By Kyle D. Loveless Indulge me and let me give you an example. Everyone like me needs to lose a little weight. So I decide to go to a gym and the gym offers a personal trainer. I am excited, I have never had a personal trainer, I could use one, so I sign up. For months, I pay my dues to the gym, but then on top I pay extra for the personal trainer. Months go by, I do everything the trainer asks, but somehow I see no results, my weight is still the same. At the end of my contract for six months, the trainer comes to me and says, “You just need to expand your regime to keep up with the others that are training more than you. I need more money and you need to train more.” Would you go back to the same trainer if after months you put money into them, and after no results, they not only asked for more money, but for you to come in more? I know I would not, but somehow, Sandy Garrett keeps coming back for more. It seems that every few years, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett changes the goal line. When the US Chamber of Commerce give Oklahoma schools an F, she does not accept responsibility and try to improve, she complains that the tests were skewed. Even the Moore American’s own Scott Carter jumped on the bandwagon of the idea of expanding the school year. What I would like to see is accountability and responsibility and results, and more importantly above all else, I would like to see our children get the best education. Funding is at record levels, teachers are paid more now than ever before, and we now have the biggest education coup, the education lottery. So why are there still problems with public education in Oklahoma? First, we need a transfusion of competition in our education system. Schools within districts need to compete for funding, with good schools being rewarded and underperforming schools held accountable. School vouchers, tax credits for homeschoolers, magnet schools, whatever it takes to jump start our system, on behalf of the education of our children. Second, just as competition will rise the level of excellence in our system, those quality teachers should be rewarded. There should be a multi factor test in whether or not a teacher is a good one or not. Peer review, principle input, parental input even student input and scores should be taken into factor in determining who deserves raises based on merit and those that should not. Finally, there is one area that is the most effective but is the most difficult to monitor or accomplish. Most parents want and become involved in their children’s education, but the most important factor in a child’s education is parental involvement. This is my opinion, but it also backed up by Harvard studies. I am not opposed to longer school days and longer school years, I just think we both as taxpayers and parents are not getting our monies worth. We should demand more from our government at all levels and we should view our children’s future as the consumers of a defective product that is our public education system and we need radical change for our children’s education. I have never had a personal trainer, but I know that if I was not getting results from someone, I would go somewhere else with my business. We should expect results. Oklahoma City businessman Kyle Loveless is a Republican candidate for State Senate District 45. Campaign website

Labels: Decision '08, Kyle Loveless

Posted at 8/06/2007 02:50:00 PM