Meet Senator Brecheen, Part II – Books on the Bonfire

January 30, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 5 Comments

I’ve been sharing some thoughts on Senator Brecheen lately as background to understanding his recent attack on Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) courses in Oklahoma.

There are perfectly valid debates to be had over the specifics of APUSH here and elsewhere, and I myself am a big fan of challenging and questioning our assumptions and uses of ANY given terminology, program, assessment, etc.

But that’s not what I’m seeing from the Senator so far.

I don’t yet have access to written or videotaped comments by the Senator on this specific bill, but thanks to his love of YouTube I do have a trove on something similar. As you may know, the Senator was vehemently anti-Common Core – not because of its pedagogy, the unclear means of assessment, poor implementation, or even its perceived exacerbation of equity and access issues.

No, his main gripe was that it (a) came with lots of federal money, and (b) required our socialist children to rape one another for the glory of the devil in order to graduate.

I may have the exact phrasing a bit off on that second one – I’ve been watching too much political discussion lately and clear, accurate language is not the norm.

He addresses the first point in this rather laborious interview with Glenn Beck:

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Several things jump out at me from this. The first is that Brecheen was afraid the feds were going to take away staples of Oklahoma education like the A-F Report Cards, the new TLE system, our own high-stakes testing, etc. It’s important to remember that he thinks these are the GOOD parts of what we’re currently doing.

The second is that Brecheen finds it silly to make an issue of a few zillion dollars of educational funding. Apparently Oklahoma spends five ooglecrillion dollars every DAY on those edu-whiners, so no one’s gonna notice one way or the other if we add or subtract a few billion here or there.

That was the part that most made me want to smack everyone involved. It’s especially odd that very similar dollar amounts are apparently absolutely ESSENTIAL to the SURVIVAL of core industries in the state when it’s time to cut taxes on the wealthiest slivers of our population yet again.

Then again, they’re “job-creators”, as opposed to whatever it is we do in ‘public school’.

Finally, Brecheen and what’s-his-name smile and nod in agreement with Beck when he claims that states who accept federal money with rules attached are whores. I’m curious as to whether Beck, Brecheen, and what’s-his-name believe this is only true in reference to education dollars, or if it applies equally to funding for highways and other infrastructure, health care, military bases or related industries, etc.

I’m not looking to wage the Common Core war again. I AM suggesting that, as a history teacher, I tend to look to the past to illuminate the present. Brecheen is pushing legislation to save us from another boogeyman. Knowing whether he’s lying, insane, or just making it all up as he goes can better prepare us to respond this time around.

Besides, one area of heated criticism in recent months is the connection between Common Core and College Board, the organization behind AP and the SAT. Google “David Coleman” if you’d like a fun read or two (thousand) along those lines. Good times!

So, let’s continue with the Senator’s concerns over Common Core implementation:

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OK – I gotta confess that IS a little scary. Prentice Hall and “Pearsons” running everything does terrify me a bit. And we can add ‘edu-company’ names to the list of things the Senator appropriates for his own purposes without actually getting them right – along with scripture, how baseball works, and Common Core materials.

The “suggested reading” to which he refers is from Appendix B to the ELA Standards of Common Core. He highlights Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, which is on Page 152 of the document.

Page 2, on the other hand – and note this is the FIRST PAGE OF THE DOCUMENT after the fancy title and cover art – BEGINS this way:

If he thinks they’re up to something, fine – but let’s not call it the “Suggested Reading List” if that’s explicitly what it claims NOT to be. I understand that facts and details can be inconvenient, but this renders them no less relevant, Senator.

Flip ahead 150 pages or so and you’ll find the entry causing him such concern:

Clearly these aren’t the dirty parts. So here’s a fascinating question…

How many of these pages and pages of titles did the Senator and his staff have to locate and peruse and – god forbid – READ in order to come up with an explicit scene like this? How tickled must they have been to have finally found those vaginas and genitals! Reminds me of the early days of internet searching when you’d finally –

Actually, never mind. That’s not my point. My point is that when facts and irritating details don’t fit his predetermined narrative, Senator Brecheen is happy to go to any lengths necessary to make them fit, or at least pretend they do.

My point is that his convictions aren’t shaped by reality; his reality is shaped by his conviction.

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I don’t really have anything for that clip – it just cracks me up. Reminds me of Steve Allen reading rock’n’roll lyrics in the 1950’s:

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Personally, I’m opposed to dirty books – especially in school. I’m a firm believer that we should avoid anything in history or literature that might make students with complicated lives feel at all connected to what they’re reading or who they’re studying.

First off, they shouldn’t have dysfunctional lives in the first place. I know it’s not technically their fault if they do, but they should have the courtesy to suppress and deny it like we did for hundreds of years and it worked JUST FINE. Second, just because their lives have unpleasant or painful elements doesn’t mean I should have to understand anything about what that must be like, or expect my ‘good’ students to stretch themselves with that sort of insight or empathy.

Since when is school about challenging pre-existing experiences and beliefs about ourselves and our worlds? How is THAT going to help them on the state tests?

I’d personally prefer we stick to nice safe happy books of how things should be and how everyone should feel. That way we have elusive, unreachable ideals to which all students can aspire. Since they’ll never reach a point where their lives or efforts can even begin to live up to the fictions we perpetuate, they’re far more likely to allow those who sound like they’ve made it to tell them what to do, or – if we’re lucky – to give up altogether.

I just can’t see a down side.

But that’s irrelevant in the current APUSH argument. Unless, of course, you replace ‘nice safe happy books’ with ‘over-deified white guys no one can possibly relate to and flashy sanitized fireworks versions of complex events’.

Then, I guess, it’s the same damn thing for the exact same reasons. Fear, entrenched power, venom…

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Way to bring it all home, there, Senator! The conflation of Joshua and Elijah followed by the reminder that the 10th Amendment protects “conservative Christian values.” In a way, it’s the perfect conclusion – once you have the course laid for your crusade, don’t worry about what stuff actually says or does or means. Just GO for it, knowing that those who question you need not be answered – they need merely be damned.

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Intermission

January 29, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

Some days teaching feels like being a mama bird, catching and chewing the food and trying to spit it into beaks which remain stubbornly clamped shut. When you question the baby birds why they refuse to accept nourishment, they tell you plaintively that it’s “too hard”.

You go online looking for answers, and discover the majority of popular bird-blogs are mostly about how hungry baby birds are and how desperately they all want to chew on their own except that you’re in the way. You are bewildered, and in the meatime the baby birds all starve to death. As a result, the state throws your nest on the ground and stomps on it b/c that’s “higher standards.”

I need a real job. Maybe state senator…

We now return you to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Meet Senator Josh Brecheen, Part I: Fire From Heaven

January 28, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 2 Comments

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What a go-getter! “You have to take what’s thrown at you.”

Except you don’t – at least not in the context he’s chosen for his little melodrama. That’s why they give you a glove. So you can catch stuff. Just letting it bonk off your face is either reckless or clueless.

You’re doing it wrong.

I’d let it go as just local political ad silliness, except it so perfectly represents how Brecheen uses whatever props are at his disposal – baseball equipment, Common Core documents, random phrases from scripture, etc. He straps them on and has a little morality play, but one whose meaning is predetermined by his unwavering agenda – not by anything his props actually do, or say, or mean.

I’m not suggesting he’s necessarily dishonest. It’s entirely possible he’s genuinely that ignorant and self-deceiving. I’d like to give him benefit of the doubt, however, and assume he’s merely cynical and exploitative, twisting the weaknesses of those he serves to promote his own agenda. I’m optimistic that way.

You may remember the Senator’s famous diatribe against Common Core some time back on the floor of the Oklahoma Senate:

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Weighty rhetoric. I can only wonder… WTF? What is he even SAYING?

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I’ve no wish to challenge the assumption that Old Testament excerpts are an appropriate basis for educational legislation, but at least use them correctly.

“I’m amazed people don’t know this.” Yeah, me too, Senator – especially when they’re reading it into the record. When relying on a holy book largely centered around a God so particular that minor violations often led to severe illness or the deaths of everyone you love, perhaps a little accuracy would be in order.

“Choose this day who ya who ya gonna serve” is not Elijah – it was said by Joshua in the 24th chapter of his own book in the Old Testament, not long before he died. Elijah DID ask, “How long will you waver before two opinions?” which is a similar sentiment, but said in a very different context.

Joshua was speaking to the chosen people of God at the end of a long period of relatively good times. His question was part of an extended recount of all the ways they’d been blessed by God, not from anything they’d done, but simply by being born into the right demographic. It could be paraphrased as “so you can keep going with the system that’s worked out fairly well for you and left everyone else pretty much damned, or turn your back on a good thing and suck along with them.”

This is not mockery of God or the Hebrew children, by the way – it’s just that the rules were different back then. It was a harsher time with harsher gods, and a favorite source of inspiration for those today who find the inclusiveness and self-deprivation of the New Testament rather nice in theory, but annoying in practice. So… we quote the Old Testament.

A lot.

Even if not always taken literally, it offers nice analogies for people doing pretty well today based on being born into the right demographic but believing they must really have accomplished something, and who feel spiritually or morally superior, seeing as how things seem to keep turning out so well for them – unlike those… ‘others’.

So, yeah – I see the appeal of this for Senator Brecheen. But keep your Bible straight, son.

The story to which he intentionally refers is Elijah on Mount Carmel, as told in I Kings 18. Elijah is never a happy prophet. He’s not generally welcome anywhere he goes because he’s always criticizing the way leadership is doing things. He speaks a bit bluntly and sometimes people have no idea what he’s talking about, but his words have power.

I’m a fan.

At Carmel he’s pissed because the folks who are supposed to be running the government are repeatedly shown to be self-absorbed, lying, hypocritical bastards. They exploit and use those in their care, and serve gods of convenience and worldly pleasures rather than Yahweh – the “love your neighbor and don’t be a perv” alternative.

Senator Bercheen successfully cast Common Core as Baal – a twist he’d have been able to identify as “irony” if he’d been schooled in its ten ‘Anchor Standards of Reading’, especially #4. (See what I did there? I cited my source accurately and used it in context to support my point. That’s the kind of anti-American time-wasting I’m doing in class instead of having my kids memorize Emma Lazarus.)

But, let’s go with that – Common Core is Baal. We’ll even let Bercheen be Elijah – who calls down literal fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices being offered. He then orders the losers to be chased down and murdered with swords – literally, in Elijah’s case, but hopefully metaphorically in the case of education reform.

But what a mindset! We’re not debating pedagogy; we’re destroying the unclean who refuse to follow our dogma.

It wasn’t my example, folks – I’m just cleaning up the record. And it’s irrelevant at this point whether you liked Common Core or not – that’s not the issue. The issue is the character, methods, and goals of Senator Josh Brecheen and his ilk. If men of good conscience and some awareness wish to debate what’s best for our children, let’s have that discussion all day long. If they wish to sweep aside reason and experience to play the trump card of holy justice, then save it for the Middle Ages.

And before you accuse me of being too unfair, everying I’m using is from HIS YouTube channel and videos HE’S chosen to represent himself to the people.

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You know it just got real when the dramatic strings drop out and it’s just the reverb drums for awhile. It goes on for minutes and minutes, but this was my favorite bit:

Totes adorbs on the little helly-flames for SFC! Burn, you anti-Josh f*ckers, burn! Our little Elijah certainly is a feisty fella’.

Too bad there’s not a Stand for Grammar group he gets along with. They could help with the sentence structure.

Brecheen does have some fans, however:

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Hey hey hey! He certainly seems down-home values to me.

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Well, there you go, then.

Brecheen may believe he’s standing up for truth and justice and such. He just thinks those who disagree with him are hell-bound, at least metaphorically.

That’s no excuse for not getting your facts straight, however – whether in regards to the scripture you’re quoting or the curriculum standards you’re opposing. Next time I’ll finish looking at his convoluted condemnation of Common Core as a tool not of poor pedagogy or even Corporate Edu-takeover, but as a plot to turn your kids into little perverts having much better sex than you. After that we should probably break down the APUSH bills themselves and try to figure out which parts are openly insane, and which are thinly veiled harbingers of bigger, weirder things.

Some even weirder than this:

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RELATED POST: Oklahoma Turns Against APUSH?

Noooobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

January 28, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 4 Comments

Before I go off on my trademark character assassination and sarcastic diatribes regarding pending legislation in the hallowed halls of the Oklahoma legislature, I thought it might be helpful to bring the non-history teacher-types up to speed on just what the fuss is about.

Unlike the easy accessibility of Sally Kern’s “Use Shock Therapy on Gay Teens” bill or our state guidelines for which angry white men we’ll send to the new Constitutional Convention to rewrite that sorry remnant of darker times (because our current leaders are SO much smarter than the Framers and besides what could possibly go wrong?), contention over something as specific as an AP curriculum can be a bit bewildering for those not walking daily in that world.

What exactly IS the kerfuffle with the ‘new’ College Board Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) course and exam?

The short version is that the College Board decided a few years ago to move away from a ‘Know Way Way Lots of Stuff and be Able to Apply that Knowledge Effectively’ model to a ‘Know Lots of Stuff and Learn to Think About it from Different Perspectives AND Apply that Knowledge Effectively’ model in APUSH. They wanted to give AP teachers and students the opportunity to ‘go deep’ and practice analytical thinking without being limited by the overarching need to memorize every fact ever.

The shift was not without detractors; history teachers (especially those AP-types) love to argue and hand-wring and bluster about what’s truly important and what should be assessed and how and OMG I’ll have to revise a few of my lesson plans.

I work and socialize with quite a few AP-types, most of whom are smarter and cooler than me. After a drink or seven, many would admit that if it were up to them, they’d tweak this part or refocus on that other thing or whatever. I feel the same way about pretty much every PLC data-goal or family vacation plan I’ve ever been a part of shaping. That’s the nature of anything designed for such a variety of teachers in such a wide range of circumstances – you won’t entirely please everyone.

But none of the ones I’ve spoken with HATE IT. None of them find it un-American or insufficiently rigorous. Yes, some of my friends and colleagues are – for all practical purposes – godless Socialists, but others are surprisingly conservative. They teach the course, they labor over their students’ successes and failures in class and on the exams, and many travel the country training and listening to other APUSH teachers’ opinions and concerns as well.

Even if they DID hate it, it would perfectly appropriate for them to say so, because they have what we in the education world like to call “some f*cking clue what’s going on.” They have a right to whatever opinions they choose because they have credibility. Legitimacy. They’re involved in the process and impacted by the results. They’re the ones actually doing the ‘do’.

Texas, a few months ago, decided the new framework was insufficiently patriotic. The idea that there might be other interpretations or other points of view when it comes to Manifest Destiny, interventions in other nations, internal social or political movements, or whatever, seemed blatantly un-American to some. More flag-waving and less thinking was demanded. Or else.

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And to be fair, we do have a tendency when running from one extreme to embrace the opposite error. There’s no need to teach American history as a series of travesties and genocides based on hypocritical ideals just to offset a little red, white, and blue truthiness. Surely there’s a balance, yes?

But that’s the rub, isn’t it? It’s impossible to teach entirely neutral history. The range of facts and information is too broad to include EVERYTHING ever, and even if we could, a string of people and events completely free of narrative is both pointless and impossible to remember. Every teacher in every subject makes choices about what to cover and how to cover it, while trying to be as balanced and aware of our own biases as possible.

It’s amusing to think there’s a genuine fear that the same kid I can’t CONVINCE to keep an agenda or that there’s value in learning to paraphrase might become unwittingly locked into a lifetime of twisted socio-political dogma based on which Jefferson quotes I selected for a quiz.

But I digress.

The point is that no matter what the curriculum includes, there will be MORE it does NOT.

History teachers deal with this all the time, at every level. One of the science teachers in my building REVELS in asking his kids where Geronimo is buried, or about the Pioneer Woman statue, or Reba McEntire, or that one time in 1973 the governor did that one crazy thing. They have no idea, and he accosts me a few times a week about what we’re teaching in Oklahoma History if we’re not including Geronimo & Co.

History is the story of everything that’s ever happened anywhere ever, and why, and how it all fits together in every possible direction and combination. So, yeah – we make judgment calls. We’re usually wrong.

How many books do you currently own and fully intend to read because you absolutely must and really want to? How often are you casually quizzed regarding a movie or TV show only to be assailed by some form of “OMG! I can’t believe you haven’t SEEN ______________!?! I thought EVERYONE-how-could-you-not-do-this-one-drop-everything-now-why-do-you-hate-America?!?

And you already know how to read books and watch TV. What if you had to be helped to read or watch each one meaningfully along the way? It might take a while. Some might not get covered. Hopefully, however, you’d end up with the tools and background knowledge to eventually watch or read most anything without my still being there explaining as we go. You may even choose different books and shows to watch, or interpret them in ways other than I do.

THAT’s what we call “hating America”. That’s what Texas, and now Oklahoma, want to protect you from. Senator Brecheen and Representative Fisher want to legislate a list of documents which must be covered above all else because they’re the MOST American documents. The BEST American documents, presumably.

And there’s a butt-load of them.

The problem isn’t anything ON the lists; it’s the pre-printing press focus on rote regurgitation of sacred texts, as if we’re not in this to awaken students or create informed citizens, but to indoctrinate followers. The punishments for straying – for violating the tenets of the sacred texts – are the same punishments as always. They’ll pull even more of our funding. Being a teacher in Oklahoma is like being the girlfriend of a low level mobster – you get slapped around and their answer to everything is to cut your meager allowance, then you’re always in trouble for not looking prettier and happier.

I’ll carry on about the specifics of the bills and the credibility of those involved soon. Let me leave you with just a tiny little preview of how much fun it could be:

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We’ve Found A Witch – May We Burn Her?

January 28, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 7 Comments

Yesterday I posted Sen. Brecheen’s bill in the Oklahoma Senate trying to replace College Board’s Advanced Placement U.S. History courses across Oklahoma with a list of 50+ documents to memorize. If that method was good enough for the Ancient Chinese, it should be good enough for the kid hoping to run the feed store one day, no?

And in the Senator’s defense, it’s a pretty good list. Most are standard, important American documents, and in what must have been a real stretch for him, he managed to include an Indian, two angry broads, and FOUR NEGROES! Clearly a new day has dawned in Oklahoma broad-mindedness.

We kept out them Hispanics, of course – probably wrote THEIR stuff illegally anyways.

A colleague was kind enough to point out variations in the House version of the bill, so I’m posting it here for your illumination. If all goes well, I’ll have some more specific thoughts on these in the next 24 hours – when I’m not flinging spittle from my general outrage we’re even having this discussion this way. I mean, seriously – are they killing any hope our kids may ever have out of blind ignorance and lack of any concern for reality, or is it openly malicious in service of some greater end?

Why do they hate us? Why do they find any suggestion we help teach our kids to think to be such an atrocity? They can still lock up whatever percentage of our young women aren’t currently pregnant and beat up gay kids in the name of Jesus – that’s what the 14th Amendment is all about. But why do you hate us for trying, however humbly, to teach?

STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 55th Legislature (2015)
HOUSE BILL 1380
By: Fisher
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to schools; directing the State Board of Education to adopt a certain United States History program and assessment; requiring United States History courses to include the study of certain documents; listing the documents; amending 70 O.S. 2011, Section 1210.703, which relates to financial incentives awarded to schools under the Oklahoma Advanced Placement Incentive Program; prohibiting the awarding of grants or expenditure of money for any Advanced Placement United States History course until certain conditions are met; providing for codification; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW – A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 11-103.12 of Title 70, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. By the 2015 – 2016 school year, the State Board of Education shall identify and adopt a United States History program and corresponding test which school districts shall offer in lieu of the Advanced Placement United States History course and test. The program and test shall not contradict or conflict with the subject matter standards for United States History adopted by the Board.
B. Any United States History course offered in schools in the state, including Honors and Advanced Placement courses shall include as part of the primary instruction the appropriate grade-level study of the following foundational and historical documents:
1. Organic documents from the pre-Colonial, Colonial, Revolutionary, Federalist and post-Federalist eras of the United States;
2. The major principles in the Federalist Papers;
3. The writings, speeches, documents and proclamations of the Founders and Presidents of the United States;
4. Founding documents of the United States that contributed to the foundation or maintenance of the representative form of limited government, the free-market economic system and American exceptionalism;
5. Objects of historical significance that have formed and influenced the United States legal or governmental system and that exemplify the development of the rule of law including, but not limited to, the Magna Carta, the Mecklenburg Declaration, the Ten Commandments and the Justinian Code;
6. United States Supreme Court decisions;
7. Acts of the United States Congress, including the published text of the Congressional Record;
8. United States treaties;
9. Other documents, writings, speeches, proclamations and recordings related to the history, heritage and foundation of the United States, including but not limited to:
a. the Declaration of Independence,
b. the United States Constitution and its amendments,
c. the Mayflower Compact,
d. the Bill of Rights,
e. the Articles of Confederation,
f. the Virginia Plan,
g. the Northwest Ordinance,
h. the national motto,
i. the national anthem,
j. the sermon known as “A Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop,
k. the sermon known as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards,
l. the Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech made by Patrick Henry,
m. the letter known as “Remember the Ladies” by Abigail Adams,
n. the writing titled “Common Sense, Section III: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” by Thomas Paine,
o. the essay “Federalist No. 10” by James Madison,
p. the Farewell Address made by George Washington,
q. the Monroe Doctrine statement made by James Monroe,
r. the complete overview of the book titled “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville,
s. the document known as the “Declaration of Sentiments” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
t. the Independence Day speech made by Frederick Douglass at Rochester, New York,
u. the House Divided speech made by Abraham Lincoln,
v. the Gettysburg Address made by Abraham Lincoln,
w. the Second Inaugural address made by Abraham Lincoln,
x. the surrender speech made by Chief Joseph,
y. the poem titled “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus,
z. the article titled “The Gospel of Wealth” by Andrew Carnegie,
aa. the essay titled “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” by Frederick Jackson Turner,
bb. the Atlanta Compromise speech made by Booker T. Washington,
cc. the Cross of Gold speech made by William Jennings Bryan,
dd. the Roosevelt Corollary made by Theodore Roosevelt,
ee. the New Nationalism speech made by Theodore Roosevelt,
ff. the Peace Without Victory speech made by Woodrow Wilson,
gg. the First Inaugural address made by Franklin D. Roosevelt,
hh. portions of the book titled “The Grapes of Wrath” written by John Steinbeck,
ii. the Four Freedoms speech made by Franklin D. Roosevelt,
jj. the Day of Infamy speech made by Franklin D. Roosevelt,
kk. the article titled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” by George Kennan,
ll. the address that became known as the Truman Doctrine made by Harry S. Truman,
mm. the Address on Little Rock, Arkansas made by Dwight Eisenhower,
nn. the Farewell Address made by Dwight Eisenhower,
oo. the Inaugural address made by John F. Kennedy,
pp. the Decision to Go to the Moon speech made by John F. Kennedy,
qq. the letter known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
rr. the I Have a Dream speech made by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
ss. the Ballot or the Bullet speech made by Malcolm X,
tt. the Great Society speech made by Lyndon B. Johnson,
uu. the American Promise speech made by Lyndon B. Johnson,
vv. the First Inaugural address made by Ronald Reagan,
ww. the 40th Anniversary of D-Day speech made by Ronald Reagan,
xx. the Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate speech made by Ronald Reagan, and
yy. the Address to the Nation speech made by George W. Bush on September 11, 2001.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2011, Section 1210.703, is amended to read as follows:
Section 1210.703
A. Contingent upon the provision of appropriated funds designated for the Oklahoma Advanced Placement Incentive Program, the State Board of Education is hereby authorized to award schools:
1. A one-time equipment and/or instructional materials grant for the purpose of providing an advanced placement course, based on criteria established by the Department. Schools which receive the grants shall:
a. offer the advanced placement courses beginning the school year following receipt of the grant,
b. provide the College Board training within one (1) year of the grant award, including at least a one-week summer institute. Teachers shall be encouraged to attend annual follow-up training, and
c. make available advanced placement examinations to all students taking the course for which a grant has been awarded;
2. Additional grants to school sites demonstrating successful implementation, as defined by the State Board of Education, of the courses for which the first grants were awarded. Schools may qualify for additional grants a minimum of four (4) years after receiving a grant award;
3. Subsidized training for advanced placement courses, preadvanced placement courses, or International Baccalaureate courses in a form, manner and time prescribed by the Department;
4. One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for each score of three or better on an advanced placement test or four or better on an International Baccalaureate examination; provided, these funds shall be used for the purpose of Advanced Placement Program development;
5. For those students who demonstrate financial need as defined by the College Board or the International Baccalaureate Organization, a share of the advanced placement or International Baccalaureate test fee;
6. For those students who take more than one advanced placement or International Baccalaureate test in one (1) year, a share of the advanced placement test or International Baccalaureate fee in a manner prescribed by the Board; and
7. Grants for the purpose of developing an advanced placement vertical team based on criteria established by the Board.
B. Upon completion of the test, the State Department of Education shall obtain from the College Board and the International Baccalaureate Organization a list of students in Oklahoma who scored a three or higher on the advanced placement test or a four or higher on the International Baccalaureate test. Financial incentives for schools provided in this section shall be awarded at the beginning of the next school year following the school year in which the test was taken.
C. Any new expenditure authorized pursuant to Section 1210.701et seq. of this title shall be contingent upon the availability of funds.
D. Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, the Board shall not award any grants to school districts or make any expenditure of state funds as authorized pursuant to this section for equipment, instructional materials, course development, professional development or training, examination awards or examination scholarships for the Advanced Placement United States History course until the College Board changes the framework for the course and reverts back to the course framework and examination that were used prior to the 2014-2015 school year.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective July 1, 2015.
SECTION 4. It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
55-1-6139 KB 01/19/15

There’s that “EMERGENCY” thing again. Clearly these guys are caught COMPLETELY off guard by things which lumber into existence over a period of years on a fairly regular basis.

Too many thoughts to try to be clear just yet – well, that and I have students to brainwash into anti-Americanism through my blatant disregard of Kennan’s article on Soviet conduct.

And I’d have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling legislators.

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