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Bartlesville Public Schools

Posted: Oct 23, 2017 3:32 PMUpdated: Oct 23, 2017 3:32 PM

BPS Addresses State Funding

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Ben Nicholas

The Bartlesville Public School District released a news letter today where they state that Oklahoma is under investing in its public schools.

BPS says it should be noted that all Oklahoma schools are significantly handicapped by the lowest teaching salaries in the region, even after cost of living is accounted for. This has resulted in a large number of teachers without adequate certification, extremely high levels of teacher shortages, and districts forced to hire from a very small and often under-qualified pool of candidates.

State public schools have the highest percentage of budget cuts of any state in the nation since 2008, including a loss of all dedicated state funding for textbooks. BPS says that consolidation of districts would not make a significant difference; even if all administrative costs in Oklahoma schools could be shifted into instruction, the overall spending on instruction would remain at 47th out of the 50 states.

The letter says that until the state legislature acts to increase revenues to public schools, significant achievement gains should not be expected, but teachers and administrators will continue to work to improve student achievement despite handicaps caused by inadequate state funding.

(Chart provided by the Bartlesville Public School District)
 


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