Oklahoma State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

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For Immediate Release: January 15, 2009


Senator Jolley discusses his legislation to improve oversight on testing.

Coffee, Jolley Praise Study on Education in Oklahoma,
Offer Education Reform Legislation

President Pro-Tempore Glenn Coffee commended the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition (OBEC) today for their release of a study and recommendations for the future of education in Oklahoma.

“I thank Mr. Stan Lybarger of BOK Financial, OSU President Burns Hargis, and OBEC for their diligence in pursuing excellence in education in our state, and Senator Jolley for the education reform bill he will offer this session,” Coffee said. “Surely our ability to compete in a global marketplace depends on the preparedness of our students, and their readiness to enter the marketplace.

“Reforming our education system and preparing our students to compete is a top priority of the Senate Majority this year and will be for years to come.”

Senator Clark Jolley, Vice-Chair of the Senate Education Committee and author of the Education Acountability Reform Act concurred.

“If we really want Oklahoma students to succeed in school and in life, we must have complete transparency and an objective analysis of data that shows us how our students are doing compared to other states. We simply do not have that now,” Jolley said.

The report issued by the OBEC today on student achievement has three basic recommendations: to strengthen the role of the Office of Accountability and make it more independent, to develop a culture of examining our data to make policy recommendations or to basically let researchers have greater access to our accountability data, and lastly to change the role of the Superintendent’s office,” he continued.

“This is why I have authored the Education Accountability Reform Act, which will achieve many of these recommendations and move Oklahoma forward towards greater transparency and accuracy in our accountability systems. I also firmly believe that we are going to be able to do these reforms with an actual cost saving in the long term which will allow us to reinvest those monies into the improving the quality of our education.”

Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition Report:
http://www.obecinfo.com/downloads/OKEdAccountabilityReportFinal.pdf