All educational goals will not work when kids cannot read. 88% of ALL students in Tulsa Public Schools are not testing at grade level proficiency, but literacy rates are 7x higher at favored TPS elementary schools than most others. Policies that do not promote reading comprehension, thinking, and responses to written words will not work.

Tulsa Public Schools can increase teacher and support pay substantially today. However, millions of dollars are squandered on alternative agendas, outside consultants, and temporary programs that come and go with grants. Prioritizing more funds to those staff who interact directly with students and parents, hiring more staff, and restructuring the overly-outsourced HR functions of TPS must be a plank of fruitful reform.

TPS board meetings are dominated by a politically-driven faction that votes 100% together without regard for input from teachers, parents, or the community that doesn't fit a pre-determined narrative. All decisions are currently made by a handful of people, most who are not known to the public. Instead, more authority needs to move to the perimeter of the organizational structure and into the classroom. The TPS Board of Education must be comprised of persons who are not beholden to special interests, but who are responsive to the community and all constituent groups affected by board policies.

Sensible policies that provide ironclad physical safety and prevention of bullying will aid classroom learning and support mental health outcomes.