State Question 779. Penny tax for teachers raises by the numbers

[Dr. HK]

I personally will not support anything like this until the State can redistrict. There are over 550 school districts in Oklahoma when we have 77 counties. info here http://sde.ok.gov/sde/state-school-directory
Each has their own administrator and staff all with high salaries. We will just enable the same o same o and no changes and no benefits.

 

[Rod Snell]

Why is the idea of merit pay, frequently used in many industries, and some government activities, always presented as outrageous in the context of schools?

Good question and a brutally simple answer: If an administrator, I can easily manipulate a teacher merit system by assigning YOU the discipline problems and underachievers while giving my personal favorites facilities and students that make it easy for them to shine. The loss rate for special ed and similar teachers is now about 20% and if you add insult to injury by giving bonuses to teachers with the easier classes, it will get worse. Ask the teachers in the states that have tried it. And look at the salaries they have to pay now in those states.

 

[SoonerP226]

The bonds still exist and have to be paid for by what ever districts absorbe them.

And? It's not like the funding sources for the districts are going away; they'll be absorbed by the consolidated district along with the constituent districts' liabilities.

We're not talking about consolidating schools, we're talking about consolidating districts to reduce overhead. Some of the districts in Oklahoma are freaking tiny--you could consolidate multiple districts and still have a district that's smaller than some schools in bigger districts. F'rinstance, Adair County has ten districts, but their combined enrollment last year was less than the combined enrollment of Moore HS and Westmoore. Heck, you could consolidate districts from multiple counties and still wind up with districts smaller than the biggest districts.

Would that guarantee better usage of funds or better educational outcomes? Obviously not, but it would certainly cut down on administrative overhead. According to this page ( http://oklahomawatch.org/2014/06/29/oklahoma-superintendent-salaries/ ), those Adair county supers add up to over $580K per year in base pay, yet Moore's super's base pay is only $130K--and his district is five times larger than the size of their combined districts. And that's only taking the superintendent's pay into consideration; how much could you save when you start collapsing the admin overhead costs?

It would be one thing if this state were rolling in cash, but we're not. I mean, does Seminole County really need to be spending more money on superintendent salaries than Cleveland County?

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Once the bonds are paid off, the cost of the bonds disappear. Once a tax of this sort is instituted, it's there forever.

Fix what appears to me to be a crony system first, then see if anything else needs fixing, then maybe, just maybe, there will be enough money to go where it should be going.

Woody

 

[dlbleak]

No new resources without drastically reducing the number of districts and reforming the administrative bloat in Oklahoma's K-12 public education system.

I agree totally but don't agree with the bill written by Patrick Anderson of Enid. He wants there to be one super per county. In that case, Edmond would be under rob neu at this point. Ummm, no thanks.

 

[SoonerP226]

I agree totally but don't agree with the bill written by Patrick Anderson of Enid. He wants there to be one super per county. In that case, Edmond would be under rob neu at this point. Ummm, no thanks.

Yeah, a blanket "one super per county" would be a mistake. What do you do about school systems like OKC and Tulsa that are in multiple counties, or counties like Cleveland, Oklahoma, and Tulsa that have multiple very large districts? We need consolidation, but there needs to be some intelligence behind it.

Oh, wait, I forgot where we were for a minute. We're totally screwed...

 

[Raoul Duke]

Superintendents aren't tenured or appointed for life and can be replaced.

You will have an elected representative on the school board that will represent you and your preferences in Superintendent selection/retention if you do your part and choose them wisely.

Besides, I highly doubt the wealth, power and influence of Edmond would get ignored, unless of course the Superintendent of their displeasure was supported by the fossil fuel industry.

Municipal, County, State and Federal election districts are routinely redrawn as populations change without the world coming to an end.

Much adieu about a whole lotta nuthin'.

 

[crrcboatz]

Oklahoma Union is a success story in consolidated school districts. It is located in Nowata county and combined Wann, Lenapah, and Delaware districts about 15-20 yrs ago. It was assisted in the process by the state of Oklahoma providing incentive funds. The result is a single district that has combined its tax base, students, and citizenry to become a viable, effective system that meets the needs of all. I have good friends that work in the system. They have a new found school pride. The school has k-12 North Central Accreditation, something barely 1/2 the districts in the state have. It is the only district in Nowata county with k-12 NC accreditation. Only Oologah, and Bartlesville have k-12 accreditation near them. The community is proud of what it has done for its students.

There are of course others in the state including Oologah and Talala as well as some in the NW part of our state.

 

[henschman]

We need less government and taxes, not more. I'm actually for separation of education and state... but I'm open to the idea of cutting some even more worthless department of state government to fund gov't education for the time being, as long as things are moving in the direction of less of my money being taken by force.

 

[Okie1907]

For the teachers... How about some of them school superintendents pony of parts of that salary that they are pulling down... And let's see where that lotto money is going.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

The lotto money is borrowed for other budget short falls. This is the flaw in most states lottery fund, the fact they can take from it.