I can say that driving down 86th street in Owasso one thing is for sure, this is NOT a lack of funding school district!! Our schools and especially the High School are nicer than MANY NCAA Division I college campuses around the country.
Just because you throw money at something does not constitute it being successful, therefore, money does not make an education. The TEACHERS that teach make our children's education!! So a little investigating and discovered that Oklahoma teachers are paid some of the lowest wages in the nation :(
I also investigated the 49th in funding rankings! To my surprise the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce left out some of the details...such as yes, according to page 27 of the 2014 ACE statistics our State Per Pupil Spending is ranked 49th in the nation for "Instructional Spending," however, we are ranked 21st for "Administrative Spending."
On page 26, the Oklahoma Educational spending per $1000 of personal income we ranked 40th on "Instructional Spending" and 11th on "Administrative Spending."
It also states, "While Oklahoma's education spending compared to personal income remains lower than most states, spending on administrative expenses outpaces 39 other states and is 59 percent higher than the national average." WOW!!!!! (Top-Down approach anyone?)
And you want me to continue raising my taxes and vote YES on the upcoming April 1st bond measure because......??? Oh yes, the administration needs more funding to fund the rest of the education system. Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? Maybe we just need to re-prioritize the budget back into the classroom?!
Last, is the 2013 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores on page 25 of this same report. They have been declaring that children are so behind, the test scores are terrible, kids are dumber than ever before! (despite the fact the Kindergartener's are reading stuff you and I never read until we were in 3rd and 4th grade) So what do the scores REALLY say?
Oklahoma 4th Grade Reading scores ranked 41st, but if you notice Masschusetts who scored 1st, their scores were 232 and Oklahoma scores were 217, a mere difference of 15 points!!! 8th Grade Reading for Oklahoma, we ranked 39th, again Massachusetts ranked 1st with a score of 277 and Oklahoma's score was 262 a difference of 15 points!!!
In conclusion, we are basically 15 points below the Top Ranking schools in the entire nation!! Oops, 49th isn't sooo bad after all. And by the way Oklahoma is also ranked near the bottom for cost of living compared to Massachusetts so once again funding is NOT the issue!
I've been doing my homework!!!! We LOVE Owasso schools, and I will fight hard to keep them exceptional, I pray daily more parents, teachers, and citizens will join me!!!!
Oklahoma State Chamber 2014 ACE Report:
http://www.okstatechamber.com/additional/researchfdn/2014%20ACE%20Book_WEB.pdf
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