A Solution to the "Teacher Crisis" and Higher Taxes
Politicians are adamant about getting their Step On Oklahoma tax plan passed and they are hell bent to use the teacher union strike as the vehicle to get there. But is this the only way to improve public education in Oklahoma? No, far from it.
Meet Epic One on One Charter school. The least expensive public school in the state is also the fastest growing school district in the state. Large enough that it managed to get 2000 students on a field trip to the Capitol last week. The teachers at this school are not going on strike because they are some of the best paid teachers in the state and have more control over their students and classrooms.
Epic began back about ten years ago in the Graham School District near Lake Eufaula oferring online classes for students ill served by public schools. The legislature stepped in and helped Epic to become its own school district, now with 14,000 students and growing at the rate of 47% for the last seven years. It is the 11th largest school district in the state.
Families apply to Epic and none are turned away. The students have around 20 different curiculum to choose from, Epic sets up an education fund for each kid in their own name to pay for the teachers, curriculum, any computers needed or internet services, leaving the remainder of the fund for electives and extra curricular activities. Arts, sports, even shooting classes if part of an official shooting team. Any equipment bought belongs to the charter school and can be re used for later students. The school can serve students anywhere in the state and does its work WITHOUT local ad valorem taxes, those taxes continue on to the local school district. That is about one third of the typical school budget, proving that education doesn't need all the money being thrown at it.
Of course the public schools saw Epic as a growing threat so they pressured Fallin to force an audit, one that came out clean with problems and better scores than the students from public schools were getting. The teachers get paid on merit, with the parents evaluating the teachers and the pupil's test scores proving that they are getting educated. The teachers are on call for five days a week to help if needed, either on the phone or in person, and teachers can accept more students if they can handle an increased load and get paid a lot more. The average teacher earns around $63,000 per year, some special education teachers make over $100,000 per year.
Think of this as the traditional homeschooling except the state is paying for the costs. The parents provide the place to study, the system monitors time spent and progress toward learning the required subjects, the child can choose the time of day or even evening for their work, and once they have mastered the basics the student can expand their education in areas of interest. Nothing slows a kid down, nothing prevents a kid from spending more time to master an area of the subject.
Teachers average around 30 kids, about the same amount that most of us had in our classrooms at school. The teachers unions demanded only 16 kids per teacher so they could increase teacher jobs, not because it was needed for the kids. Test scores certainly didn't increase with the lower kids per class.
This allows Epic One on One to spend 85% of their money on instruction, compared to 55% for the average Oklahoma school and 61% as the national average. The management team takes 10% for running the schools and finding the best teachers. The system isn't patented, anyone can duplicate the system and open their own charter school so the idea could explode literally in a week's time to accommodate an unlimited number of new students.
If you want to help solve the public education problem click here and get your kids enrolled in Epic. You can choose from a completely virtual system with teachers actually coming to your home or local area every week to help or a blended learning experience that has a local classroom for your kid to attend. No cost to you, the system can be tailored to your family needs, and rather than hurting public education the local schools keep one third of the money normally spent on a student to help prop up the failing system that we call public education.
Want to give your favorite teacher a pay raise without raising YOUR taxes? Just click on that link.
