Hello, Education Insiders! Every Friday Stand for Children Oklahoma will share with you what’s happening under the dome at 23rd and Lincoln in regards to all K-12 education legislation. If you have any questions, please contact our operations coordinator, Amy Stinnett, at
[email protected], or Gwendolyn Caldwell, our government affairs director, at
[email protected]. If you’d like to join us as a strong voice for education this session, please visit http://stand.org/oklahoma/ to see how you can help each child in Oklahoma receive a world-class education. Last week we asked our first Insider Trivia Question, and we got a winner! The question was: How many bills were we left with after the last deadline? The answer: 699. Our winner: Leslie Blair! By now, she’s probably reading (and hopefully enjoying) the book we mailed her, The Smartest Kids in the World, a New York Times bestseller by Amanda Ripley. Thanks for participating, Leslie! State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee and House Appropriations and Budget on Education Committee on Wednesday to present the State Department of Education’s budget. The teacher shortage remained a key focal point as she addressed the budget challenges the state agency faces. She said we are already short 1,000 teachers and an anticipated budget cut would only serve to drive up that already crippling number. A 2 percent cut, she said, would translate to 1,781 missing teachers while a 4 percent cut would equal 2,810 teachers short. In light of this teacher shortage, Superintendent Hofmeister remains determined to increase our teacher pay along with instructional days – what’s been dubbed her #OKhigh5 plan – gradually over the next five years.