Have It Your Way Dude: The $611 Million Plane hitting the Mountain

Have It Your Way Dude: The $611 Million Plane hitting the Mountain: My blog title is a catchphrase from the movie "The Big Lebowski". The Big Lebowski is a cult film from the 90's. If you have s...

The $611 Million Plane hitting the Mountain

My blog title is a catchphrase from the movie "The Big Lebowski". The Big Lebowski is a cult film from the 90's. If you have seen it you know its popularity. If you haven't seen it by now, I don't recommend you see it, like most cult films you won't like them way after the fact.  The Big Lebowski is about a lovable loser hippy set during the Early 90's. The main character, Jeffrey Lebowski, gets caught up in a kidnapping scandal. During that movie Lebowski has a conversation where he explains that his attempt to locate a kidnapped girl is going fine. He explains it by saying the plane has not hit the mountain. His language was a little more explicit so I'm paraphrasing. I bring this up because it sounds like our current elected officials and the upcoming $611.3 Million budget shortfall. 

The governor and legislature are trying to convince us that the only reason this shortfall is here is the Oil and Gas industry. I don't believe it for one second. There is more wrong with this plane than that!! We are for sure headed for the mountain. At breakneck speed. 

To keep us from looking at that incoming mountain we are going to get some nice legislation coming out of committees and on the floor of the legislature. That conversation goes something like this:

Elected Officials: Today, the House A&B subcommittee voted to give teachers a raise!

Me: No seriously that mountain looks  like it's closer. 

Elected Officials: Wait, we are going to make changes to A-F.

Me: Shouldn't we be pulling up? 

Elected Officials: We are going to switch from useless EOI's to the ACT suite! 

Me: When does my oxygen mask fall? 

Elected Officials: WE ARE GOING TO GIVE EDUCATION $600 MILLION OFF THE TOP, sir, please don't look out the window, STUDENTS ARE MORE THAN POTHOLES!!

Me: Can I put my head between my legs yet?

Don't get me wrong, I want all the things that are coming out of these committees, minus the silly school choice nonsense. We need A-F changes, We need to end EOI's and test loving, We need the $600 Million off the top. I applaud all those individuals who write the legislation and all those who work tirelessly to get it passed, BUT it doesn't matter if we do not fix our funding issues long term. What good is all that legislation with no teachers, crumbling buildings, and no resources to implement. Until we address the fundamental problems we are going to hit that mountain! Until we get an equitable funding solution we are in trouble. We can't cut the income tax and give away 100's of millions of dollars to businesses. If our elected officials are not standing up screaming they are going to fix this problem, then you better stick your head between your legs and brace as well!!!

Taxes?!?! Can You Say That?

Tax is a very bad word. Or at least that is what I have been told numerous times. It is worse to have taxes. If you have taxes you should try to get rid of them, as soon as possible.  I will publicly admit I am a Republican. That's not as big of a statement now that we are not witch hunting the liberal establishment. I am actually a pretty involved Republican in my county, and in my precinct. Taxes are always a big deal in the current Republican party and they are for me as well. I don't want to pay more than I need to and I want everyone to pay what they should. Where I think some or maybe even many in the party don't agree me with me is you can't get rid of them and they are not as evil as some or even many make them out to be today.

I got the Oklahoma Economic Report from State Treasurer Ken Miller. He didn't like personally give it to me, it got emailed because I signed up for it. I don't want you thinking I'm that connected as a Republican! He wrote a nice little article about the tax structure and even gave some graphs and charts. When you look at it is very noticeable that the two biggest areas of taxes are Personal Income Tax and Sales Tax. Together, those two account for over 72% all tax revenue. Treasurer Miller alludes to the need for more balance in Oklahoma's tax structure. He mentions two different studies, one conducted by Governor Keating in 2001 and one by Governor Fallin a decade later. Both alluded to a new revenue stream and Fallin's study mentioned offsetting the loss of revenue by eliminating credits and exemptions. Which there is talk of but doesn't seem to be any genuine interest from the legislature.

What has always bothered me about Republicans, and I say that as one and also just about those that I have talked to or read articles from etc., is that they want no taxes or hate any that come up. The bottom line is government is created and needed to perform some basic functions. Providing for schools, public safety, health, protection. You have to have those services. I can be biased, but I believe one of the major contributing factors in America's long standing tradition of being a world power and innovator, revolves around its public education system. You have to have a way to pay for paved roads, prisons, health care, child issues. The only way to me for individuals who so hate taxes to not pay taxes is for it to fall on somebody or something else. One of those would be businesses. Corporations are responsible for 5.5% of all revenue. Gross production is 5.9%, which is in my opinion a tax that is considered a business being taxed. The other two categories, in my opinion are split with motor vehicles being 4.1% of all tax revenue being a tax on individuals and Other, 12.4% being a tax on businesses. So over 3/4th's of the total tax revenue comes from individuals. So unless we think that our state government is more than adequately providing all the services we need, then you either need more money or trim items that the government is spending on that is not a basic service.

While I do believe the government could trim areas that they support that do not fall under a basic need I think the most reasonable way to address tax relief on the common taxpayer is to have businesses pay a little bit more of the share. Which is interesting in my conversation with Republicans, because that is always a no go. They seem to lay down at the feet of business. It creates quite a problem.

I think the state really needs to look at the way it treats businesses. No you can't tax them to where they can't afford workers. There does have to be since from businesses to support the greater good. The business also can't thrive if individuals don't have the money to spend on services.They need the skilled workforce that education provides. I think a minor tax increase and a higher scrutinizing of the credits and incentives could really change the economic outlook in Oklahoma. We need to get out of the bottom in most statistical categories in basic government services. Without a cooperation between businesses and taxpayers, it will never happen.

Accreditation Relaxation

Each spring most schools around Oklahoma start a mad scramble. We begin by gathering up a lot of information that the Oklahoma State Department of Education requests from us. This is called an Accreditation Checklist. It is a lengthy list of all the stuff we are supposed to have to do or have in place for each school year. It is one of the areas that when we gripe about paperwork it is included in that grouping. I would like to see the OSDE make a few changes in this area.

First, I would like to see it broke up into two areas. The first area would be those things we need in place before the school year started. It doesn't make any sense to ask me in April if I have policies in place for the current school year. If I don't, it's a little late. March or April is a little late to ask if we are using PASS skills, if my teachers know their Conducts and Standards. To check and see if our teachers have certificates. This all needs to be done in September at the latest. There are several areas like Safety Drills, Teacher Evaluations, and proper number of Professional Development hours that can still be checked later in the school year.

Second, I would like the OSDE to check every other year for those items that have not been changed or updated. An example would be a counseling plan requirement. Let's say in the 2014-2015 school year that my Regional Accreditation Officer came and checked my policy and it met all the requirements. If no changes by the State Legislature or OSDE were made in requirements for the counseling plan, then the following year it shouldn't be on the checklist to provide. So in the 2015-2016 school year it is one less item that needs to be brought out. This would reduce time on the part of both school officials and OSDE staff members. We obviously have a plan and its current. I do believe that should be no longer than a one year hiatus from the checklist though.

Let me be clear. I wholeheartedly believe that we need accreditation standards and they be followed. My Regional Accreditation Officer is a pleasure to work with and I think she does a wonderful job. I want to have in place every policy I need, and want to follow whatever rule we need to follow. I just think we can do that and simplify the process as well. We eat up enough time on Teacher Evaluations as it is. This would help alleviate so time that can be better spent on kids and instruction.

Hopes, Fears, & Dreams for Oklahoma Education

  Today marks the day that Joy Hofmeister takes over for Janet Barresi and her Reign of Error. It marks the end of four miserable years for Oklahoma Education. Janet, and honestly other leaders in the state, spent most of four years bowing down to Jeb Bush and the privatization movement. Her whole term was marked by a constant battle between those who were labeled the status quo and attempts to demoralize teachers and downgrade public education. Thankfully though those days are gone. But what does the new days ahead and Joy mean?  There are a lot of fanfare and celebrations going on today.

  My hopes for Joy and her team are that she can repair some of the damage done to public education. I truly hope that Joy will bring back to the table those with education knowledge. Get input from those that are experts in their field, whether that is testing, accountability, finance, or school management. I hope she can have some say in carving out meaningful education legislation and deter those bills aimed at meddling in education. My true hope is that Joy can be half she has been built up to be in the last year.

  I will be honest and say that I have some fears. I have seen hundreds of administrators and teachers jump on the Joy bandwagon. Following Janet we are all looking for a hero. My fears are she has never been a school administrator and has very limited classroom experience. We just riled the last superintendent for both of those. Stop me if you have heard this but there have been people who have run for public office and made promises never to come close to keeping those promises. Joy has all kinds of landmines to dodge.  She has a governor who if she wasn't so political favors the Jeb Bush privatization reforms. Was a champion for Common Core until her governor's race got too close for comfort. What happens the first time that Joy and "The Establishment don't agree"? Joy said all the right things up until today. Saying and doing are two different things! She is going to get pressure from all sides, which side will she choose?

  My dreams for this new day are pretty simple. I want respect brought back to our fine men and women who enter the classroom every day with thousands of challenges. They don't deserve lagging pay, less money for supplies, unfair evaluations, and to be demeaned. When I got into education I knew I wanted to coach, with that I knew people were going to say things about me and try to get me fired for not playing Johnny or Sally enough. When I went into administration I knew the same things were a potential reality. But our hardworking classroom teachers don't deserve that ridicule. They just want to make a difference in children's lives everyday. My dream is that they find Joy and it's all that its cracked up to be!!