This is a little late in coming as most media outlets have already listed their top news stories of the year past, 2016. Oklahoma public schools faced more challenges during 2016 than most all other state agencies combined, so I'll list my top 5 education news stories of 2016. This is my list only, and may not be agreeable to others, as there were certainly more than 5 education news stories of 2016. Also bear in mind that these news "headlines" are all politically related, since public education has unfortunately become entwined in the world of corrupt politicians as of late. Listing the stories in reverse order from number five to number one:
5) The Failure of State Question 790 - SQ 790 was an attempt by those who want to remove barriers in sending state tax dollars to private schools, both in-state and outside the state. The Oklahoma Constitution currently prohibits State Senators and Representatives from spending Oklahoma tax dollars on private and religious schools. Article 2, Section 5 of the Constitution (the separation of church and state amendment) forbids our state lawmakers from spending money in any religious education institutions, not just Christian based, but all religious schools - such as Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism, or even Atheist based schools. Those supporting the removal of Article 2, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution even called SQ 790 "The Right to Pray" in order to get it passed by the voting public. This tactic didn't work, as Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly voted "NO".
4) New State Record for Emergency Teacher Certificates - The number of emergency teaching certificates granted by the State Department of Education topped out at 1,082 for 2016, up from 2015's record total. It set a new state record and the main reason given was that Oklahoma's teacher pay has fallen to 50th in the nation among states. Certified teachers are leaving the state in droves for better pay.
3) Dozens of Oklahoma Educators Ran for Public Office - As many as 40 Oklahoma educators campaigned for senate and house seats in 2016, which set another record for the largest number of candidates from any one profession ever running for office. Many were running in order to shine a light on the deplorable teacher pay in Oklahoma and increase public school funding. Dubbed the "teacher caucus" by the media, it was mostly a failure as only 5 won in the general election on November 8. The teacher caucus was unmercifully attacked by the Oklahoma branch of the American Federation for Children (AFC) a dark money group out of Washington D.C., currently headed up by Jennifer Carter (Janet Barresi's former Chief of Staff). Janet Barresi was the state superintendent of schools before Joy Hofmeister. Jennifer Carter as the Director of Oklahoma's AFC referred to public school employees as "dirt bags" when she was employed by Barresi.
2) The Failure of State Question 779 - A one-cent sales tax increase for Oklahoma teacher salaries (currently ranked 50th in the nation among states) went down to defeat on November 8. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the tax increase for teacher salaries, as they evidently want lawmakers to provide teacher pay increases without raising taxes. It will be quite the challenge, as most lawmakers can't add, subtract, multiply, or divide, and Oklahoma is facing an almost $1 billion budget deficit in 2017.
1) Felony Charges Brought Against the State Superintendent of Schools - On November 4, 2016, conspiracy charges were filed by the Oklahoma County District Attorney against Joy Hofmeister, Fount Holland (her campaign consultant), and others, for conspiring with a dark money group to run campaign ads (sling mud) against Janet Barresi during the 2014 race for state superintendent of schools. Charges were also filed for accepting more than the allowable limit ($2,700) in campaign contributions from the dark money group. The Hofmeister/Holland campaign reportedly accepted more than $300,000 from the group.
This rounds out my top 5 public education news stories of 2016, mostly negative. Here's hoping that 2017's public school stories will be much better...
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