In January, the Tulsa Public School Board will likely vote on a recommendation by Superintendent Deborah Gist to close or merge four schools due to a $20,000,000.00 budget shortfall.

Gist wants to close Jones, Wright and Grimes elementaries in 2020 and possibly merge Mark Twain Elementary into the Wayman Tisdale Fine Arts Academy.

Another part of her proposal would be to convert Memorial, Central and Rogers junior highs into 6th-8th grade middle school at the start of the 2020 fall term. Memorial, Central and Rogers now have only 7th and 8th grade classes.

What’s the problem?

Gist says the problem is money. More correctly, it is mismanagement of money. Tulsa Public Schools has enough money to accomplish its goal. But it is top heavy with administration and costly bureaucracy that siphons funds from classroom teachers. Another factor is the declining enrollment in Tulsa Public Schools.

Why are there fewer students?

One reason is the declining academic achievement scores. Parents are moving to other school districts. They are sending their children to private schools and they are home schooling. They are flocking to charter schools.

This is an indication of failure at TPS and it’s not a problem that can be fixed by a tax increase. Part of the underlying cause is the secularist nature of public schools. Christian teachers are prohibited from sharing any aspect of their faith in the classroom. When you teach students that they are “animals,” why be surprised when they act like it?

These closings may save as much as $20 million. And they will cause hardship for families with children in these schools.