The Oklahoma Legislature’s 2024 session has had plenty of headline-grabbing moments: thwarting an attack on judicial independence, undermining The People’s initiative powers, embracing a show-me-your-papers expansion of police powers that could target almost anyone who’s not lily-white. But it’s often the legislation that flies beneath the radar that ends up with the potential to have the greatest effect on Sooners’ lives. So it is with HB 3278 mandating changes to graduation requirements that could adversely affect everything from marching band to foreign language instruction. For the latest Observercast – Students Or Sprockets? – House Democratic Caucus Chair [and former classroom teacher] Trish Ranson of Stillwater joins us to discuss the Legislature’s education micromanaging and its potential negative consequences for a state languishing in the Bottom 10 in far too many socio-economic and academic categories.
Students Or Sprockets?