5 ALARM ACTION ALERT - OSDE PROPOSED RULES FOR ACCREDITATION

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5 ALARM ACTION ALERT - OSDE PROPOSED RULES FOR ACCREDITATION

5 ALARM ACTION ALERT - OK STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RULES - TAKE ACTION NOW!!!!!!ALL PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVOCATES - YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED ASAP TO STOP HARMFUL OSDE RULES FROM BECOMING LAW - even if you wrote in on our earlier action alert targeted to Administrative Rules Committee members, we need you to write in again.THIS ACTION LETTER YOU WRITE TODAY WILL GO TO ALL HOUSE AND SENATE MEMBERS IN THE STATE.WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SEND A QUICK LETTER VIA THIS ACTION ALERT AND ASK ALL OKLAHOMA LEGISLATORS TO VOTE TO DISALLOW ALL RULES COMING FROM THE OKLAHOMA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.We are extremely concerned about these proposed rules, particularly those impacting school accreditation. The upcoming votes by the legislature on the OSDE rules may be one of the most dangerous threats to Oklahoma's public schools that we have seen in the history of our advocacy work

1. Please read through the background listed below and utilize the talking points that speak most to you, combining those with your own thoughts, in your own words, to construct your letters.

2. Be respectful and concise.

3. Include your town of residency in your subject and identify yourself as a voter from <insert your> community in your opening statement

4. Tell them you do NOT want one test to determine your school’s accreditation standing and you want LOCAL CONTROL.

4. Make sure you conclude by asking for them to vote to disallow ALL OSDE rules.

Once you finish you letter and press send, it will go out to all House and Senate members in the state. We don't normally send to this many targets, but now is the time for something big, as the committee process is near completion and this decision will move to both floors for vote soon.

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**BACKGROUND INFORMATION**

All rules from state agencies must be approved by the Legislature, and MUST correspond with legislation that calls for the rules to be made in the first place. There are several rules from the OSDE which are headed for approval this week that do NOT have the required legislation directing Superintendent Walters and the State Board of Ed to create them.

Regrettably, Superintendent Walters has been leveraging the rule-making process to effectively enact his own legislation, thereby bypassing the legislative process and encroaching upon its authority in lawmaking. Many of these rules lack a legislative mandate and often mirror language from proposed bills that failed to progress into law. Citizens entrust elected officials with the responsibility of legislating after due diligence and ample opportunities for citizen input.

Superintendent Walters was not elected as a legislator and was not elected to write his own laws approved by an unelected board. There is a reason this process is in place - to force sunshine into the process and allow the public to weigh in with their legislators, which are more locally plugged into their constituency. If our legislature allows this to happen, they will be opening Pandora's Box by allowing agency heads to craft what is essentially law without the authority to do so.

Notably, both Attorney General Hunter in 2020 and Attorney General Drummond in 2023 issued opinions against specific rules for misinterpreting statutes or exceeding the Department's authority under the Administrative Procedures Act.

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THE RULES BEING PROPOSED ADDRESSING SCHOOL ACCREDITATION ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS TO THE STABILITY OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education's proposed accreditation rules threaten the future of rural schools across our state. Recent combined data analyses by CCOSA and Appleseed Law reveal that at 82 schools are at risk of closure or state takeover. Most of those on the list are rural schools. 1 in 5 Oklahoma students statewide will be on the road to losing their local public school.

The rules in question allow the State Department of Education the capacity to take over districts based on A SINGLE TEST TAKEN ON ONE DAY. (more detailed info here)

**Here's the alarming reality:**

1. **5% Increase Demands:** Starting 2024-2025, any school marked for academic deficiency must improve its test scores by 5% to avoid being downgraded to "accredited with warning." Failure to meet this requirement by 2025-2026 will lead to "accredited with probation" status.

2. **Rising Expectations:** The required scores to classify as "basic" increase annually. So, schools must not only meet the 5% growth target but also achieve this on top of the already rising standards. This adds pressure to every student, including those with IEPs, non-English speakers, and economically disadvantaged kids.

This continuous cycle will especially devastate small districts, where a few students' scores could unfairly doom an entire school.

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5 ALARM ACTION ALERT - OSDE PROPOSED RULES FOR ACCREDITATION

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