Legislative Goals

2023-24 OAESP Legislative Goals 

• Promote grade-level appropriate student assessments aligned with current research and the Oklahoma Academic Standards.
• Protect and promote recess as a crucial and necessary component of a child's development.
• Support a plan to sustain innovative learning initiatives with a bold investment in funding.  
• Support broadband access for all students.

• Oppose unfunded mandates and any efforts to divert public funds to non-public schools.
• Support continued investments in operational money with a goal of reaching the regional average for per pupil funding.  
• Support funding a formalized induction programs for all new teachers, including emergency certified and alternative certified teachers.
• Support ensuring that state appropriated per-pupil funding reaches regionally competitive levels to achieve appropriate class sizes for all age levels.
• Provide funds for principal/teacher professional learning designed to equip educators to address the needs of our most challenging populations, including children in trauma, and to successfully implement state mandated initiatives.
• Support adequate funding to provide regionally competitive salaries for school support staff and paraprofessionals and their ongoing professional development.
• Support funding resources for alternative education that provides student support for behavioral and mental health in order to provide a safe environment for students to be successful.
• Support the Oklahoma State Department of Education in pursuing and procuring federal grants to support schools, students, and staff.

• Support the continued development and implementation of evidence-based curriculum materials and accountability measures that include multi-criteria indicators of student growth.
• Support teacher and leader evaluations that ensure that student data from state assessments are not a significant factor for determining teacher or principal effectiveness but rather a snapshot.
• Support equal accountability for all schools receiving public dollars.
• Support changing the composition and appointment process to the State Board of Education as recommended in the LOFT Report (June 2022).
• Support reducing bureaucratic regulations and oppose administrative rules not supported by law.
• Eliminate student attendance from any accountability measures.

• Support legislative changes to assist with solving the current teacher and support staff shortage by removing barriers, protecting benefits, and improving compensation for current, future, and retired education employees.
• Support examining teacher and administrative preparation programs to reflect the changing needs of students.
• Support streamlining the development, training, and mentoring of teachers.
• Support continued investments in funding to ensure teacher salaries are competitive regionally.
• Support the elimination of barriers to address the bus driver shortage.

• Oppose any legislation that would remove educational decisions from locally elected Boards of Education.
• Support legislation that will maintain student transfer decisions at the local level.
• Oppose the expansion of charter schools without input from local boards of education.

• Support the expansion of E-rate funding to provide broadband access to all students.
• Oppose efforts to reduce or eliminate federal education funds to the state.
• Support federal funding for the Title programs, IDEA, and Impact Aid Programs.