Education groups seek veto of rule linking accreditation to test results

Six in-state education groups have asked Gov. Kevin Stitt to veto a proposed administrative rule for the Oklahoma State Department of Education – led by Republican state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters – that would tie a school’s accreditation to the results of yearly high-stakes student tests.

The Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition, the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, Oklahoma Edvocates, Oklahomans for Public Education and Pro TPS (Tulsa Public Schools) said they were urging their supporters and other Oklahomans to contact Stitt concerning the rule.

Passed by the state Board of Education in February, the rule would become law if the governor approves. Administrative rule proposals typically are voted upon by the Legislature before moving to the governor’s desk, but this year, neither the state House nor Senate voted upon the proposals, leaving the decision entirely up to Stitt, who’s also a Republican.

A spokeswoman for Stitt said she thought the governor would "make a decision early next week" about the proposed administrative rule. He has until July 17 to act.

“We are calling on Oklahomans to take just a couple minutes to contact the governor and let him know that this proposed rule is the wrong policy for Oklahoma schools, students and communities,” said Angela Clark Little, the founder of the group Oklahomans for Public Education.

The proposed change would add an entire section to the Oklahoma Administrative Code rules that govern the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Under the proposed new rule, starting with data from the current academic year, it would count as an academic deficiency if a school district has fewer than 50% of all students testing at or above the basic performance level in the state assessments for either English Language Arts or Mathematics. Assessments for third through eighth grades and 11th grade would be combined. Academic deficiencies negatively affect a school district's accreditation.

Critics of the rule say more than 60 school districts – in both rural and urban areas of Oklahoma – could have accreditation issues should the rule pass. They see the rule, and others pushed by Walters that would tie accreditation to various issues, as a vehicle through which the state might take over schools districts, as Walters once threatened to do with Tulsa Public Schools, the state’s largest district. Walters has since backed off somewhat from that threat.

“This rule is a direct threat to dozens of rural school districts, especially those that serve the greatest numbers of economically disadvantaged students, English language learners and students with disabilities,” said the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, Erika Buzzard Wright. “This threat to local control puts the very future of our small towns and rural communities at risk.”

The state board, led by Walters, has taken an aggressive approach in creating administrative rules since he took office in January 2023. Dan Isett, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, has cited “broad constitutional authority vested in OSDE that grants it the ability to act in the best interest of Oklahoma students” as rationale for the creation of the rules. Walters also has defended the rule proposals on social media.

Opponents, conversely, have claimed Walters and the board do not have the authority to create new rules, saying the state Legislature first must direct an agency to create rules on a given subject. Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond last year wrote an opinion — which has the force of law absent of a court decision — that reiterated that principle.

Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court effectively struck down a pair of rules – concerning library content and district notification of parents when a student changes their personal pronouns. The order came in an order stemming from a lawsuit filed by Edmond Public Schools against Walters, the state agency and state board concerning the rules. But the court didn’t issue any decision on the state board’s rule-making process or on Drummond’s opinion.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Governor should veto change in school rules, say education groups