The Oklahoma Legislative session began last week and it doesn’t take long to realize it’s an election year . Attached is a list of the bills that have something to do with education. The list contains the bill numbers, the author, and usually the words “An Act Related to Schools…” Some of the bills are funding measures for may state agencies that are necessary each year, others are “shell” bills that have very little other than a number ascribed to them as yet because there will be other measures rolled up into them or they are awaiting budgetary figures and conference reports.
And there are the others…
Some of the bills have already garnered public attention such as Tom Ivester’s sb1338 which is ” An Act relating to schools; authorizing independent school districts to offer elective courses on Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament to certain students; stating purposes; prohibiting a requirement that students use specific translation as text; requiring certain courses to follow applicable law and certain guidelines; prohibiting certain courses from promoting or disfavoring any religion or nonreligious faith or religious perspective; stating Legislative intent; directing State Board of Education to adopt certain curricular standards by certain date; requiring Attorney General to review standards and ensure compliance with certain provisions; prohibiting Board from adopting standards without approval of Attorney General; directing Board to approve certain teacher training materials and resources by certain date; directing State Superintendent of Public Instruction to distribute list of approved training materials and resources to districts by certain date; requiring certain districts to provide certain materials to teachers of certain courses; prohibiting certain construction; prohibiting requirement of additional funds for certain authority; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.; Effective Date: 11/01/2010″. By the way, Bible as Literature courses are already perfectly legal and have been for some time.
and
Brian Renegar’s HB3047 ” An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2001, Section 1210.513, which relates to participation in the National Assessment of Educational Progress; clarifying language; and providing an effective date.; Effective Date: 11/01/2010. ” Which proposes full state participation in NAEP and a audit of the state curriculum standards.
and
Gary Stanislawski’s, sb1391 “An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2001, Section 1210.508, as last amended by Section 8, Chapter 456, O.S.L. 2009 (70 O.S. Supp. 2009, Section 1210.508), which relates to the Oklahoma School Testing Program Act; providing certain exemption for certain students; modifying required end-of-instruction tests for Geometry and Algebra II ; requiring students to take ACT assessment; directing State Board of Education to contract for administration of ACT assessment; limiting responsibility for certain fees or costs; modifying testing window dates; amending Section 6, Chapter 432, O.S.L. 2005, as last amended by Section 11, Chapter 456, O.S.L. 2009 (70 O.S. Supp. 2009, Section 1210.523), which relates to mastery of state academic content standards; modifying requirements for graduation from public high school; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.; Effective Date: 07/01/2010 Emergency. ” Which proposes elimination of all EOI test other than English II and Algebra I and substitute the ACT as the state graduation test (be careful what you ask for is all I can say…)
These may or may not be perfectly good ideas, but it’s easy to see why they might have an impact on schools and students across the state. To help you be a better informed Legislature watcher, I’ve attached a list of the prefiled measures that are directly related to education. That doesn’t mean something won’t get changed or amended over the next few months, but it is a starting point. If you wish to know more about each measure and follow it as it changes along the way, go to the Legislature’s web page at http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/. There you can read the text of each bill and follow it’s progress through the legislative process.