By Jessica Sherrill, Director of OPSUCA and Staff Attorney  Can a support employee who is contracted for 150 days be terminated for cause without a hearing?  Yes, a support employee who has worked less than a year, or 172 days, can be terminated without any due process. In fact, school law doesn’t require the school to provide any reason for termination. The support […]

By Shawn Hime “Education is the key to building a better Oklahoma.” That recent comment from Phil Albert, a Claremore business owner, a University of Oklahoma regent and a member of the Step Up Oklahoma coalition, was more than just a statement of fact. It was a much-needed message of hope for educators, families and […]

The week of Oct. 11, districts will receive information about student performance on state-mandated tests taken last spring. As district and school leaders begin analyzing that information, it’s important board members be aware of how these test scores differ from information reported in prior years. The scores that will be released soon aren’t comparable to those […]

The Election Resolution for the 2018 Annual School Board Member election is now available. This resolution is due to your county election board by close of business on Nov. 17, 2017. Additional information regarding the election will be provided to you in the next few weeks. We are awaiting final confirmation of election cost payments […]

  OSSBA issued a trio of legislative alerts today on several key bills that are in committee next week. You can read more about each bill and find contact information for the respective committees in the emails below: Reading Sufficiency Act (third-grade reading bill/retention) and mandatory grading policies: Read the alert Proposed changes to ad […]

By Christy Watson My 9-year-old son spent the first day of his fall break getting braces. My husband and I considered whether we should wait until he’s a bit older but opted for what we agreed offers the best long-term outcome. Hopefully, this dental intervention will prevent some future issues that might be more painful […]

On Thursday, the state Board of Education will consider approving 107 emergency teaching certificates. If approved, Oklahoma will have more than 1,000 people teaching with emergency certificates for the second straight year. A few things to consider: Nearly half of the 926 emergency certificates approved to date are for early childhood and elementary education. The […]

OSSBA’s new website and member portal will launch Aug. 30 and is designed to provide school board members and administrative employees of member school districts easy access to information related to board member training events, board member credits and more. How do I access the portal? Visit www.ossba.org. On the upper right hand side, click […]

By Christy Watson School finance is complicated. Many outside the public education sector have only a general notion of how schools are funded. The mechanism is fuzzy even for many of those working in schools. So when educators and public education advocates start talking about the need for more money, the question almost always comes […]

By Mike Mullins President, OSSBA Board of Directors  When the Oklahoma State School Boards Association and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration launched For the People: A Vision for Oklahoma Public Education more than three years ago, we really didn’t know where the project would lead. What we knew for sure is that a […]