Survey on Charter Schools for Tulsa

Am I tilting at windmills, or is there enough support for charter schools for Tulsa out there? Please click on the link for a one question survey.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE CHARTER SCHOOL SURVEY

Good News for Charter Schools!

Unbelievably, Governor Henry signed HB 1589 into law on 6-4-07. This was the culmination of a herculean effort by a group of dedicated parents, leaders and legislators over the past three years. HB1589 significantly improves the Oklahoma Charter School Act of 1999.

The passage was given only cursory coverage by the Tulsa Whirled as reported here. They only point out that Universities in Tulsa and OKC are now potential sponsors for charter schools.

HB 1589 was opposed by the "establishment", or the entrenched bureaucracy as evidenced by this link to a blog by Roy Bishop, whose profile indicates he is President of the Oklahoma Education Association. It took a brave effort on the part of some key Democrat legislators to get this bill passed by the House and Senate, and then to have our Democrat governor sign it.

HB 1589 is effective on July 1, 2007.

Major points:

1. The charter school law now applies to only the Oklahoma City and Tulsa School Districts.

2. The bill adds Universities or Higher Ed as potential sponsors of charter schools. Now there will be 3 potential sponsors; the local school district, Career Tech/Tulsa Tech, and Universities.

3. Funding for the state aid portion of the finances for charters will continue to flow through the local school district if they are the sponsor, otherwise, this bill changes the flow of funding for charters sponsored by Career Tech/Tulsa Tech and Universities to come through the State Department of Education (SDE).

4. A last minute compromise was to limit the number of new charters created in each district to 3 per year. (I think slow and steady growth is better than too much too fast)

5. Charter school organizers will have to complete some training (to be developed by the SDE) for all applications submitted after 1-1-08.

With these changes, I think I would rate our charter school law in Oklahoma a solid B, up from a C. We can do more, but this is a significant step forward and should open the doors for improving public education in Tulsa.

The bill as passed should have taken away the "unconstitutional" allegation by the TPS school board. And perhaps the change in the flow of funding will invite others to move forward with plans to encourage and sponsor charter schools.

I tried to download the text of the bill signed by Governor Henry, but the downloaded file was corrupted. I will try later and if successful, will post that only another blog entry in the future.

Any of my fellow Tulsans or fellow Tulsa Bloggers out there ready to roll up your sleeves?

Do you support the creation of even one new charter school in Tulsa?

Tulsa's Lucky Number Reveals T-Town's Truth

The good news is: The U.S. Census has revealed the population of Tulsa as of 6-1-07. This is the number that will be used to determine the winner of the buried 1957 Plymouth Belvedere.

The bad news is: The U.S. Census has revealed the population of Tulsa as of 6-1-07.

What?

The official number is 382,457.

In the 2000 Census T-Town had a population of 391,908. Our population has decreased by 9,451.

The ugly truth about Tulsa, Oklahoma is that people are still leaving. I want to turn this trend around.

Note to elected city officials and policy makers; Here is a list of real priorities to seriously work on to turn the population numbers around.

1. Economic Development (Job Creation)
2. Improved public school performance (More Charter Schools)
3. Serious reduction in all categories of crime (Especially Homicides)
4. FIX THE STREETS!!!! (Bridges Too)
5. Shrink the size and scope of local government(Empower People & Get Out of the Way)

Nothing earth shattering or new here, just back to basics good local government.