OK SCHOOL BOARDS USE TAX MONEY TO SUE
TO KEEP FROM HAVING TO PUT TAX MONEY INTO OK CLASSROOMS
FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT TO KEEP OKLAHOMA DEAD LAST
IN GETTING MONEY INTO THE CLASSROOM
More>>
States sign on to '65% solution' for funding schools
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
A bid to force school systems to cut the fat by putting 65% of their dollars directly into classrooms has found favor in a number of states and is gaining momentum in others.
Versions of the "65% solution," so dubbed by columnist George Will, have been adopted in four states and are being considered in another six. Department of Education research shows that 61% of school dollars now go directly to the classroom for items such as teacher salaries, chalk, textbooks and computers.
More>>
"EDUACTION, PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER"
By Ted King, President of the RCPOA
In Februrary thousands of school teachers took the day off to descend on the state capitol to protest the buget shortfall and its thread to education funding.
Waving signs sayin " Save Our Schools" or S.O.S. the Oklahoma Education Association teachers union was out in force to demand MORE MONEY from the state's taxpayers.
We made a request from the State Superintendent Sandy Garrett's Office and got the number on our school superintendents.
The Rogers County Property Owners Association does not wish to involve itself in the debate over our schools except that IT IS the Property Owners' of Rogers County and Oklahoma who foot the bill for a large part of the funding for public education. We should have a say on HOW OUR MONEY IS SPENT!
Oklahoma has 552 Public School Superintendents. Many Superintendents also have Assistant Superintendents and other well-paid peresonnel on their staff. Superintendents alone draw almost 40 million dollars.
More>>
 Press Releases
Nation’s Largest Taxpayer Group Backs Oklahoma Plan to Deliver More Money to Children in the Classroom
By
Kristina Rasmussen, Peter J. Sepp
Mar 22, 2006
(Alexandria, VA) – A soon-to-be-circulated proposal to boost the effectiveness of schools in Oklahoma without raising taxes has drawn early raves from the nation’s largest grassroots taxpayer organization. Today the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which has over 5,900 members in Oklahoma, endorsed a measure that would dedicate 65 percent of all education funding to classroom instruction.
More>>
Education official voices concerns
Commissioner John Winn talks about class-size caps and a proposed amendment to force school spending on classroom expenses.
By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer
Published March 21, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Florida's top education official expressed reservations Monday about legislative plans to mandate a rigid formula for classroom spending.
But Education Commissioner John Winn said the so-called "65 percent solution" is worth supporting when coupled with efforts to ease multibillion-dollar class-size caps.
"Without the context that we're in, I would not be in favor of just passing (the 65 percent rule) in a constitutional amendment," Winn told the St. Petersburg Times editorial board.
More>>
One Man's Way to Better Schools
By George F. Will
Sunday, April 10, 2005; Page B07
PHOENIX -- Patrick Byrne, a 42-year-old bear of a man who bristles with ideas that have made him rich and restless, has an idea that can provide a new desktop computer for every student in America without costing taxpayers a new nickel. Or it could provide 300,000 new $40,000-a-year teachers without any increase in taxes. His idea -- call it the 65 Percent Solution -- is politically delicious because it unites parents, taxpayers and teachers while, he hopes, sowing dissension in the ranks of the teachers unions, which he considers the principal institutional impediment to improving primary and secondary education.
The idea, which will face its first referendum in Arizona, is to require that 65 percent of every school district's education operational budget be spent on classroom instruction. On, that is, teachers and pupils, not bureaucracy.
More>>
A CEO Challenges the Education Blob
Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne was in Washington last week selling his "65% solution" to the nation's failing public schools -- the common-sense idea that at least 65 cents of every dollar spent should go to the classroom.
Astonishingly, when he set himself the task of researching America's troubled public schools, Mr. Byrne discovered that almost half of schools don't meet that standard. In some states, as much as 50 cents is spent on red tape, bureaucracy and administrators, or what has become known as the "education blob." That's at least $3,000 for every student spent on overhead.
More>>
GEORGIA LEGISLATURE PASSES GOV. PERDUE’S 65% SOLUTION PLAN $200 MILLION FOR GEORGIA CLASSROOMS WITHOUT TAX INCREASE
NEW POLL SHOWS HUGE SUPPORT FOR 65% SOLUTION IN GEORGIA
ATLANTA: Governor Sonny Perdue’s call to place more of Georgia’s education dollars into the classroom today passed the State House of Representatives assuring that a requirement for school districts to spend at least 65% of their budgets in the classroom will become law. Passage in the Georgia House was by a vote of 102 for to 70 against.
Said, Patrick Byrne, National Advisory Chairman of First Class Education,
“Governor Perdue and Leaders in the Georgia Legislature are to be commended for making classrooms, teachers and students the first funding priority in Georgia public education. Passage of the 65% Solution will mean not only an additional $200 million more in Georgia’s classrooms, but a sea change in setting education priorities benefiting teachers and taxpayers, parents and students.”
More>>
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/17/06
The Georgia House on Thursday approved Gov. Sonny Perdue's bill to require local school systems to spend at least 65 percent of their money in classrooms, pushing the plan close to final passage.
Senate Bill 390, a key part of the governor's election-year agenda, sparked a heated debate and a rare speech by a visibly angry Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram).
More>>
Legislature passes governor's classroom spending requirement
GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press
ATLANTA - House lawmakers backed a plan Thursday that requires school systems to spend at least 65 percent of their money in classrooms, joining the Senate in approving a central piece of Gov. Sonny Perdue's education agenda.
The plan, which says the systems must meet the 65-percent standard by 2008, will be sent to the Senate to consider minor changes before it lands on the governor's desk.
More>>
Georgia Governor Gets Behind New Education Budgeting Bill Perdue, 'About Results,' Gives 100% Support to Proposed 65% Solution
By Jim Brown
February 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - The governor of Georgia is pushing a proposal aimed at improving student achievement that would require 65 percent of all education dollars to be spent directly in the classroom.
The bill introduced by State Senator Ronnie Chance would require all Georgia school systems receiving state funding to dedicate 65 percent of their total budgets to classroom instruction. The "65% Solution," as the plan is being called, would include spending on teachers, textbooks, computers, and teacher aides, but not on administrative salaries, maintenance, or food services costs.
More>>
Senate ambraces 65 percent solution
02/01/2006
By Dave Williams
Staff Writer
dave.williams @gwinnettdailypost.com
ATLANTA — School systems in Georgia would have to spend 65 percent of their operational funds in the classroom under legislation approved by the Senate on Tuesday.
Voting 32-18 virtually along party lines, the Republican-controlled upper chamber passed the first installment of GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue’s 2006 education agenda and sent it on to the House.
The 65 percent standard came from First Class Education, a Washington-based advocacy group that is pushing the proposal in states across the nation.
More>>
School budget writers mull state mandates
By JEFF GILL
The Times
Hall and Gainesville school officials, preparing to work on school system budgets for 2006-07, have cast an eye toward a potential cascade of state mandates.
The state legislature is looking at, among other things, a 4 percent raise for teachers, smaller class sizes and a requirement that districts spend at least 65 percent of their money for classroom instruction.
"It is going to be an interesting budget year," said Angela Adams, Gainesville City Schools' chief financial officer. "It'll all work out ... but it may be that we just meet our needs this year and do fewer wants."
More>>
Conflicting Amendments?
Floridians may get the opportunity to remake public education in radical -- and perhaps even conflicting -ways this election season. A national organization called First Class Education is hoping to get a proposed state constitutional amendment on the fall ballot that would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their operating revenues in the classroom -- presumably on teacher salaries, school supplies and the like.
Nobody can say just why 65 percent is the magic number to education reform, but the presumption behind the initiative is that too much money is wasted on school "bureaucracy." But educators worry that if it's passed it will impact a district's ability to spend money on everything from bus drivers to guidance counselors to school nurses to janitors . . . never mind vice principals and secretaries.
More>>
Choosing sports over libraries is only one battle brewing under Gov. Perry's 65% spending directive
Weighing the percentages
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - The idea of freeing up billions of dollars for public education by requiring school districts to dedicate 65 percent of their budgets to the classroom sounds appealing.
Tax-conscious business leaders and voters across the country have embraced it as a way to more efficiently use existing funds to boost student test scores. Many school superintendents and teachers are opposed to the idea, saying it's nothing more than a gimmick that divides the education community.
More>>
Legislators offering new target in classroom spending proposal
James Goodwin
© 2006, Springfield News-Leader
Jefferson City ? Springfield Public Schools would have to spend $3 million more on classroom instruction ? and that much less on administration ? to meet a school district spending goal outlined in legislation filed today.
The proposal is a stripped-down version of the ?65 percent solution? plan Gov. Matt Blunt unveiled in November.
More>>
Senate passes classroom spending requirement
The Associated Press - ATLANTA
Georgia school systems would be required to spend at least 65 percent of their money in classrooms under a bill approved Tuesday by the state Senate.
The plan, part of Gov. Sonny Perdue's education agenda, authorizes the state school board to sanction any system that does not meet that standard by 2008.
More>>
School funding formula OK'd
By BRIDGET GUTIERREZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/01/06
Georgia is closer to becoming the fourth state to adopt a controversial education measure forcing school systems to spend nearly two-thirds of their budgets "in the classroom."
"This is quality legislation which is needed to improve our student achievement in Georgia, a goal we all should be focused on," said state Sen. Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone), a sponsor of the bill. "Spending 65 percent — at least 65 percent — can be done."
More>>
Not Enough Money for Education?
By John Stossel
"Stossel is an idiot who should be fired from ABC and sent back to elementary school to learn journalism." "Stossel is a right-wing extremist ideologue."
The hate mail is coming in to ABC over a TV special I did Friday (1/13). I suggested that public schools had plenty of money but were squandering it, because that's what government monopolies do.
More>> Sixty-five Percent of Education Dollars to be Spent in the Classroom
ATLANTA (Jan. 9) – To further improve student achievement across the state of Georgia, Governor Sonny Perdue today announced legislation requiring 65 percent of all education dollars be spent directly in the classroom. The Governor's legislation, SB390, was filed today in the State Senate by Senator Ronnie Chance (District 16). Co-sponsors for the bill include Senator Joe Carter (District 13), a former Tift County School Board member, Senator Dan Moody (District 56), chairman of the Education and Youth Committee, Senator Cecil Staton (District 18) and Senator Renee Unterman (District 45).
More>>
MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
Last update: January 09, 2006 - 12:06 PM
Pawlenty pitches 70% solution for school spending Governor says his proposal could shift more than $112 million from administrations to classrooms.
Norman Draper, Star Tribune More>>
Perdue's bill aims to funnel more money into classrooms
01/08/2006
By Dave Williams
Staff Writer
dave.williams@gwinnettdailypost.com
ATLANTA — Responding to criticism of his education record, Gov. Sonny Perdue will propose legislation on Monday requiring school districts in Georgia to steer at least 65 percent of their funding to classrooms.
The governor's floor leaders will introduce the bill on opening day of the 2006 legislative session, along with a constitutional amendment limiting the use of Georgia Lottery revenues to HOPE scholarships and the state's pre-kindergarten program.
More>>
Here's an Idea: Put 65% of the Money Into Classrooms
By ALAN FINDER
Published: January 4, 2006
The idea's appeal lies in its simplicity, proponents say. If school districts were required to make their administrative operations more efficient, they could free up money for use in the classroom.
More>>
AFL-CIO outlines states it will focus on next year
The AFL-CIO yesterday announced its plan to target members of Congress in 10 pivotal states in 2006.
More>>
|
The goal is for each school district in a state to spend at least 65% of its operating budget on classroom instruction as defined by the National Center for Educational Statistics. 
If a school district is currently spending less than 65% on classroom instruction, it would need to increase that amount by 2% or more per year until the 65% goal is reached. 
Phone 
Email 
Map 