Another year, another legislative session which means the OSDE and State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister are gearing up for another season of new bills and finalized budgets. I sat down with Superintendent Hofmeister to reflect on the past year of her superintendency and look ahead to the coming year. You can find Superintendent Hofmeister on Twitter @joy4ok.
Tag: Education Policy
Episode 039: Legislative Update 8
This episode of Passing Notes Todd, Shari, and I focused on other systems that impact education because it is not enough to fully fund education. We cover healthcare, criminal justice, DHS, and how all three intersect with education. To sum it up, if we are going to be a top 10 state, Oklahomans need to care for Oklahomans and our policies need to be reflective of the Oklahoman Standard.
Find Todd on Twitter @MrGragg and Shari @ShariGateley.
Episode 037: Legislative Update 7
Listen in as Todd Gragg and I talk all things Oklahoma education politics.
Episode 035: Legislative Update 6
Another #okleg update with Todd Gragg and Shari Gateley. In this episode we talk about innovation and local control.
We all know that the April 1 deadline to pass education funding will probably come and go so we made bets on when we actually the budget will be finalized and sent to the governor. Shari claimed April 24, Todd picked May 8, and I went for the middle with May 1. We’ll see what happens as the legislative session continues.
You can find Todd on Twitter @MrGragg and Shari @ShariGateley
Episode 028: Legislative Update 2
In this second episode of the Legislative Update, I wrap up some of the senate and house bills of interest that were filed by January 17th (the last day to file bills).
All I can say at this point is this is going to be a fascinating legislative session. 1st Regular Session convenes on February 4, 2019. In the past post, I listed the Senate Committee on Education, below you will see the House Committees that focus on education but pay attention to the committee that the bill of interest is assigned to. Let me know your thoughts after listening to the episode and fill out your information in the “Be a Guest” tab to join me for a chat.
Resource: If you haven’t done so already, download the app “Oklahoma’s Legislative Guide” by OAEC.
House Subcommittee for Appropriations and Budget on Education
- Rep Mark McBride (District 53): Chair
- Rep Toni Hasenbeck (District 65): Vice Chair
- Rep Rhonda Baker (District 60)
- Rep Mickey Dollens (District 93)
- Rep Jadine Nollan (District 66)
- Rep Ty Burns (District 35)
- Rep Derrel Fincher (District 11)
- Rep Jacob Rosecrants (District 46)
- Rep Sherrie Conley (District 20)
- Rep Andy Fugate (District 94)
- Rep Tammy West (District 84)
House Committee on Common Education
- Rep Rhonda Baker (District 60): Chair
- Rep Mark Vancuren (District 74): Vice Chair
- Rep Kelly Albright (District 95)
- Rep Sherrie Conley (District 20)
- Rep Melissa Provenzano (District 79)
- Rep Jacob Rosecrants (District 46)
- Rep John Talley (District 33)
- Rep Carol Bush (District 70)
- Rep Sheila Dills (District 69)
- Rep Randly Randleman (District 15)
- Rep Todd Russ (District 55)
- Rep John Waldron (District 77)
- Rep Chad Caldwell (District 40)
- Rep Ronny Johns (District 25)
- Rep Dustin Roberts (District 21)
- Rep Danny Sterling (District 27)
- Rep Tammy West (District 84)
House Committee on Children, Youth, and Family Services
- Rep Carol Bush (District 70): Chair
- Rep John Talley (District 33): Vice Chair
- Rep Forrest Bennett (District 92)
- Rep Ronny Johns (District 25)
- Rep Nicole Miller (District 82)
- Rep Melissa Provenzano (District 79)
- Rep Cynthia Roe (District 42)
- Rep Jeff Boatman (District 67)
- Rep Dell Kerbs (District 26)
- Rep Cyndi Munson (District 85)
- Rep Randy Randleman (District 15)
- Rep Derrel Fincher (District 11)
- Rep Mark Lawson (District 30)
- Rep Jadine Nollan (District 66)
- Rep Trish Ranson (District 34)
House Committee on Higher Education and Career Tech
- Rep Jadine Nollan (District 66): Chair
- Rep Derrel Fincher (District 11): Vice Chair
- Rep Brad Boles (District 51)
- Rep Jon Echols (District 90)
- Rep Dell Kerbs (District 26)
- Rep Trish Ranson (District 34)
- Rep Tammy West (District 84)
- Rep Sherrie Conley (District 20)
- Rep Regina Goodwin (District 73)
- Rep Lundy Kiger (District 3)
- Rep Mark Vancuren (District 74)
- Rep Jason Dunnington (District 88)
- Rep Kyle Hilbert (District 29)
- Rep Ken Luttrell (District 37)
- Rep Emily Virgin (District 44)
Episode 026: Legislative Update 1
After lots of brainstorming about how I might make the Passing Notes blog and podcast better, I decided to make a 2019 goal to provide more news and information using both platforms. Passing Notes will still include interviews with education experts published every two weeks but every other week, we will get political (but not partisan). My goal is to provide information to educators, concerned citizens, stakeholders, families about what is going on in education in Oklahoma. Some weeks we might have guests or panels but every other week we will have updates. At least through the legislative session.
Please send me your thoughts and feedback! And definitely let me know if you’d like to come on an episode and talk education politics with me. Let’s get started!
This episode is focused on the Senate Bills that have been filed for the 57th legislature. Senators can file an unlimited number of bills. The deadline to introduce a bill is January 17th, 2019.
Senate Education Committee
- Senator Gary Stanislawski (District 35) – Chair
- Senator Joe Newhouse (District 25) – Vice Chair
- Senator David Bullard (District 6)
- Senator J.J. Dossett (District 34)
- Senator Tom Dugger (District 21)
- Senator John Haste (District 36)
- Senator Carri Hicks (District 40)
- Senator Allison Ikley-Freeman (District 37)
- Senator Chris Kidd (District 31)
- Senator Roland Pederson (District 19)
- Senator Dewayne Pemberton (District 9)
- Senator Marty Quinn (District 2)
- Senator Paul Scott (District 43)
- Senator Wayne Shaw (District 3)
- Senator Jason Smalley (District 28)
Episode 020: The Election Episode
Elections are upon us! Early Voting begins today (11/1/18) and lasts through Saturday (11/3/18) and the official Election Day is November 6th! If you are interested in voting early – this link will take you to the information you need. Voting is an important right and I hope that all of you exercise that right on Tuesday. If your are looking for resources, check out last weeks blog post and podcast with Shari Gateley about Everyday Advocacy.
For this episode I interviewed Representative Jason Dunnington. Jason represents House District 88 in the state of Oklahoma and is soon to enter into his third term. Since his first election he has been a proeducation advocate. Throughout our conversation we discussed the upcoming election and the future legislative session including how educators can continue to engage in the process! You can find Representative Dunnington on Twitter @jdunnington or on Facebook.
Below are the questions I prepared to ask Representative Dunnington (there were some follow up questions in the podcast that are not included below):
- Introduce yourself
- Why is this election important for our state?
- How can educators… educate themselves on the upcoming elections?
- In what ways can educators support pro-education candidates in these final days?
- What should educators do going forward (reference 1990 walk out and subsequent election) to ensure that we are not in the same place 10 … 20 years from now?
- In what ways should educators engage their legislators going forward?
- What are the best ways to stay informed? (some bills/info coming out of 23rd and Lincoln can be complicated and convoluted)
- What is your charge to legislators, where do we go next to continue (re)building our state?
- How do we as a state move forward after the elections? What keeps you hopeful that we will have a vision for our state’s future?
- What is your vision for the remainder of your time as a legislator?
- What are you excited about going into the next legislative session? What are you hoping will be discussed/passed?
- Which elections are you looking forward to watching?
- What are your go-to resources for information about elections?
This episode was recorded at Design Tunnel in downtown OKC!
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