Public Schools Could be More Like Charter Schools

By Amy Lester, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The state teacher's union hopes the governor will veto a bill which passed Wednesday. Senate Bill 834 deregulates schools. It would allow them to follow less state mandates, making them similar to charter schools, like Independence Charter Middle School.

Charter schools have to follow few state mandates, despite that, at Independence Charter Middle School things seem to run, just fine, 290 students spend their days in these classrooms.

"I do think charter schools have an advantage over the traditional schools," said teacher Jim Ottman.

An advantage because the curriculum is tailored to the students, the school day's adjusted for optimum learning and there's a lot of parent involvement.

"Every one of our children has the core curriculum, math, science, social studies, language arts. Every one of our students have full time health and P.E. Every one of our students have art and music and foreign language and technology," said Independence Charter Middle School Principal Vana Baker.

The school day is 45 minutes longer than a traditional one. Even though Independence doesn't have to employ counselors or a librarian, or maintain small class sizes, they do.

"Is class size an area that really doesn't matter in education? I believe it does. We try to keep our class sizes at 20-22 students, in each, especially in our core classes," said Principal Baker.

Students who are not up to speed in reading or math spend an additional hour a day in school to get extra help.

The school follows many state mandates even though they're exempt under state law. Everything here is done for the children.

"In our school I feel like the students feel like this is almost a home environment, maybe a second home for them and that's a good thing," said Ottman.

"I think that we really need to stop and ask how's it going to effect the kids, how is it going to effect students in the classroom and make our decisions from that," said Principal Baker.

Under Senate Bill 834, all schools will be deregulated over the next six years. They wouldn't have as much freedom as charter schools. But they won't be required to have librarians or counselors, they won't have to keep class sizes small and they can change the length of the school day.

Also under Senate Bill 834, schools would have to pay teachers according to the state's minimum salary schedule. The Governor has not yet decided if he will veto the bill.