Jan 31, 2020, Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, OK): State education department requests $3.29 billion budget https://www.ardmoreite.com/news/20200131/state-education-department-requests-329-billion-budge OKLAHOMA CITY — The latest budget request from the Oklahoma State Department of Education received its first bit of legislative scrutiny on Thursday as State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister defended the $3.29 billion price tag. Lawmakers from both House and Senate budget committees heard about the request for $220 million more than last year’s budget for K-12 schools. Hofmeister presented the joint committee with six goals she wants her department to achieve by 2025, including a reduction of emergency-certified teachers and increased reading levels. The nearly hour-long presentation and resulting questions from committee members also looked at efforts to put more counselors in public schools. Rep. Tammy Townley, R-Ardmore, attended Thursday’s hearing and said she has been thrilled with the direction of Oklahoma education but is unsure if a spending increase is possible. “This year...we’re going to be running a very flat budget, so I don’t know if there is going to be any extra funding,” she said. House Appropriations & Budget Subcommittee on Education Chair Mark McBride said that after two consecutive years of adding funds for classroom support, he anticipates putting more money into the state school funding formula…. While the growth in annual enrollment numbers since 2011 has slowed over the past five years, Hofmeister said during her presentation that some situations for Oklahoma students present mounting challenges for education. “You can see the needs are actually increasing in a greater way over time as we have more students that are having needs in special education, English learners, children who have low socioeconomic status, et cetera,” she said….
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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