Dorman Education Plan Sits Well With Tulsa Teachers
Tulsa area educators applaud governor candidate Joe Dorman’s education proposals
By SAMANTHA VICENT World Staff Writer
Tulsa-area educators are frustrated over what they said is the Oklahoma legislature’s failure to ask for their input while working to develop new state education standards in the wake of Common Core’s repeal. But if Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Dorman wins the race against incumbent Gov. Mary Fallin this year, he plans to change that.
“We must assemble teachers, parents, superintendents, administrators, board members, the colleges of education in the state of Oklahoma,” Dorman said during a gathering at the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association headquarters on Saturday. “We see too many one-size-fits-all programs in place, and we have to remember students progress at different levels.”
Dorman was in Tulsa to unveil the third (so far) of four phases of his “Classrooms First” proposal, which he says will correct the failures of the “Fal-esi” (pronounced “fallacy”) education plan formulated by Fallin and state superintendent Janet Barresi. The previous two phases addressed redirecting the state franchise tax of about $35 million to classrooms, which he hopes will limit per-pupil funding cuts, and replacing end-of-instruction testing with the ACT college entrance exam along with abolishing the third-grade reading test in favor of progress exams.
“I think it’s criminal what we’re putting those little kids through,” Dorman said. “We should have (progress exams) to see how well the kids are doing, and instead of paying all the money to testing companies let’s instead put the money back into remediation and tutoring and get those kids the assistance they need to bring them up to the level they should be.”