By Reed Downey, Jr.

I was disappointed by the Charlie Meadows column in the Fall edition (Moving School Board Elections, Wise or a Waste of Energy?). Currently, there is no accountability for the failure of the school boards in their most important duty, which is to have strong academics. It may seem trite, but these kids are the future, and it’s our responsibility to see that they are prepared.

Here is my rebuttal to Charlie’s arguments against moving school board elections to the same date as other elections:

In special elections, the most informed voters’ turnout. If that were the case, the number of kids proficient in English and math would be much more significant. (See my list below on the academic performance of several counties in Oklahoma.)

The people who turn out for off-cycle elections are more motivated because they have a financial interest in maintaining the status quo: the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) teacher’s union, the State School Board Association (OSSBA), and the Collective Council for Oklahoma School Administration. They are motivated, all right, and it’s not kids first.

Charlie’s second Point: With a large turnout, more ignorant people vote. In a recent Tulsa school district with 20,000 registered voters, 1,500 voted for the establishment candidate and 700 for the challenger. If the vote had been held during a general election and the turnout was 10,000, according to Charlie, 7,800 people would have been too uninformed to vote intelligently for school board candidates! They can’t grasp where Oklahoma ranks Nationally.

According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, 24% of our 4th graders are proficient in reading, 27% are proficient in math. Meanwhile, 21.28% of our 8th graders are proficient in reading, and 15.93% of our 8th graders are proficient in math.

What does proficient mean? This means that they have mastered the material in the 4th and 8th grades and are ready to advance to the next grade. Conversely, that means most of the 4th graders and 8th graders do not have the reading and math skills necessary for advancement to the next grade! However, they will advance and even graduate due to social promotion, ill-prepared for the future they face!

Side note: The United States graduates between 120,000 and 150,000 engineers annually, China graduates over 1,000,000 annually, and India graduates between 600,000 and 800,000 engineers annually. Engineers are critical for our economy and national security. Now consider less than 16% of our 8th graders can do math at grade level!

Next point Cost: Educating more people would be too expensive. School board seats are divided into board districts. The number of voters will vary according to the school district’s size. Changing the date of school board elections does not affect the number of voters eligible to vote for a board candidate, nor will it be any more expensive for candidates since the number of voters in each school board district remains relatively constant.

The cost to a school district will be even less since the district has to pay for off-cycle elections. Having the school board election on the same date as the primary elections in June and the runoff in August will save the school districts money, which can be better utilized in improving academic outcomes.

To the last point, Changing the school board election date could worsen our schools’ academics.

Here are some examples of our current state of academics by county:

Comanche County: Total Students in the County: 20,821

Proficient in English: 6,229 Percent Proficient: 30%

Proficient in Math: 4,848 Percent Proficient: 23%

Tulsa County: Total Students 95,679

Proficient in English: 3,257 Percent Proficient: 27%

Proficient in Math: 3,082 Percent Proficient 23%

Marshall County: Total Students 3,029

Proficient in English: 478 Percent Proficient: 16%

Proficient in Math: 419 Percent Proficient: 14%

Kay County: Total Students: 7,290

Proficient in English: 1,988 Percent Proficient: 27%

Proficient in Math: 1,780 Percent Proficient: 24%

Murry County: Total Students: 1,942

Proficient in English: 654 Percent Proficient: 34%

Proficient in Math: 562 Percent Proficient: 29%

Cleveland County: Total Students: 45,038

Proficient in English: 16,836 Percent Proficient: 37%

Proficient in Math: 15,058 Percent Proficient: 33%

Oklahoma County: Total Students: 110,473

Proficient in English: 27,106 Percent Proficient: 29%

Proficient in Math: 27,106 Percent Proficient: 25%

Canadian County: Total Students: 30,722

Proficient in English: 11,547 Percent Proficient: 38%

Proficient in Math: 11,226 Percent Proficient: 37%

Washington County: Total Students: 9,332

Proficient in English: 3281 Percent Proficient: 35%

Proficient in Math: 2762 Percent Proficient: 30%

Data Source: 2022 Schoolreportcards.ok.gov

A decline in academic performance due to changing the date districts hold school board elections is a huge stretch, given Oklahoma’s current academic state.

Charlie cites an example of five school boards flipping in the Dallas area. I am aware of and spoke with the person who organized and led the flipping of the school boards. The Dallas area cited is a very conservative area with many professionals. The lady who started the movement made a Facebook post on CRT and almost immediately had three thousand likes.

In Oklahoma, we have difficulty finding people willing to run for school board and even more difficulty finding people willing to donate time and money to candidates. As in Dallas, we don’t have a corporation willing to donate a percentage of their customers’ monthly bills to hire campaign consultants or finance reform-minded school board candidates.

It should be abundantly clear that what we are doing now is not working. I have worked on multiple school board elections with excellent candidates, volunteers, and funding, only to see those candidates lose due to low voter turnout. The people with a financial stake in maintaining the status quo turn out – those who do not, not so much.

Local school boards have failed in their most critical responsibility: ensuring each child gets an education that will allow them to prosper and become responsible citizens. Changing the date of school board elections will help elect more reform-mandated candidates.

We, the public, are either ignorant of what is happening in our schools or don’t care. I find it difficult to believe that the people in the counties listed above don’t care about the education their kids are getting. The school board concept, as currently constructed, is a massive failure as a public institution. Neither the school boards nor citizens are demanding academic excellence.

The Bible States: “My people perish for lack of knowledge…” Hosea 4:6. Likewise, the lack of knowledge about the academic failure of our public schools will have significant consequences for our economy and national security.

Ultimately, “We the People” are responsible for not holding school boards accountable. Our first step toward accountability is passing legislation changing the date of school board elections to the June primary and the August runoff and electing reform-minded candidates dedicated to improving academic performance.

In August or 2021 Downey Co-founded School Boards for Kids and serves on the Board of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) and the OCPAC Foundation. He is also Executive Director/President of OCPAC Action.