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The Tulsa Beacon

 

Ray Carter

Center for Independent Journalism

Ray Carter is the director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism.

Open transfer policy affects Tulsa, OKC

Tulsa Beacon

A new open-transfer law that allows students to shift from one public school to another has been touted as a significant expansion of opportunity for Oklahoma children. But a review of public data, conducted by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), shows a significant share of the slots available through open transfer are in…

Hofmeister wants giant increase

Tulsa Beacon

While State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister’s budget request includes a modest percentage increase in funding for school districts, it includes a much larger increase of 27 percent for her agency’s budget. The request for increased administrative spending comes even as lawmakers note it appears less money is going to classrooms in Oklahoma than…

How have public schools spent $2 billion to safely open?

Tulsa Beacon

More than $2 billion in federal COVID-bailout funds have been  provided to Oklahoma school districts since 2020 to cover the costs to safely open amidst the pandemic. But despite that lavish infusion of cash, numerous schools are now closing again amidst the rise of the Omicron variant. That has left many parents—and students—with an unsettling…

Forum spotlights effort to defund law enforcement

Tulsa Beacon

Efforts to “defund the police” and claims that Oklahoma district attorneys are racially biased were touted by speakers at a recent race-relations program sponsored by Paycom and other state business entities. “It is possible to defund the police,” said Tiffany T. Crutcher, executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation and an official with the Demanding…

Teaching CRT racism

Tulsa Beacon

The Oklahoma State Department of Education’s website includes or directs teachers to materials that tout themes common to Critical Race Theory (CRT), a Marxist-derived theory that views issues through a lens of racial privilege and often divides groups along racial lines as either privileged or oppressed. While those materials are not explicitly labeled as CRT,…

Teachers are fired

Tulsa Beacon

Gov. Kevin Stitt said Oklahoma City Public Schools’ decision to fire six teachers for not complying with a legally suspect mask mandate is “preposterous” and harms students. “These are the types of misguided decisions that are leaving many parents across the country so frustrated with their local schools,” Stitt said in a video message. “Oklahomans…

Promoting Transgender

Tulsa Beacon

An Oklahoma Teacher of the Year nominee, Bristow Middle School teacher Lauren Vandever, has declared that it is important to be supportive of children exploring transgender transition. “I am not transgender. I’ve never experienced being transgender or on the LGBTQ spectrum,” Vandever said. “But I definitely think it is something that is an important thing…

OSSBA is strangely silent

Tulsa Beacon

State school board associations from across the nation are publicly condemning the National School Boards Association’s call for parents who object to Critical Race Theory to be investigated under anti-terrorism laws. But, so far, the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) is not among those criticizing the National School Boards Association. In a Sept. 29…

Because state students are so far behind, Hofmeister wants testing delayed 3 years

Tulsa Beacon

Due to COVID disruptions, education experts have long warned that significant learning loss has occurred in public schools and many students are now far behind. State tests administered in the spring are expected to highlight the magnitude of those losses statewide and also reveal which schools did better than others. But State Superintendent for Public…

Unvaccinated, healthy students are facing retaliation

Tulsa Beacon

With a state law that bans mask mandates in legal limbo, Oklahoma colleges and K-12 schools continue to impose mask and quarantine mandates upon healthy students. College students who question those policies have faced retaliation, while in Edmond parents are suing the school district. Colleges and public schools have imposed such policies even as COVID…