Our enrollment in Blanchard Public Schools now stands at 2050 students! This number is up by 45 students since the end of last school year, and is a new record for our school, which has been broken annually for the last ten years. Blanchard continues to be the school of choice for parents, and will be far into the future.
Another State Question for Oklahoma voters may soon be decided as early as the November, 2018 elections. This still unknown SQ # will be about "school choice", or (school vouchers) to a State Legislator's choice of private or corporate school for public tax dollars. It will mirror State Question 790 which appeared on the ballot in November, 2016, and sought private, corporate control of public tax dollars. Supporters of SQ 790 said that if approved by voters, the State would be able to once again have the Ten Commandments back on Capitol grounds. House Speaker Jeff Hickman (R-58) stated "Oklahomans overwhelmingly supported the placement of the Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol, and they now will be given the opportunity to address the issue in our constitution which the Supreme Court cited in ordering the removal of the Ten Commandments monument." Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb also supported sending public tax dollars to private and corporate schools by supporting SQ 790, which would have removed Article II Section 5 from the Oklahoma Constitution (which prohibits the use of public tax dollars for private or religious purposes). Seeing through the political charade, Oklahomans voted an overwhelming rejection of allowing public money to be spent for religious purposes (NO-57.12% YES-42.88%).
Another parallel to the future State Voucher Question # was SQ 777 which was also voted on in November, 2016. State Question 777 was billed as "the Right to Farm" by supporters, just as State Question 790 was billed as "allowing the Ten Commandments monument to be placed at the State Capitol". SQ 777 was really about corporate and private acquisition of public tax dollars just as SQ 790 was really about corporate and religious acquisition of Oklahoma public tax dollars. What was very interesting about SQ 777, The Right to Farm, was that a likely voter survey on October 5, 2016, indicated that 49% favored Right to Farm while only 36% opposed it. In a survey completed on October 18, only 37% favored it, while 49% opposed it. Bill Shapard, CEO of SoonerPoll, said "Based on the polling, you will find that Republicans are beginning to abandon SQ 777... The polls show us conservatives and Republicans becoming more against 777 because it establishes group rights and typically Republicans are for individual rights." Bill Shapard went on to write "The change represents the most dramatic shift in attitudes on state questions on the 2016 Oklahoma ballot..." and resulted in one of the biggest "comebacks" in Oklahoma voting history, as it was eventually rejected with NO-60.3% to YES-39.7%. The eventual drumming of "The Right to Farm" was because Oklahoma voters were willing to be "educated" about the true harm corporate farming would do to our state.
The future unknown voucher State Question may be taking the path similar to SQ 777 and SQ 790. Brandon Dutcher, Senior Vice President of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) has quoted a Victory Geek poll which asked the question "Educational choice gives parents the right to use the tax dollars associated with their child's education to send their child to a public or private school which best serves their needs. Generally speaking, would you say you support or oppose the concept of educational choice?" Dutcher then says "Fully 65% of respondents support using tax dollars to send their child to a school of choice..." A similar poll conducted by Oklahoma Statewide asked the question "... would you favor or oppose the Oklahoma state government giving parents money to pay for their children to attend a private or religious school? Fully 65% of respondents oppose the government (State Legislature) giving tax dollars to private or religious schools, while only 35% of respondents favor it. So, which poll is accurate and which poll is wrong? It all depends on the subtle wording in the two questions. The OCPA poll question suggests that public tax dollars be given to individuals (parents) to choose the corporate, private, or public school of their choice. The goal of providing public tax dollars to individuals, in order to select their private choice for public service may be great for State Legislators, since the Legislature is the entity choosing public tax dollars be spent on private choice (by passing a law which directs public service tax dollars to corporate and religious schools). The Oklahoma Statewide poll question is the same as the OCPA question, except it indicates that government (the Legislature) is giving public tax dollars away to private and corporate schools (which it is), and those polled oppose this action. The only government agency which may influence "Voucher State Questions" and Voucher Bills is the Oklahoma Legislature. Our local Representative Tim Downing has expressed his support many times for bills which favor corporate charter and private schools, even though our State House District 42 in Garvin and McClain Counties contain no charter or accredited private schools, only public schools. Our local State Senator Paul Scott has expressed similar support for charter schools in Oklahoma City, even though no charter schools are present in Stephens, Garvin, or McClain Counties (Senate District 43), and no local sudents attend the OKC charter school he supports. By the way, corporate charter schools take state funding from our local public schools and the students which attend our schools.
In summary, when Oklahoma voters become educated on any particular state question, their attitude changes, sometimes drastically... as in SQ 777, the right to farm. Oklahomans realized after studying SQ 790, the right of the Legislature to give public money to private enterprise, the failure of the initiative became a "slam-dunk". No matter what the polling says about the future Voucher State Question - 65% for or 65% against, many voting experts believe that Oklahomans will have the right answer...
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