose family income is 300% of free/reduced lunch price and 3. Not educated by “other means”.

*Page 3: Section 2A6: “Empowerment student” is an OEA eligible student. 

 Page 5: Section 2Cb – (parent must sign an agreement upon application for the OEA to):

– b. not enroll eligible student as a full-time student in a public school district, public charter school or magnet school AFTER acceptance of an OEA

– d. not accept a scholarship from the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program while participating in OEA

Page 5: Section 2D – “Nothing in this act shall be construed to require that an empowerment student be enrolled full time or part time in a private school or a nonpublic online school”.

Let’s review: to be a student ‘eligible’ for the OEA, that student 1. can’t be enrolled in public school 2. can’t be a student in the LNH scholarship 3. isn’t required to be enrolled at a private school 

Granted, 2D is so poorly written it’s hard to make heads or tails of, but if it’s saying that an OEA Empowerment student isn’t required to be in private or non-public online school or public school, or an LNH scholarship student – the ONLY category left would have to be HOMESCHOOL student. I would doubt that’s what’s meant, but that appears to be what was said.

This bill as written, then, creates two types of ‘homeschool students’: those who get state funds and those who “Constitutionally educate” their children and don’t take state funds – but it doesn’t appear to apply to private schools.

This is a HUGE issue. EPIC (public school at home) has already muddied the water in the mind of the public as to what Constitutional “by other means” homeschoolers are (parents pay taxes for public schools and assume all economic responsibility for the raising and education of their children). How in the world would anyone be able to tell which homeschoolers are NOT taking public funds and which ones WERE?  And how would a homeschooler that takes public funds be any different than an EPIC user now? While this may seem like a nothing to most people, once a form of homeschooling is identified by state law and regulated, it will be very easy to regulate the other – it’s precedent. To date, homeschooling in Oklahoma has been so successful and unprecedented because of the “by other means” language in the state Constitution, which has NEVER been defined and therefore very hard to be regulated. 

*Page 3: Section 2A8b: Qualified expenses – “tuition and/or fees for non-public online learning programs”

2A8d: “services contracted for and provided by a public school district…”

Why would the state provide state funds to send an Empowerment Student to an already-funded state school when the idea was to remove the student from a public school? 

*Page 4: Section 2A8k: “tuition, fees, instructional materials, and assessment fees for a curriculum or program offered by a technology center school 

Page 5: Section 2A8m: “tuition and fees for concurrent enrollment at an institution with the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education.

This seems like an open door for fraud. Students in Oklahoma under 18 may attend technology center schools without paying for the service. Universities charge for books and fees, but not tuition for concurrent coursework.

 *Page 7: Section 2F: “Any unused funds remaining in the OEA at the end of the applicable calendar year shall be remitted to the General Revenue Fund.”

Page 8: Section 2H: “An education service provider shall not share, refund or rebate any amount of an OEA with the parent or empowerment student. A refund or rebate for goods or services purchased with an OEA shall be credited to the OEA.”

Why shouldn’t ANY unused or rebated funds return to the OEA? The General Revenue Fund is a ‘slush fund’ that can be used for any reason. Why take money from the state coffers and then not return it to the account from which it was to be distributed in the first place? 

*Page 9: Section 3 C: “participation in the OEA program shall have the same effect as a parental revocation of consent pursuant to 20 U.S.C. Sections 1414(a)(1)(D) and 1414(C) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act”…

It appears that parents who take the voucher may not have their child evaluated for a disability while on the program. I assume because the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship already covers disabled children.

*Page 10: Section 3 F, 1, 2: All of this information from lines 12-23 appear to be creating the Digital Wallet.

ROPE has had major concerns with the Digital Wallet program. We believe it pulls kids into the State Longitudinal Data Base where reams of data are collected and sent to many, many state agencies and it’s a perfect place for implementation of ESG (social credit) scores. 

Superintendent Ryan Walters is not only the state’s Secretary of Education, but he runs an organization called Every Kid Counts OK (ECKO). During the pandemic, Governor Stitt applied for federal CARES ACT funds. Eight million dollars was funneled through ECKO using a digital wallet private vendor called “Class Wallet“, so the program has already been beta tested. Now that they’ve used the program and a private vendor to take payments, it appears the next step is to take the program state wide as the backbone of an educational voucher system.

Since federal money was funneled through a private organization, there is no direct oversight set in place for the movement of those funds at the state level. This is not at all a transparent way to handle tax dollars at any level – but then again, creating an entirely new bureaucracy in the State Treasurer’s office isn’t the way to make government smaller, more local and more responsive either.

Early in the session this year, ROPE noticed that Representative Martinez in the House and Senator Quinn in the Senate, both had “Creating the Digital Wallet Program Act” bills. We went to both authors, explained our issues and asked them to please not run the bills. Both actually agreed, yet we were stunned to see Senator Quinn’s on the Senate Ed Committee roster 2/22/22.

That afternoon, I made a phone call to our Secretary of Education, explained our concerns to him and asked that Oklahoma not go down the digital wallet road. Fortunately, Senator Quinn’s bill was pulled from committee and Representative Martinez’ bill was not heard. 

In politics, however, those with an agenda ALWAYS have a fail-safe. It appears SB1647 contains the language that is that fail-safe for this program.

In closing, though I read – and marked up every line of the bill – I didn’t cover every line of the bill here – I just stuck to the issues of greatest concern to us.

Since we have begun lobbying against this particular bill, our group – and me personally – have been the brunt of numerous character assasinations – I’m a liar, I don’t care about others, I’m an elitist, I want kids trapped in failing schools. 

Certainly, this is disheartening and frustrating, but no matter what dissenters say, our stance is defined upon the following three concepts – the same three upon which our organization has stood from the beginning; 

1. Personal Responsibility 

2. Smaller government 

3. Individual Liberty

SB1647 grows government, infringes on the individual liberty of those who have taken the personal responsibility to care for their own children to the point of paying twice (taxes and tuition) and takes responsibility from churches and individuals to help those who need help. The concept is wrong and the bill is poorly written. That’s really about all there is to it.

Jenni White

Education Director, ROPE

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Is Jeb Bush Behind Oklahoma’s Plan To Insert The Benevolent Hand Of Government Into Homeschooling? It would appear so.

Few ideas for ‘big’ legislation DON’T come as boilerplate ideas from national think tanks. Many times, though they may work in other states, they are not appropriate for Oklahoma, yet legislators bring them into the capitol because of the hand that offered them.

[Position Statement: ROPE firmly supports Parental Choice in Education as personified by charter schools, online learning, homeschooling and private school. We also support tax credits and tax credit scholarships to help families who need assistance with finding the education that is right for their child/children. We do not, however, support vouchers – money provided by the state injected into the private solutions of homeschool and private school.]

During my daily research reading, I recently stumbled onto an article; “Alaska legislators’ education bills include one to give state funds to some students in homeschool and private school“. Here is a paragraph that interested me:

Another bill would provide public funding for students who are homeschooled or in private school. Students would be eligible for $5,930 per year in scholarships if they have disabilities, attend a “low-performing school” or have a parent in the military, among other criteria.

Followed by this:

Gillham said he got the idea for that bill from a summit he attended last November in Florida, held by ExcelInEd, an organization started by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Here’s the ENORMOUS problem with this: Jeb Bush pushed Common Core throughout the nation and Oklahoma though it was a decided federal takeover of state schools. In fact, Bush’s Common Core Problem was thought to be but one of the reasons Bush fell so far behind former President Trump in the 2016 elections – well that, and his firm position as a member of the Republican establishment – the very team Trump was sent onto the field to beat.

THE JEB BUSH OKLAHOMA LEGACY

Throughout the tenure of former State Superintendent Janet Barresi, Bush was a prominent figure in Oklahoma education ‘reform’. 

In 2013 Bush sent a letter to legislators (while ROPE, other organizations and parents worked hard to push back against the nationalization of state standards under one umbrella), saying:

“There is a lot of misinformation flying around about Common Core State Standards. Below is a roundup of recent articles, opinion pieces and posts by policy advisors, debunking Common Core myths and highlighting voices in the transition to these new standards. You’ll also find quotes from teachers weighing in on Common Core and see how state and business leaders are supporting the higher standards.”

Yes, what in the world do parents know Mr. Bush, when state and business leaders support Common Core? Ever the elitist, Bush has always been about POLICY over PARENTS – wining and dining legislators as he works to help ‘the little people’ he loves so much.

That same year, as a result of FOI requests by In The Public Interest, it was shown that Bush, Chiefs For Change and Governor Fallin’s office essentially colluded to ram Bush-driven policy down the throats of Oklahomans – many of whom were simply parents trying to protect their kids from having to  dumbed-down standards that have now been shown not to have produced any meaningful increase in test scores in the states where the program was adopted. 

During 2014 (though Common Core was repealed from state law that year), while Governor Mary Fallin was head of the National Governor’s Association and Superintendent Baressi was a member of Bush’s organization “Chief’s For Change”, Baressi, a State Board Member and then-Senator-turned-current-candidate-for-State-Treasurer Clark Jolley (a co-author of Oklahoma’s Common Core bill) all attended Bush’s National Summit in Boston. {Incidentally, as an aside, it is a bit interesting that Senator Treat’s SB1647, money is to be dispersed through a department inside the treasury…}

BUSH’S ORGANIZATION EMBRACES LEFTISTS RIGHT, AND WELL, LEFT

Granted, education policy should necessarily be bipartisan in a perfect world, but an organization who invites people like Melinda Gates, former Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan (who attributed opposition to the Common Core to “white suburban moms” upset that their children weren’t as “brilliant” as they thought they were) and David Coleman (the author of the Common Core pictured below in a slide from one of my videos on Common Core) to speak at their conferences and colludes with states to override the will of parents on education policy, should NOT be in a position of INFLUENCE WITH OKLAHOMA LEGISLATORS.

Unfortunately, it seems as though we’re seeing near repeat of the Common Core battle here this session (2022) over Governor Stitt’s desire to increase school choice by offering vouchers (state money) to PRIVATE EDUCATION SOLUTIONS (home and private schools).

GOVERNOR STITT INVITED JEB BUSH TO SPEAK TO LEGISLATORS ABOUT EDUCATION REFORM

In May of 2021, Governor Stitt invited “his friend” Bush to visit with members of the legislature and others – including Robert Ruiz of Oklahoma’s Choice Matters and Secretary of State Ryan Walters, who is also the Executive Director of an organization called Every Kid Counts – about ‘education reform’. 

Apparently, the feeling is mutual for the Governor’s friend, who touted the Governor’s recent State of The State Address on his ExelInEd website.

Here’s an even more frustrating thing. While visiting the ExelInEd website, I found a piece from late last year which says this:

Look at Oklahoma. The state stands out in the NAPCS analysis for having the largest growth in charter school enrollment by both percentage gains and by absolute number. The number of new charter students in Oklahoma alone accounts for 15 percent of all new charter students in the nation.

It then goes on to say this: 

When families face huge challenges they don’t wait for solutions. Again, look at the homeschool numbers from the US Census Bureau. Families didn’t wait for policymakers to adjust the boundaries or enrollment caps in 2020. They created their own path forward. Such policies as arbitrary enrollment caps and exclusive school boundaries carry a heavy irony. By protecting a system that limits flexibility and mobility, policymakers encourage families to create their own solutions outside the system, thereby endangering the very system they are trying to protect.

WHAT? Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but it sounds to me like this policy article from ExelInEd basically says that LEGISLATORS SHOULDN’T WANT FAMILIES CREATING THEIR OWN EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM because it endangers the choice systems they’re trying to create!?

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

So, let’s think on this. If the government infuses money into PRIVATE education solutions, the entire enterprise ceases to be private – homeschoolers (and private-schoolers alike) who ‘use’ state-provided money for homeschooling will – at a minimum – be pulled into the state data collection system when there’s likely NO DATA ON THEM IN THE SYSTEM PREVIOUSLY. 

Gosh – to put the old tin foil hat on here – if the state’s elitists do away with ALL private education solutions by inserting the hand of government to the point where all students become part of the system like they began with Common Core – how close are we to the Great Reset and One World Government?

Yes, that was a leap, but let’s look at some facts:

  • Jeb Bush is a member of the BIG GOVERNMENT Bush “Legacy”. His father gave us Agenda 21 and his brother gave us The Patriot Act (government surveillance means nothing if you’re not doing anything wrong).
  • Bush has always stood firmly on the side of government-backed national standards (ie; Common Core). Just internet search “Jeb Bush and Common Core”. You’ll find pages and pages with the same theme.
  • Jeb Bush has a 10-year legacy with Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg media which is a partner in the World Economic Forum – the organization peddling the Great Reset.
  • And then there’s this: “The 3rd largest FEC fine in history was just levied and it’s against someone you might not expect. The Jeb Bush Super PAC that eventually morphed into a prominent Never Trump effort, “Right to Rise,” has been caught red-handed accepting an illegal $1.3M donation from a Chinese corporation.”

Truly, why in the world would anyone in Oklahoma government billing themselves as a conservative hear a word Jeb Bush has to say? 

What does it say that Oklahoma legislators and elected officials seem to have such a love affair with this man? 

Why would Oklahoma Republicans put ‘blinders’ on and go along with ANY bills/laws/ideas simply because ‘Republicans’ say it’s a great idea – especially without researching first? 

Hopefully, these questions are really good wake up questions for us all to ask ourselves NOW.

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Governor Stitt’s State of The State – Public Education – Where We Can And Can’t Agree

I would like to say this as an opener to this piece: This is not a rebuke of Governor Stitt – there are many things our Governor has done of which we all approve – but there is a sincere lack of agreement in the area of ‘School Choice’ that needs to be addressed. I am not criticizing to criticize, but to make points I think EVERYONE – especially Republicans – should think about before blind acceptance of the concept of state-sponsored ‘school choice’ through yet another voucher system.

Here is the transcribed version of Governor Stitt’s State of The State Address. I am only addressing the part of his speech regarding government education.

This is the section in which the Governor addressed Government Education – I have bolded the sections with which we take exception – 

I have bolded and italicized the popular ‘buzz words’ used to create emotion around the topic of ‘school choice’ –

My comments are enclosed in parentheses.

(1.) We provided record funding for all public schools, including charter and rural schools. 

These initial investments were good first steps for Oklahoma’s education turnaround, but there’s much more to do. 

(1a.) Just 15% of Oklahoma high school graduates are ready for college in English, math, reading and science — less than one out of five. We can do better than 47th in the nation when it comes to our kids 

(Democrats say this every time they want more funding for schools). 

We’ve tiptoed around the edges for far too long. It’s clear the status quo isn’t working. We need to take bold steps. It will take courage, and it will take a desire to make a generational impact. This is our moment! 

(There is always an emergency that requires government to act – Nancy Pelosi perfected this concept with ObamaCare.)

(2.) We know education is not one-size-fits-all, and I pledge to support any legislation that gives parents more school choice, because in Oklahoma, we need to fund students, not systems!  ProTem Treat filed a bill called the Oklahoma Empowerment Act. It makes sure that money follows the student, and it would make us a national leader in school choice. 

(Oklahomans were told this about the Lyndsey Nicole Henry Scholarship and our creation of charter schools, yet, we are STILL not apparently a ‘national leader in school choice’. When will that come? How many times will we be told this very thing? 

Let me be clear: Oklahoma has a lot of great schools, but the results don’t lie. We need new ideas, more options, and higher standards for our kids 

(Again, how many ‘new’ ideas are there? The more the government micromanages, the worse schools get because of the layers and layers of laws and rules).

This is just common sense. 

(I’m missing the common sense part I guess.)

(3) We have a duty to make sure nothing stands in the way of an Oklahoma student achieving their full potential. There are roadblocks – literally. State law creates artificial barriers for school districts that don’t put our students first. 

(Wasn’t this supposed to be solved that with last session’s bill to allow students to transfer to any school – even though the school to which the student would transfer has ways around taking them – all the way back to HB1017? No unintended consequences even today from that bill that just HAD to be passed to ‘fix’ Oklahoma 🙄.)

Our school transportation formula is outdated and broken. We desperately need to modernize it. 

(What does ‘modernize’ mean? It is a word without definition in the government setting. Here, the word ‘modernize’ can only mean spending more money and/or ‘growing government’. Taxpayers should REQUIRE definitions for terms attached to their tax dollars.)  

(4) Another roadblock in our current system keeps some of the best teachers out of the classroom. Right now, some talented teachers choose to leave the classroom to make more money as an administrator. Oklahoma students can’t be the best without the best teachers. That’s why I’m proposing matching funds so that our best teachers can make six figure salaries and stay in the classroom. 

(What criteria will make a ‘best’ teacher? Will that require creation of a commission or other new expansion of government? Republican Governors have said this ad Infinium, yet the only thing developed to ‘grade’ teachers was Obama’s ‘Teacher/Leader Effectiveness’ program instituted by former State Superintendent Janet Barresi now shown to be a failure in every state in which it was implemented.*)

It’s the right thing to do for our teachers and for our kids! 

(How do we know? What metrics are used to make this statement? Every year, Oklahoma continues and doubles-down on failed systems – stacking up laws and programs government schools should follow – yet we still languish at the ‘bottom’ of the NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress. This comment means absolutely nothing if not backed up by some kind of plan that doesn’t involve more failed government interventionist policies.)

Another way to support Oklahoma educators is to protect their paychecks from union bosses. The same unions that have pushed critical race theory and school closures intimidate new teachers into handing over part of their salaries. Liberal unions want to keep a stranglehold on their cut of teacher pay. Enough is enough! Every other profession lets you opt-in to health insurance and other benefits at work every year. Unions should be opt-in, not opt-out! 

(ABSOLUTELY, but why – after years of lip service to this idea – has it NOT BEEN DONE?)

1. WHY DOES THE LEGISLATURE CONTINUE TO FUND FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOLS? 

Seriously. Our Governor appears proud of all the funding poured into government schools but then directly follows that statement with DATA indicating that the majority of Oklahoma students are NOT READY FOR COLLEGE.

The obvious takeaway here then, is that the State Legislature is filled with people who either don’t see connections (more money doesn’t equal results) or are sadly politically weak-kneed and refuse to buck the bullies that run the Leftist indoctrination centers we call ‘public’ schools. If there was enough political will in our state capitol, the State School Grade Card (created because of strings to federal government funding) would be used to determine failing schools and some kind of monetary sanction would be determined and prescribed until the school improved the way they educate the pupils entrusted them, despite the kicking, screaming and fit throwing from the public school ed bullies, instead of growing government or transferring the process of taxpayer accountability for failing public schools to parents accepting state funds. Now THAT would be accountability!

2. PUBLIC OPTIONS BECOME POLITICAL FOOTBALLS. 

If you know education isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavor, why make all private solutions (private and homeschools) public ones by infusing them with taxpayer dollars?

Doesn’t that create yet another extension of an already-broken system? 

One major talking point for the bill has been, “This is voluntary, no one has to take the money” yet Senator Greg Treat, during his defense of SB1647 in the Senate Education Committee (where the bill only passed 8-7 with Treat and Majority Floor leader McCortney’s extra-committee voting) said numerous times that ‘state’ (government) money necessarily has to come with strings and that we couldn’t be worried about what might happen in the future. Hmmm…isn’t that why we have SO MANY LAWS with UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES?

Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry’s (LNH) voucher scholarship (signed in 2011) has been adjudicated in court NUMEROUS times because it became a political football for the Left to use against the Right to sabotage the program. 

Most recently, former Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter issued an opinion regarding an attempt to force private schools taking students on LNH scholarships to add ‘sex’ to their state-required discrimination policy.

Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs writes: 

However, several years after the passage of the LNH law—after State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister became head of the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE)—officials at OSDE rewrote the regulations governing the LNH program to also bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and religious affiliation. Those revisions were then approved by the State Board of Education, which at that time consisted of Hofmeister and members appointed by then-Gov. Mary Fallin.

The revised regulations effectively required private religious schools that adhere to traditional Christian teachings to nonetheless hire atheists and abandon student code-of-conduct requirements regarding sexuality and marriage if they accepted LNH students.

In November 2020, the revised OSDE regulations led the State Board of Education—by that time consisting mostly of Gov. Kevin Stitt appointees who were not involved in the earlier revision process—to initially reject the application of one private Christian school that sought to serve LNH students.

So, if a REPUBLICAN-appointed board is going to apply Obama-orginated Title IX guidance to LNH-required anti-discrimination law (42 U.S.C. section 2000d), and a subsequent REPUBLICAN-appointed board acted on that change, what would happen under a DEMOCRAT Governor-appointed board?

Though AG Hunter’s opinion states that the State Board “lacked the statutory authority to impose additional requirements on participating schools” (among others) and Hofmeister said of the decision that the Board would “move forward in accordance with the opinion“, an opinion has only advisory effect – another Board may see things another way.

This goes for federal law as well. In 2016, the heads of the Department of Justice and the US Department of Education Office For Civil Rights sent a Dear Colleague letter to all state schools that they were adding transgender rights to Title IX law. Let’s not quibble about the fact that these Dear Colleague letters mean little to nothing, because states and schools have a history of following them like Supreme Court decisions. During his presidency, Trump rescinded this ‘guidance’ only to have Biden reinstate it not long after his inauguration. This introduced HUGE amounts of confusion into a system already generally overregulated and confused.

Other than being classified as extremists – which has virtually always been the case with citizens who buck existing systems and authoritarians – homeschooling in Oklahoma is conducted according to the Constitution with ZERO state administration of any kind, creating ZERO room for politicization such as this.

3. NO. GOVERNMENT CAN’T COVER ALL THE BASES IT WOULD TAKE TO MAKE SURE A STUDENT REACHES THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.

I understand the sentiment – I do. No one wants a ‘child left behind‘ but the amount of red tape we got when the Federal government tried to achieve that goal could circle the earth twice.

What ends up happening with this kind of thinking is not that the bottom gets elevated, but the top gets drug down. It’s like the ‘even the playing field’ idea – it’s a socialist notion. 

You can’t continually take from others with more and give it to those who have less because eventually you have a society with no middle class (a CLASS-LESS society), which is what’s happening now.

If parents themselves won’t step up and take control over their child’s education, you can’t legislate or incentivize them to do so. I’ve written about this numerous, numerous times from the perspective of an education policy researcher and that of a former teacher. 

We need to stop this kind of ‘equity’ thinking and concentrate on helping the majority of kids while letting non-profits and those who wish to volunteer their time (and there are lots of those thank goodness!) to help those that are – for whatever reason – not in a position to help themselves.

4. TEACHERS LEAVE THE CLASSROOM FOR A LOT OF REASONS, BUT MOSTLY BECAUSE ADMINISTRATORS WON’T ADMINISTRATE

How is government going to fix that? Administrators are already supposed to administrate, yet there are at least two bills I’ve seen in the legislature this year adding yet another law to Title 70 TO MAKE ADMINISTRATORS DO THEIR JOBS. How can adding yet another law fix that?

My contention has always been that the Conservative option is always the best – our state should stop writing school law, repeal a lot of existing school law and GET OUT OF THE WAY OF COMMUNITY CONTROL! 

Why do you suppose charters aren’t working the way they were at the beginning of the charter movement? We legislated them to death too! I worked for a charter school that was GREAT when it started only to watch it get worse and worse every year to the point that it was no different than the neighborhood school.

In fact, I left teaching for MANY of the reasons given in this blog (none of which was money-related). Essentially, I had no control over my classroom anymore via ineffective administration, over testing and overbearing parents. 

INSTEAD OF STATE-SPONSORED VOUCHERS, LET’S:

1. Cut Bureaucracy Don’t Add To It – as ROPE showed with Common Core, Turning Around Failing Schools,  and all the other pillars of Obama’s Education Reform system – BUREAUCRACY DOESN’T WORK, it simply impedes the process. 

Instead of ADDING laws, REPEAL laws relating to government education. Webs of laws entangle and confuse those they are meant to control. 

Republicans talk endlessly about ‘local control’ but rarely REMOVE state laws and mandates to allow schools to function according to community needs as addressed by local school boards. Could this be part of the reason parents finally quit participating in the process until recently? 

In fact, it could be argued successfully that part of the reason school boards stopped addressing (or listening to) the needs of parents is that parent desires are often stymied or take a back seat to the need (or drive) to receive funding by following state and federal laws – the latter of which are not even Constitutional. As Republicans say they believe – but rarely follow – THE LESS GOVERNMENT the MORE INNOVATION, POSSIBILITY and OPPORTUNITY.

2. Provide tax credits for parents wanting to use other systems – Instead of taking money from parents and then ‘giving’ it back to them with strings created by the need for the state to be accountable to the money it gives parents – simply DON’T TAKE IT FROM PARENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE. 

This seems up front enough but then the argument becomes – “what about parents who don’t pay into the system”?

To take from others to give to those without is REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH – something, again, Republicans are ostensibly not for. It used to be that the poor were cared for by churches and communities – have churches shrunk because they have nothing to do now that the state does all their work for them? 

Once the government got involved – thank you very much LBJ and your “war on poverty” – (More than 100 million people, or one-third of Americans, received some type of welfare aid, at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient. If converted into cash, this spending was five times what was needed to eliminate all poverty in the U.S.) the number of those in poverty skyrocketed because there was no reason to remove oneself from their impoverished circumstances if the government was simply going to ‘help’ you by giving you money.

3. Provide tax credit scholarships for taxpayers wanting a tax deduction and parents wishing to apply for a scholarship. Oklahoma has the Lyndsey Nicole Henry Scholarship for children with disabilities to attend schools other than their failing neighborhood school. Why not create another tax deduction scholarship for those who would like to pay in to ‘sponsor’ needy students?

4. Stop Funding Failing Schools – truly, what difference does it make if you take the money from the school to follow the kid when government schools STILL have no incentive to get better? Eventually – even with the benevolent hand of government guiding us – you’re eventually going to RUN OUT OF SCHOOLS TO RUN TO! 

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*The evaluation, Improving Teaching Effectiveness: Final Report (587 pages, PDF), found that while the sites succeeded in implementing new measures of effectiveness and used them to inform a range of personnel decisions, the initiative did not lead to an overall improvement in student achievement or graduation rates. Although interim evaluations as of 2013-14 had found small improvements in grades 3 through 8 reading scores at some schools, the final report concludes that, as of the spring of 2015, the initiative had had no significant impact on students’ reading or math outcomes. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/gates-teacher-effectiveness-initiative-fell-short-study-finds

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