SCHOOL DAZE Teacher Pay Raises Alone Won’T Solve State’S Public Education Emergency
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• AnnUAL EDUCATIOn ISSUE • AUGUST 2018 • VOLUME 50 NUMBER 8 • $5.00 SCHOOL DAZE Teacher Pay Raises Alone Won’t Solve State’s Public Education Emergency Back-To-School Special Report Pages 12-17 Observations www.okobserver.org Vigilance VOLUME 50, NO. 8 The aroused giant that is the Oklahoma electorate cannot be allowed PUBLISHER Beverly Hamilton to resume its long slumber that enabled a dismantling of vital state ser- EDITOR Arnold Hamilton vices and left us on the cusp of Third World status. If vigilance can replace apathy long-term, June’s massive primary ADVISORY BOARD turnout will be remembered as the rocket launch of an Oklahoma re- Andrew Hamilton, Matthew Hamilton, naissance. Scott J. Hamilton, Trevor James, Ryan Kiesel, George Krumme, The Stage II booster is Aug. 28’s runoff elections. Civic duty again Gayla Machell, MaryAnn Martin, must be exercised in larger-than-normal numbers to send a clear mes- Bruce Prescott, Bob Rogers, sage to the statehouse Powers That Be that the status quo will no longer Robyn Lemon Sellers, Kyle Williams be tolerated. OUR MOTTO By definition, The Observer family is engaged in the affairs of state. It’s To Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the up to us help educate our fellow Oklahomans on the issues and candi- Comfortable. dates – and to encourage them to cast ballots. Democracy is a participa- tion sport, after all. OUR CREDO So then to all their chance, to all their shining golden opportunity. To all the right to love, to live, to work, to be themselves, and to become whatever Which Direction? thing their vision and humanity can combine to make them. This seeker, The intensifying battle for the soul of Oklahoma is best illustrated is the promise of America. by two Republican runoffs – for state superintendent and Corporation - Adapted from Thomas Wolfe Commission. Incumbent Superintendent Joy Hofmeister was forced into the runoff, FOUNDING PUBLISHER largely because a candidate with a famous name, Will Farrell – no, not Helen B. Troy [1932-2007] The Anchorman – garnered nearly a quarter of the June 26 primary vote. FOUNDING EDITOR That left Hofmeister, who received nearly 47% of the vote, in an Aug. Frosty Troy [1933-2017] 28 fight for her political life against a repeat, far-right candidate, Linda Murphy, a darling of the school choice, pro-voucher set. [ISSN 0030-1795] We were not initially keen on Hofmeister, whom we feared was Janet The Oklahoma Observer [USPS 865-720] Barresi with a smile. We were wrong. is published on the first Wednesday of each CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 month by AHB Enterprises LLC, 13912 Plym- outh Crossing, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Periodicals postage paid at Edmond, OK and additional entry of- fice. Phone: 405.478.8700. POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. SUBSCRIPTIONS 1-Year [12 issues] $50. Send check to The Yes! Please send me a one-year subscription for only $50. Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, This special offer includes my certificate for a free book courtesy Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Online: Visit of Full Circle Bookstore [a $20 value]. See page 41 for details. www.okobserver.net to use a credit card. UPDATE ADDRESSES Please notify us at least two weeks before your move to ensure uninterrupted service. E-mail address changes to subscriptions@ okobserver.net or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. LETTERS TO EDITOR E-mail to [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113- 0275. 2 • AUGUST 2018 Observerscope We mourn the passing of state Rep. Claudia Griffith, a powerful voice for victims of domestic vio- lence and sexual abuse and a first- responder to the OKC bombing. The Norman Democrat was 67. Good News: Higher tax revenues will enable the first Rainy Day Fund deposit since 2013 – $370 million. Bad News: Anti-taxers already re- sisting its use to augment woefully underfunded state services. Rhetoric: On Mar. 26, OK Inde- pendent Petroleum Association warns increasing the GPT “would deter future investment in our state.” Reality: On July 24, Conti- nental Resources reports oil pro- duction surged 25% in 2Q, thanks to expanded drilling in Oklahoma and South Dakota. Don’t look now, but University Gov. Mary Fallin’s fall-from- of Virginia political scientist Larry grace is surely historic: 74% gave “It’s much harder to be a liberal Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” just moved thumbs down to her performance than a conservative. Why? Because the Oklahoma governor’s race in latest Rasmussen Poll – least it’s easier to give someone the fin- from “safe Republican” to “likely popular governor in America. It ger than a helping hand.” – Mike Republican.” Momentum, Drew was only four years ago she won Royko, late Chicago columnist Edmondson. re-election with 56% of the vote. News: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz en- Dart: To goober-natorial wan- Dart: To OKC Council, racking dorses Cathy Costello for OK La- nabes Kevin Stitt and Mick Cor- up more than $100,000 in legal bor Commissioner. Comment: The nett, the GOP’s Tweedle Dum bills defending an indefensible captain of the Exxon Valdez wasn’t and Tweedle Dee on reproductive anti-panhandling ordinance. That available? Cruz’s ship is sinking – rights. Both would sign bans even could provide a lot of services for check out Texas polls. if they conflict with Roe v. Wade – the city’s poor. meaning more tax dollars wasted American Electric Power and defending unconstitutional legis- Troy Stevenson is out as Free- PSO pulled the plug on the Wind- lation. dom Oklahoma executive director catcher project after Texas regula- after a dust-up over GOP partici- tors balked – a huge win for the The purge of retired OU Presi- pation in OKC’s Pride parade. He carbon crowd and defeat for Okla- dent David Boren’s team is getting previously antagonized some Free- homa environment and economy. nasty with ouster of VP Jabar Shu- dom allies by publicly quitting the mate, who unwisely invoked Clar- Democratic Party and re-register- Think November’s gubernatorial ence Thomas-esque imagery in ing as an independent. contest will be intense? Wait until portraying himself the victim of a the battle over SQ 793. Big money “high-tech lynching.” Laurel: To Bartlesville’s Abi- is at stake in proposal to expand gail Bollenbach, honored with optometric services into mega-re- Laurel: To OU’s former top law- the Horkheimer-Smith Youth tailers like Walmart. yer [and current 4th District con- Service Outreach Award from gressional candidate] Fred Gipson, the 16,000-member Astronomi- “Farmers are getting the full pursuing an open records lawsuit cal League. The homeschooled Stormy Daniels’ treatment – Trump against the secretive OU Founda- sophomore received a $1,750 prize screwed them and now he’s paying tion. Oklahomans deserve to know and all-expenses-paid trip to the them off.” – The Late Show’s Ste- how donations to public colleges group’s recent national conven- phen Colbert and universities are spent. tion in Minneapolis. CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 THE OKLAHOMA OBSERVER • 3 Letters le Haggard says he never heard of Muskogee! Could that “fictional [but plausible] memory lapse” be due to the town’s landslide vote to legalize medical marijuana? Might this mean that “white lightening” has lost its place as “the biggest thrill of all?” If true, many social benefits are in the offing. Now county sheriffs can refo- cus their attention on rooting out “backwood’s stills” and the most dangerous form of society’s No. 1 killer drug: alcohol. Fewer fatal car accidents, lost jobs and broken marriages. Decreasing incidents of both child and spousal abuse. Accidental and intentional gun deaths [murder] both on the wane. What’s not to like? Frank Silovsky Oklahoma City Editor, The Observer: particular with government spend- Editor, The Observer: Forecast: Evangelical Scott ing, which was their bell-cow issue If you didn’t have a reason to Pruitt’s rise and fall may track eight years ago. I recall the GOP, vote, this should definitely be one. similar to Jim Bakker and wife led by tearful John Boehner and Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tammy Faye. They were 1970-80 granny starver Paul Ryan, in vir- has now declared we are an official grandiose rich TV messengers of tual unison braying, “But how are theocracy. I just called their com- God. we going to pay for it?”, at virtually ment line to ask which religion Like them, Pruitt will disap- every proposal from the prior ad- will be the top one. Will Catholic pear out of public sight for several ministration. beliefs over-ride Jehovah’s Wit- years, slithering back quietly into In his relatively short, but enter- nesses? Sessions is Baptist – will Harold Hamm’s and Bob Funk’s taining time as head of the EPA, his be on top? The bottom of the holes and waiting to fight another Scotty spent taxpayer money like pile will belong to smaller reli- day. They’ll figure out a way to re- a drunken frat boy with daddy’s gious groups and those with no re- habilitate him – then try to foist credit card, and every Republican ligious beliefs. him back on gullible Okies. in the U.S. House and Senate, in- Religious discrimination is the Then comes his grand deliver- cluding Oklahoma’s own James order of the day in the Justice De- ance-comeback asking God to Lankford – supposedly Dr. No-It- partment. Why would there be an forgive his sins and Okies to vote All’s successor at pointing out official Justice Department Reli- for him – as their humble reborn government misspending – simply gious Liberty Summit? Now the Christian.