BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — State Superintendent Ryan Walters made a stop in Broken Arrow Monday.
He met with several superintendents including Broken Arrow’s to host a roundtable discussion.
Broken Arrow Superintendent Chuck Perry told 2 News the conversation superintendents had with the state superintendent was a positive one. He said they went over legislation, teacher pay, testing and assessments given to students.
Perry said Ryan Walters asked lot of questions and as superintendents they answered them honestly. But when it comes to funding for schools, 2 News got different responses between Walters and Perry.
“We need more teacher funding for our Broken Arrow teachers. We need support pay funding," Perry said. "We need some funding for the inflation costs that we are dealing with right now in insurance and utilities.”
“The problem with education is not money. It's how we spend the money. It’s where the money is going," Walters said. "Our biggest problem is we aren’t having money follow the kids with school choice, number one. Number two, we are not allowing more money into the classroom. We are growing administrative cost and bureaucracy. Number three, we are allowing radical indoctrination in the classroom rather than they focus on the basics.”
Both education leaders say they are fighting for the kids.
School funding has been a major topic at the capitol for years and it's really heating up this session.
Our team also asked Walters about his stance on religious schools. This comes after State Attorney General Gentner Drummond withdrew an opinion issued by his predecessor. That opinion said public dollars could be used to operate religious charter schools.
Drummond issued that reversal last week saying it misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state funded religion. When we asked what Walters thought about the AG's reversal, he told us he disagrees with Drummond.
“I believe that we have got to provide more choice options for our students, for our young people in the state of Oklahoma and that includes religious options," he said. "If somebody wants to go to a religious school that should absolutely be made available to them, that's what school choice looks like.”
It comes as a catholic virtual charter school applied to the statewide virtual charter school board earlier this month.
School choice is another hot topic this session. A bill passed a house committee last week that would provide a $5,000 thousand tax credit per student for parents who send their children to private schools.
Stay with us as we continue to follow the capitol this session.
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