Hilary Castro<\/p>\n
Data:<\/b><\/p>\n
The total Public school student population is 698,696 students<\/span><\/p>\n The total state public education budget is <\/span>$3,164,386,184<\/span><\/p>\n There are <\/span>1,795 public schools while there are 210 private schools<\/span><\/p>\n The average per pupil expenditure is <\/span>10,087<\/span><\/p>\n The lowest per pupil expenditure is <\/span>\u00a0244.35<\/span><\/p>\n The average national per pupil expenditure is $13,037<\/span><\/p>\n -In Oklahoma, a big part of the population is white while the second largest populations are two or more races and Hispanics.<\/p>\n There are <\/span>\u00a067,587 English Language Learners in Oklahoma\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the total school population, 56% are economically disadvantaged<\/span><\/p>\n The graduation rates are 80.90%<\/span><\/p>\n -The graph shows that in Oklahoma, the graduation rates are highest for white, Asian\/pacific islanders while the lowest graduation rates include Black, Hispanic and Native American\/Alaskan Native population.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The average teacher salaries are <\/span>42,670. They depend on the amount of time teaching experience and type of degree.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The inequalities that persist in my state are Funding inequalities. For example, in Oklahoma one of the best funded public schools which is Burlington High school with a per pupil expenditure of $33,207 dollars is way above Elk city elementary school which has a per pupil expenditure of $6,969. These two schools have drastically different funding which also affect their students differently. The racial demographics for Burlington high school are: white-83.9%, Two or more races-12.9%, Hispanic-3.2%; and the demographics for Elk City Elementary school are: White-61.7%, Two or more races-9.1%, Hispanic- 21.7%. The funding inequalities impact different student populations differently. The school with better funding has a larger white population while the other school has a larger hispanic and people whole are two or more races. In all of Oklahoma, 56% of the total school population are economically disadvantaged, making the funding disparities even more impactful on a student population where half the students are experiencing poverty. This funding problem is based on student population and this means that more rural schools are at greater risk of receiving less funding, which could lead to more students leaving these schools leading to a never ending cycle hurting the schools existence itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Evidence I see of the state addressing or overcoming these funding inequities are by passing new legislation that would help equalize these funding inequalities. One of the most recent ones is the redbug funding Act. This act would take, \u201cportion of the medical marijuana taxes and the public common school building equalization fund. These will provide \u201cper person\u201d building funds to public charter schools along with traditional districts that don\u2019t get enough funding, bringing them up to the state average.\u201d This is a bill that would increase funding for charter schools in Oklahoma, which do not get local tax revenue so most of their funding comes from the state. While this affects charter schools, it also affects traditional public schools that do not get enough funding and would simultaneously bring them up to the state average. The state average is 10,087 which would help Elk City elementary school which is way below this average and the students affected by poverty would be able to reach an average of schools where students are more affluent and whose local tax could contribute more.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A particular trend that exists in my state is Oklahoma’s decision to stick with online schooling. Online learning was implemented in all Oklahoma schools amid the Covid pandemic outbreak but since then has not gone away. Online schools, especially online charter schools, student enrollment has boomed since this switch. Even as classes began to be back in person, online learning options have stayed in place for various reasons from quarenting to switching to online learning completely. This is a problem for many reasons. One of the major problems with this decision is the access to technology. It is\u00a0 not equitable if not every student has access to the same medium in which to do the online learning. It is even harder for students who do not have stay at home parents who can aid them in learning. To stick with online learning and force them onto most students is not the best because all of these reasons makes online learning more difficult for some students then others, not to mention the digital divide that impacts different peoples access to the internet depending on their location.<\/span><\/p>\n The increase in online charter schools enrollment over the pandemic not only affects students as individuals but also the public schools. The public schools receive funding based on the amount of students attending and if students are leaving these schools, then this will lead to less funding and a possible school closure. This is especially true in rural areas where lack of student population has led to many school closures in the past years. There are currently 24 charter schools but this number might go up if parents are making their children switch to online charter schools. In the end insufficient school funding with children leaving public in person school for online school will negatively impact traditional schools, especially in the rural areas, forcing some to close down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bibliography<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cOklahoma School Enrollment Increases after First Full Year of Pandemic.\u201d Oklahoma State Department of Education. Accessed May 4, 2022. https:\/\/sde.ok.gov\/newsblog\/2022-01-13\/oklahoma-school-enrollment-increases-after-first-full-year-pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBudget Cover FY22 – Sde.ok.gov.\u201d Accessed May 4, 2022. https:\/\/sde.ok.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/FY22%20Budget%20Book.pdf.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cHow Oklahoma Spending Compares.\u201d Oklahoma Policy Institute, February 15, 2022. https:\/\/okpolicy.org\/resources\/online-budget-guide\/expenditures\/how-oklahoma-spending-compares\/.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOklahoma State Department of Education |.\u201d Oklahoma State Department of Education. Accessed May 4, 2022. http:\/\/www.sde.ok.gov\/.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOklahoma Public Schools Fast Facts – Sde.ok.gov.\u201d Accessed May 4, 2022. https:\/\/sde.ok.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/files\/Fast%20Facts%202021-22_0.pdf.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c20-21 State Minimum Salary Schedule.\u201d Accessed May 4, 2022. https:\/\/sde.ok.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/files\/20-21%20State%20Minimum%20Salary%20Schedule_0.pdf.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Campbell, Alexia Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cThe Oklahoma Teachers Strike Is over. but Many Teachers Refuse to Go Back to Class.\u201d Vox. Vox, April 13, 2018. https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2018\/4\/13\/17233500\/oklahoma-teacher-strike-over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Breasette\/KFOR, Austin. \u201cOklahoma Legislature Passes Resolution to Equalize Funding for Public Charter Schools and Some Traditional Districts amid Pending Lawsuits.\u201d KFOR.com Oklahoma City. KFOR.com Oklahoma City, May 25, 2021. https:\/\/kfor.com\/news\/local\/oklahoma-legislature-passes-resolution-to-equalize-funding-for-public-charter-schools-and-some-traditional-districts-amid-pending-lawsuits\/.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oklahoma\u00a0 Oklahoma is the 46th state of the U.S. and is a primarily rural state with natural abundance all around.\u00a0 Hilary Castro Data: The total Public school student population is 698,696 students The total state public education budget is $3,164,386,184 There are 1,795 public schools while there are 210 private schools The average per pupil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-36","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Student Demographics in Oklahoma <\/span><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/544\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-06-at-10.09.02-PM.png\")
<\/p>\nGraduation rates by Race<\/span><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1101-spring-2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/544\/2022\/05\/Screen-Shot-2022-05-06-at-10.08.52-PM.png\")
<\/p>\nData Analysis:<\/b><\/h4>\n