Parents and students have spent the last two years raising the more than $50,000 needed to purchase and install the new equipment. The old equipment was beyond repair, according to school officials.

Robin Hill School District is located between Moore and Norman. The school has about 200 students enrolled in prekindergarten through eighth grades.

The playground’s color theme is red, white, and blue. Students will release balloons in the same colors at the grand opening.

“We are very proud of our group’s accomplishment in reaching our goals for this playground project and want to share this joy with our community,” said Betty Chagaris, PTA president.

Meanwhile, this article from Education Week illustrates what some school districts nationwide are facing as the economy stumbles. Their actions, such as halting new school construction, are compounded by worries about future hits if sales tax revenue declines further as consumer spending constricts.

And this bit of news out of Tulsa gives a glimpse into how the state’s largest district is dealing with both factors: teacher pay and a tight budget.

Share your thoughts on teacher pay and school funding — particularly the views in the above links — below in the comments section.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

-PERSONAL LOOK AT DISTRICT LAYOFFS:

-BOYCOTT MOVES TO THE BALL FIELD: An Illinois state senator from Chicago took his stab at school funding reform to last night’s playoff game between the Cubs and the Dodgers last night. Sen. James Meeks also led a student boycott of lower performing schools at the start of the year.

-CONFUSING STUDENT ASSESSMENTS: This Washington Post story talks about a literacy program’s assessments that start on a seemingly arbitrary scale of 2 to 16 and then switch to the letters J through P. I’m not questioning the scale or the program there, but the article did make me think about whether parents can always understand how their students are evaluated.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

The reading time with students is part of a national effort to break the world record for the number of children reading the same book with adults on the same day.

A nonprofit organization called Jumpstart is spearheading the “Read for the Record” event. Jumpstart also raises money to provide books to children in low-income families.

Some of my favorite books to read at the age of Garrett’s audience today — prekindergarten through second-grade children — were the “Amelia Bedelia” stories.

What are your favorite childhood books?

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

The announcer joked over the loudspeaker that he felt a bit like Bob Barker just before introducing the priciest of them all: a new car!

Sparks’ entire prize package is valued at $50,000. The Oklahoma City School District, where she teaches, received an additional $5,000 cash award.

Here are the awards Sparks received:

MONETARY AWARDS
$100 savings bond, Education Retirement Services
$250 cash award, AFT-Oklahoma
$1,000 gift card, American Fidelity Assurance Company
$1,000 cash award, Stillwater National Bank of Oklahoma City
$2,000 cash award, Data Recognition Corporation
$5,000 cash award, Masonic Fraternity of Oklahoma

(When asked what his mother should do with all the money, Sparks’ youngest son, 10-year-old Harrison, told me she should give it all to him.)

UNIVERSITY AWARDS
$1,750 stipend, Marvin Stokes Endowed Lecture at East Central University
36 hours graduate tuition waiver, Oklahoma State University
36 hours graduate tuition waiver, University of Central Oklahoma
36 hours graduate tuition waiver, Northeastern State University
36 hours graduate tuition waiver and 16 hours undergraduate tuition waiver for the winner’s child or a local student, University of Oklahoma
One-year full tuition waiver for the winner’s child or a local student, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

INSTRUCTIONAL AWARDS
One year of professional services, AFT-Oklahoma
One year of professional services, Oklahoma Education Association
One year of professional services, Professional Oklahoma Educators
Classroom Performance System, eInstruction
SMART Board with projector and accompanying software, SMART Technologies
Technology training workshops, SMARTer Kids Foundation

OTHER AWARDS
Framed certificate, Oklahoma State Fair
Glass trophy, Midwest Trophy Manufacturing Company
Rose bouquet and plaque, Professional Oklahoma Educators
Lapel pin, Oklahoma Chapter of the National State Teachers of the Year
Art print, American Fidelity Assurance Company
Book, Oklahoma Historical Society
Gift basket and one-year family zoo membership, Oklahoma City Zoological Society
Laptop computer, Oklahoma Schools Insurance Group
Toyota Prius for one year, Gulf States Toyota

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

But already, the list of nearly 200 Oklahoma students who are semifinalists in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program is out.

The 195 students are among 1,600 nationwide who will go on to compete for $35 million in college scholarships. About half will win, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

I did a few breakdowns of the list of Oklahoma semifinalists:
   143 attend public schools.
   42 attend private schools.
   9 are homeschooled.
   1 goes to a charter school.

Three schools yielded more than 10 semifinalists:
   The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, with 22.
   Jenks High School, with 14.
   Holland Hall School in Tulsa, with 13.

The students qualified by earning the highest scores among state test-takers on the 2007 Preliminary SAT exam.

The list of seniors will be narrowed down to a list of finalists before the scholarship winners are announced in the coming months.

Click here for a list of all the Sooner semifinalists.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

But what they reflect is important: the amount of money given to districts with a lot of children living in poverty. That actually makes Title I the largest federal school funding program, for which figures were released today.

Oklahoma received 15.8 percent more in Title I school funding allocations this year than last year, the seventh-highest percentage increase of all the states, according to a report by the Center on Education Policy.

Title I funding nationally totaled $13.8 billion, and all states had increases except for Wisconsin.

The 2008-09 allocations, which in Oklahoma total $148.5 million, are based on the number of low-income children in the 2005 calendar year. Oklahoma was one of 17 states that saw a more than 10% increase in the number of low-income children from the 2004 to 2005 calendar years.

Oklahoma’s percentage of low-income children spiked 16.8 percent, a smaller jump than only Vermont, Hawaii, Maine, Nebraska and Idaho.

This spreadsheet shows how much each district in the state was allocated. Districts will likely receive less than their allocations after state adjustments for things like boundary changes and charter schools.

The districts in Oklahoma with the highest allocations are:
Oklahoma City – $22,277,435
Tulsa – $18,109,977
Lawton – $4,477,234
Putnam City – $4,431,600
Midwest City-Del City – $2,982,065

The districts in Oklahoma with the lowest allocations are:
Stidham – $8,545
Peckham – $0
Plainview (the one in Cimarron County) – $0
Reydon – $0
Straight – $0

Click here if you’re interested in how districts in other states fared.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

Hundreds of students in Illinois are spending the first day of classes trying to enroll in higher-performing schools instead of in seats at their home sites. Students and their parents say they hope their protest will highlight disparities in Chicagoans’ education along the socioeconomic divide.

People on both sides of the issue have compelling arguments: one side saying the protest sends the wrong message to kids, the other saying that taking a stand is their best shot at rectifying an unequal education system. Which camp do you fall into?

Read the full story here, and then share your thoughts.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

Parenting expert Michele Borba recommends having your child help you make a list of supplies, then look for store flyers to find the best deals. Younger children that can’t write can cut out photos of the supplies they want.

Together you can make a budget with your child, and then hit the store to gather the goodies. Borba said allowing your child to pay for the items (using a gift card or your credit card) also can help teach them financial responsibility.

Borba also recommends that families stock up on supplies that are real bargains. Sure you may only need five notebooks, but if they are 5-cents each, why not buy 50?

What advice do you have for buying school supplies? E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com or comment here.

Susan Simpson, Education Writer

He said Walt Disney’s dream started with a drawing of a mouse and a vision of greatness. CareerTech doesn’t have Mickey Mouse but it does aim “to help make dreams and success a reality for Oklahomans,” he said.

The CareerTech system of vocational technical schools across the state helps tens of thousands of high school students and adults each year gain job readiness skills, and for many, a start on a college education.

But the system also struggles with higher operating costs amid stagnant state funding, loss of many Baby Boomer instructors to retirement, and a significant high school drop out rate.

Still, CareerTech graduates add $2 billion annually to the state’s economy, Berkinbile said. 

Now that’s a mouse that roars.

Susan Simpson, Education Writer