In the spring of 2018, thousands of Oklahoma educators and administrators left their schools and descended upon the state Capitol, demanding an increase in classroom funding.
Nearly two years later, teachers in struggling districts still feel the pinch of record levels of emergency teaching certifications and an average school score on the state’s A-F School Report Card below 50 percent achievement, according to the state’s report card website. The A-F School Report Card is a state-mandated metric that lists a rating based on attendance, graduation rate and standardized test scores.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education said it has an answer for schools that are underperforming on the report card but have top programs in areas outside of the card’s scope. The department calls its new plan Programs of Excellence, part of the Champion Excellence initiative.
Programs of Excellence is a public metric of performance for Oklahoma schools, which is in its development stage and will fully roll out this fall, according to the department. Districts can opt in to earn bronze, silver or gold distinctions in English language arts, fine arts, mathematics, science, computer science, safe and healthy schools, social studies and world languages by fulfilling each subject’s rubric indicators.
If a school earns one of these distinctions, it will be published on the district’s online dashboard. Families can use the site to vet districts before enrolling their children.
Educators have mixed feelings about the new program’s financial expectations, especially in small, rural or urban districts. Even at larger schools like Norman High School, budget concerns have some educators skeptical about the program’s practicality in a state that ranks last regionally for per-pupil spending and No. 49 nationally — including Washington, D.C.
While the general education rubrics center around instruction and professional development, other rubrics focus on buildings, technology and equipment. For example, the fine arts and safe and healthy schools rubrics list extensive facility, staffing and resource requirements that many Oklahoma schools cannot afford.
Norman High School choir director Stephania Abell said that while she recognizes the program’s value, its feasibility for districts depends on one thing: funding.
“In my mind, it all comes down to funding,” Abell said. “It would be lovely if we all had an accompanist in our class four days a week, but I don’t see that happening. The funding is not there.”
This fiscal year’s common education appropriation is set to increase by about $158 million. To bridge the gap between Oklahoma and surrounding states in per-pupil spending, Oklahoma would have to invest $1.3 billion more, according to the Oklahoma State School Board Association.
Abell said despite the increase in school funding over the last two years, she hasn’t noticed the change in her program.
“Funding for my choir programs has never gone up,” Abell said. “It’s always gone down or stayed the same, and I’ve been here for 12 years. It’s never, ever gone up.”
At the start of the 2019-2020 school year, Oklahoma had 596 teaching vacancies. To keep up with increasing enrollment and teacher exodus, Oklahoma issued a record-breaking 3,092 emergency teaching certifications.
Teachers can move to nearby states like Texas and Arkansas, where per-pupil spending is up 15.6 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively, from Oklahoma. Eleven percent of Oklahoma teachers leave the state or profession every year, according to the Oklahoma State School Board Association.
With Oklahoma’s education funding behind regional standards, some teachers question if the department wrote the program’s expectations aware of the reality of what schools can do on a shoestring budget.
“I don’t know if they thought about it a whole lot when they put (the rubric) onto the website and said, ‘This could be great if you all could do it,’” Abell said. “Well, we could all do that. But we need about six gazillion dollars to do it.”
OU political science professor and Norman Public Schools parent Ann-Marie Szymanski said the resource disparity between large and small districts could significantly impact a school’s ability to meet the rubrics’ indicators.
“My sons go to Norman North, which is a very large high school with lots of opportunities to take an array of classes in fine arts, math, English, science, etcetera,” Szymanski said. “I would be surprised if smaller schools or schools with fewer resources would be able to meet the requirements of some of these rubrics, especially if they require opportunities (such as) classes that a school might struggle to provide.”
Affordability of achievement
In the fine arts rubric, indicators for fine arts facilities include access to a performance space with appropriate and updated technology, including sound equipment, lighting and curtains.
For a bronze distinction, dance programs must have dedicated dance classrooms providing a minimum of 100 square feet per student, a ceiling height of at least 10 feet, sprung or floating floors, access to a water fountain, and dressing and shower facilities for both students and teachers.
For a silver distinction, every fine arts classroom must be equipped with a sound system utilizing current technology "capable of variable speed and ample amplification," quality projectors or interactive boards and a classroom sound system for voice amplification. Dance classrooms must also have mirrors and barres.
For a gold distinction, band programs must have “funds available to purchase college-level instruments for advanced students.” The price of one college-level instrument can range anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000.
“There’s nothing on (the rubric) that says the band got a sweepstakes award,” said Donny Longest, retired band director from Konawa High School. “There’s nothing performance-oriented. It was all about facilities and how many classes you have.”
Of the 69 requirements on the fine arts rubric, not one mentions an indicator for individual or group achievement.
Levi Patrick, the state department's assistant executive director of curriculum and instruction and project leader behind Programs of Excellence, said the rubric lacks achievement-based indicators because it could “disincentivize equitable access” to fine arts programs, and that inexperienced students could be left out of an organization if a teacher felt they could negatively impact achievement status.
Equitable financial access in marching band programs such as those at Union High School and Broken Arrow High School — whose fees range from $1,800 to $2,300 per student, per year — is not addressed in the rubric.
Hope for fully funded schools
Patrick said the department is aware of the need for more resource allocation in schools, and next year’s budget request to the legislature reflects that.
“We are asking for the kind of funding that will make (earning a distinction) more realistic and possible for our schools,” Patrick said.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister released her fiscal year 2021 budget request in October. In the request, the superintendent asked for a $220 million increase in funding from this fiscal year’s appropriation.
According to the budget’s memorandum, Hofmeister said the new funding will “restor(e) operational dollars ... so that, in part, the class size moratorium for kindergarten and first grade can be lifted ... (The new funding will) creat(e) a new School Counselor Corps ... provid(e) supports for chronic absenteeism and trauma sensitivity ... and provid(e) additional classroom dollars in the areas of alternative education, assessment, supports for low-performing schools, early childhood and supports for teachers.”
The superintendent also said the department is requesting funding necessary for the instructional materials, flexible benefit allowance and administrative functions line items.
Carolyn Thompson, the department’s chief of government affairs and deputy chief of staff, said in a presentation that Oklahoma should fund schools to reach new, substantive benchmarks.
These benchmarks include reducing the need for emergency-certified teachers by 95 percent, becoming a top 20 state according to the National Assessment for Educational Progress and becoming a top 10 state in high school graduation rates.
The department also proposed reducing college remediation by half, instituting an Individual Career Academic Plan for all students grades 6–12 and bringing literacy rates up to 75 percent for students entering kindergarten.
Patrick said the Programs of Excellence were created with the reality of Oklahoma schools in mind, and with the hope the department’s budget request can fill in the gaps.
“Every decision that we make comes with the question of, in what ways does this serve to overcome inequities in our system?” Patrick said. “I think all of us at the department and around the nation are trying to think about the ways that we can meet teachers where they are, and help them grow by listening to and learning from them, and working together with them.”
Patrick also said the current rubric is still in draft form, and the department welcomes feedback from educators and parents before, during and after the full rollout.
“We’re on a journey to get this right,” Patrick said. “We are in a learning phase. ... We don’t want to be overly prescriptive how people go about this because we want this to be an emergent process.”
Patrick said he hopes the Programs of Excellence won’t just outline the ways in which schools are wanting, but will serve as a tool for districts to advocate for themselves and work with legislators on how they can create “model schools” in their communities.
As the Oklahoma legislature sits down to its 2020 session, educators, students and parents await its decision on the resource allocation and support that could make the new program’s dreams of excellence a reality for more schools.
“It’s about believing students deserve an opportunity to be challenged, supported and engaged in their school setting,” Patrick said. “There’s great work in all those areas, and we needed a better platform to make that visible.”
