Oklahoma City (April 17, 2009) State Capitol – Legislation which passed the House on Thursday to tighten regulations on underperforming schools flatly contradicts a bill gutting state school requirements that passed on Wednesday, Democratic leaders stated.

“If my Republican colleagues are trying to send a clear message to educators, they are failing,” said Democratic Leader Danny Morgan, D-Prague.  “One day they want to take away state regulations on schools; the next, they want expanded state control over school performance.  You can’t have it both ways.”

On Thursday, lawmakers passed SB268, which would require school boards to alter the governing arrangements of schools identified as needing improvement.  However, the day before, Republican lawmakers also pushed passage of SB834 to empower school boards to make their own decisions regarding state mandates.

“Under SB834, they’re letting the school boards make all the decisions for how the schools are run.  Under today’s bill, they’re telling school boards that if you don’t do what they want, the state will step in,” he added.

“If that’s all they wanted to do, they could have done it by not passing either bill and using the current system – which is passing mandates.  They would have saved us all a lot of time and effort that way,” Rep. Morgan concluded.

Rep. Ed Cannaday, D-Porum, added that the two bills together translate into a lack of accountability for school board actions.

“SB834 ‘empowers’ school boards, but if their decisions result in schools failing to meet state standards, SB268 ensures they’re not held accountable,” he stated.  “Once again, the Republicans are passing legislation without thoroughly examining their real effects.  They want us to just vote yes without any further thought.

“Nobody voted us into office to vote on legislation without asking questions,” Rep. Cannaday said.  “And I still hold many, many concerns about the effects these bills will have on our children’s education.”