Weekly Opinion Editorial
PUT JOY IN
EDUCATION!
by Steve Fair
In two weeks, it will be over! The 2014 campaign cycle will conclude on
November 4th. This cycle’s
‘October surprise’ evidently was Ebola, and ISIS
and the failure of the Obama administration to handle either with any degree of
effectiveness. Political observers predict Republicans will take the U.S.
Senate and add seats in the U.S. House.
Oklahoma is one of only states where
two U.S. Senate races are on the ballot (South
Carolina is the other). Congressman James Lankford is running for the
unexpired term of Tom Coburn and Senator Jim Inhofe is running for
re-election. Both Republican nominees
are expected to win easily.
In the statewide office races, Governor
Mary Fallin, Lt. Governor Todd Lamb, and Labor Commissioner Mark Costello are running
for re-election and are heavily favored to win.
The only statewide race that is expected to be competitive is for State
Superintendent for Public Instruction.
It pits Joy Hofmeister and John Cox.
Hofmeister won a three way Republican primary, knocking off incumbent
Janet Barassi without a runoff, garnering 57% of the vote. Cox won the primary, but didn’t get enough
votes to win outright. He beat Freda
Deskin in the Democrat run-off on August 26th 63% to 37%.
What does the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction do? The State Constitution
doesn’t define the duties of the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction. The office’s powers and
responsibilities come from the Oklahoma School Code and the powers granted to
the office by the State Board of Education.
The State Superintendent is responsible for the general administration,
coordination, supervision, evaluation, and improvement of educational programs
throughout the state. They also implement
the policies of the State Board of Education. Every two years, they are
required to publish a book containing the AG’s opinion on school law. Annually, they are to provide the state
legislature and the Governor a ‘status report’ on the state of education in Oklahoma. Let’s take a look at the two candidates.
Joy Hofmeister is a former public school
teacher and operates a Math & Reading tutoring business. She has four kids and has been very active in
the Jenks school district. She was
active in PTA, serves on the Jenks Schools Foundation board and was on the
State Board of Education for two years. She
is a TCU graduate and is working on a Masters at OU in School Policy and
Law. Forty five Republican members of
the state legislature endorsed her BEFORE the primary.
John Cox is the school superintendent in
Peggs, a K-8 school district near Tahlequah. He has a degree from Northeastern University, and got his doctorate in
education at OSU. His web site doesn’t
say, but it appears Cox is married and has two children. In the past, he served on State
Superintendent Sandy Garrett’s advisory board.
Cox is running as a conservative Democrat (if
that actually exits). He says he opposes
Common Core, but offers no alternative to the national standards. Cox favors increased funding in education and
a starting wage of 35K for classroom teachers in Oklahoma.
Hofmeister opposes Common Core and
advocates that Oklahoma
establish our own standards. She says
every student should be able to read before the third grade. She also would like to see classroom
teacher’s pay increased, but she says education should be accountability to the
taxpayer. She favors more transparency
in education funding.
Evidently, Cox has not been complying with
the State’s Opening Meetings Act. State statute (Title 25; Sections 301-314),
requires public officials to hold open meetings which include advance notice of
time, place and agenda of the meetings in a public venue. Those notices are
required to be filed with the County
Clerk’s office in advance
of the meeting. Cox has not posted any
notices on the Peggs
School website for years.. That should concern voters. If Cox can’t post an online advanced agenda
now, what makes us think he can do it when he is elected to a statewide office? He does appear to have the ability to update
his campaign website regularly.
A second issue is Cox’s pay. Cox is paid an astronomical $141,678 annually
as Superintendent of one of the smallest school districts in Oklahoma.
Peggs has just 13 teachers and 248 students. The job Cox is running for pays $124,373 a
year, which begs the question- why is he running for an office that pays less
money? The obvious reason is the OEA and
other liberal education groups in Oklahoma
are attempting to re-capture the Oklahoma Department of Education. They understand the power and influence the
position has over the public education of our children in Oklahoma.
The choice in this race is clear. Hofmeister is more qualified, has a more
detailed plan of how to lead the department and will work with the state
legislature and the Governor to further public education in Oklahoma.
On November 4th, put Joy in education.
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