2024 OSDE RULES UP FOR APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL

NEW ACADEMIC DEFICIENCIES LANGUAGE - There are approximately 62 school districts that would fall under the first-year category of less than 50% scoring at the basic performance level or above and would therefore be given an academic deficiency. MANY of these are rural schools.

210:35-3-210. Purpose. [NEW]

210:35-3-211. Applicability of the Standard. [NEW]

210:35-3-212. Metrics for Academic Deficiencies. [NEW]

(a) Academic deficiency - beginning with the 2023-2024 school year state assessment data, if a school district has fewer than 50% of all students testing at the basic performance level or above in the state assessments for either English Language Arts or Mathematics for the combined grades of third through eighth, and eleventh, it shall receive an academic deficiency.

(b) Academic deficiency; accredited with warning - beginning with the 2024-2025 school year assessment data, if in the previous year a district had an academic deficiency and the district failed to show a 5% year over year absolute increase in district level total assessment scores in the respective subject or subjects that are less than 50% basic or above for the combined grades of third through eighth, and eleventh, it shall receive an academic deficiency, and its accreditation status will be downgraded to accredited with warning.

(c) Academic deficiency: accredited with probation - beginning with the 2025-2026 school year assessment data. if in the previous year a district had an academic deficiency with warning and the district failed to show a 5% year over year absolute increase in district level total assessment scores in the respective subject or subjects that are less than 50% basic or above for the combined grades of third through eighth, and eleventh, it shall receive an academic deficiency, and its accreditation status will be downgraded to accredited with probation.

(d) Academic performance growth and removal of academic deficiency - When the district shows a 5% year over year absolute increase in assessment scores in the subject or subjects that are less than 50% basic or above, the district’s accreditation status shall not be altered based solely on an academic deficiency. If the district had an academic deficiency in the prior year, but now has 50% or more of its tested students testing at the basic performance level or above in the state assessment for both English Language Arts and Mathematics for grades third through eighth, and eleventh, that district will no longer have an academic deficiency.

REASONS FOR CONCERN:

● Test scores often reflect the level of poverty in the district rather than the quality of the teaching and the quality of the interventions undertaken to support individual students. The average poverty rate of the 62 districts is 75%.

● The metric of improvement of 5% year over year is also problematic. Comparing one set of 3rd graders’ performance to the next year’s 3rd graders’ performance does not measure growth of students.

● This overemphasis on test scores is another factor in the exodus of highly trained, professional educators who did not enter the profession in order to make students better test takers. They entered the profession to provide a creative, engaging curriculum to instill a love of reading, an inquisitive mind, and critical thinkers who can be successful in this world.

DECLARATION OF FOUNDATIONAL VALUES

Rule 210:1-1-1 Declaration of Foundational Values (NEW) - https://sde.ok.gov/sites/default/files/Rule%20Text%20210.1-1-1%2C%207.pdf

The amended rule adds entirely new language to the existing rule without legislative authority to do so. Pay particular attention to section (i) which seems to grant the SDE the authority to adopt rules to implement this rule without any legislative authority to do so.

(a) This declaration of foundational values and principles of public education in this state should guide the interpretation of rules adopted by the State Board of Education.

(b) Education is the teaching and instruction of individuals by means of equipping them with the tools of learning that will best orient their whole lives toward the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty; the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and the competence, confidence, and courage to pursue virtue.

(c) Truth, goodness, and beauty are objective moral virtues that can be discovered, known, attained, and never exhausted in our limits as finite creatures. It is mankind’s duty to pursue such virtues, and the goal of education is to train a student’s desires toward an ever-growing love, appreciation, and capacity for these universal and self-evident truths, whose ultimate author is our Creator, having created all men equal, as echoed in our Declaration of Independence.

(d) Good and evil are real and universal rather than relativistic concepts, and it is incumbent upon every person to strive toward the former and to face the latter.

(e) Academics is the primary purpose of public schools, teachers, and public instruction. It cannot be said that a school is functioning as a school unless its students are made literate, meaning they are able to read; able to write; able to perform arithmetic and fundamental mathematics; able to comprehend literature; able to compose legible and coherent texts; able to politely and specifically discuss thoughts on complex ideas; able to seek out knowledge of a subject independently; able to think critically for themselves; and ultimately able to honestly navigate the world adeptly and independently as educated individuals.

(f) The ultimate responsibility of children’s education rests firmly upon the shoulders of their parents, to whom their children were given by their Creator, or upon the shoulders of those guardians who, due to the unforeseen course of life, have taken upon themselves the solemn and sacred task of providing for and protecting the wards in their care. All responsibilities of aneducator and servant of public education are responsibilities delegated from these parents and guardians, and such responsibilities are to be taken with full sobriety and respect as is befitting the care and training of all children.

(g) The founding documents of our nation—the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—and the founding document of our state—the Oklahoma Constitution—confirm these values. The preamble of the founding document of the State of Oklahoma reads: “Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessing of liberty; to secure just and rightful government; to promote our mutual welfare and happiness, we, the people of the State of Oklahoma, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”

(h) Instruction in the public schools must elevate, protect, and celebrate those values and ideals that are commonly expressed by the people of Oklahoma and bind us together so as to preserve and nurture a society of peace, prosperity, and shared community; founded upon our cultural principals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and the political conviction and knowledge that hard work conquers all, as enshrined in the Great Seal of the state of Oklahoma.

(i) The State Department of Education is hereby directed to use its full authority to propose rules, maintain standards, and ensure accountability and transparency in such a way that most fully upholds and protects the values of education as stated herein.

(j) All newly appointed members of the State Board of Education shall be required to read this rule and attest in writing to their having read and understood this rule on or before the day of their first Board meeting.

REASONS FOR CONCERN:

● This rule is not in response to new or amended legislative directives, circumventing the legislature and usurping the power of the legislative body.

● This rule offends the rights of parents to guide the religious upbringing, doctrine and beliefs they wish to teach their children. Children in our schools come from a multitude of faith traditions, including many different interpretations of Christianity, and from families who do not practice any faith at all.

● Children come from unique backgrounds and family structures and should find their schools to be welcoming places where they feel they belong, can participate and learn.

● This rule could be used in the rewriting of curriculum standards and textbook adoption.

● Part (i) of this rule seems to give the State Department of Education (i.e. the superintendent) the authority to promulgate rules based on these foundational principles rather than in response to newly passed legislation and statutes.

PART 25. STANDARD XIV: FREEDOM OF RELIGION (NEW)

Rule 210:35-3-251. Voluntary prayer [NEW] - https://sde.ok.gov/sites/default/files/Rule%20Text%20210.35-3-251%2C%20252.pdf

The requirement for districts to adopt a policy that permits students and teachers to participate in voluntary prayer is not a part of any statute and has not been a part of the accreditation process.

(a) Every public school district shall adopt a policy that permits those students and teachers who wish to do so to participate in voluntary prayer.

(b) Such policy shall include provisions authorizing voluntary prayer at sporting events and graduation ceremonies in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist., 142 S. Ct. 2407 (2022); and include provisions for addressing complaints regarding violations of 70 O.S. § 11- 101.1.

(c) The State Department of Education shall annually verify that districts have adopted policies that comply with this rule and shall recommend an accreditation deficiency to the State Board of Education for any school district that fails to comply.

REASONS FOR CONCERN:

● This rule is not in response to new or amended legislative directives, circumventing the legislature and usurping the power of the legislative body

● It is the parents’ right to guide their children’s religious upbringing. Authorizing teachers or coaches to lead prayer, authorizes them to impose their own religious beliefs and perspectives on students that may not align with the parents’ beliefs.

● It is important to maintain the separation between state and church. This offends this basic foundation of democracy.

Rule 210:35-3-252. Minute of silence in public schools [NEW] - https://sde.ok.gov/sites/default/files/Rule%20Text%20210.35-3-251%2C%20252.pdf

Although the requirement for a minute of silence is already in statute along with the verbiage that is to be used, the requirement that this take place over the public address system is not in the statute, nor is the requirement that it be outlined in the board adopted policy of the district. The possibility of an accreditation deficiency has not been a part of the accreditation process and is not a part of the statute.

(a) Every public school district shall adopt a policy enforcing the minute of silence provided for in 70 O.S. § 11-101.2.

(b) Such policy shall require that the daily minute of silence last for approximately one minute; require that the daily minute of silence begin with an announcement over the public address system that substantially mirrors the statutory language, such as the following announcement:

“We now pause for a minute of silence in which students and teachers may reflect, meditate, pray, or engage in any other silent activity that does not interfere with, distract, or impede other students in the exercise of their individual choices”; and (3) include provisions for addressing complaints regarding violations of 70 O.S. § 11- 101.2.

REASONS FOR CONCERN:

● This is another example of the State Superintendent usurping the authority of the state legislature and abusing the administrative rules process.

● Many schools begin their day with the minute of silence at a school wide assembly. Some schools allow teachers to do this in their own classrooms as it fits best into their schedule. Some do direct this over the public address system. This is a local control issue and should not be determined by a state agency.

● The punitive nature of these rules resulting in accreditation deficiencies are inappropriate.