You can read a little about it here

Oklahoma City, OK – While most people in Oklahoma City were focused on Valentines, a strong group of around 150 supporters gathered at the Oklahoma Theatre Supply to celebrate the resounding victory of Laura Massenat in the race for the Oklahoma City School Board in District 4.

“The amount of support that showed up for Election night party was indicative of the unwavering support we received throughout the race from local parents and citizens from across Distict 4,” Massenat stated while watching the returns roll in. “I am so grateful for the support that we have received and could not give a bigger thank you to the voters and citizens of District 4.”

Massenat avoided a runoff by winning over fifty percent of the vote in the Tuesday election against lobbyist, Patrick Gaines, and homeschool parent and veteran, Crystal Hodges. Hodges came in a close third though widely regarded as the underdog in the race, with Gaines just narrowly edging out Hodges for second place.

“I want to thank my opponents for taking an interest in the children of Oklahoma City and for a lively discussion of the issues,” said Massenat. “I’m glad that with this race behind us, we can all unite to focus on the future of our public schools and the best ways to improve educational opportunities for our children.”

Laura Massenat is the co-owner of Elemental Coffee and the founder of EatWise OKC, a group dedicated to advocating for healthy lifestyles for our children. Massenat is a political newcomer and has not held elected office or run for elected office in the past.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Now that many lawmakers are calling for a freeze on judicial pay and the salaries of all statewide officeholders, state Rep. Jason Nelson said it’s time to also freeze school superintendent salaries.

“Last year we saw hundreds of instances of superintendents getting pay raises while furloughing teachers and increasing class sizes,” said Nelson, R-Oklahoma City. “If it doesn’t make sense to give statewide officeholders a pay raise while Oklahoma is climbing out of recession, the same thing holds true for school superintendents at a time when education budgets have been cut. They should not be getting pay raises when teachers are being asked to do more with less.”

In a recent report, Oklahoma Watchdog found that 356 Oklahoma district superintendents (more than two-thirds) received some form of compensation increase this year. The combined expense of those raises was an extra $1.4 million annually.

Oklahoma Watchdog found that 37 of the superintendents receiving raises oversaw districts placed on the State Department of Education’s “Needs Improvement” list and 16 of those individuals received raises of $5,000 or more .

The Board of Judicial Compensation recently recommended pay increases for judges. Since the compensation of judges and statewide officials is linked, both would get a raise under that proposal.

State Rep. Scott Inman, leader of the House Democratic caucus, has been one of the most vocal critics of potential pay increases for statewide officeholders even though none of those officials could receive a salary increase during their current term in office.

Nelson said the Del City lawmaker should now join him in opposing superintendent pay raises.

“To protect school funding, we have to do more than oppose phantom pay raises that no current statewide officeholder is eligible to receive,” Nelson said. “It is ridiculous to complain about phantom pay raises for current statewide elected officials while ignoring $1.4 million in real pay raises for superintendents across the state.”

Last year, Nelson filed House Bill 1746 to require schools to spend at least 65 percent of funds on direct instructional activities within three years.

That bill included a provision that would have prevented superintendents from furloughing teachers without first having their financial plan reviewed by the State Board of Education so that classroom teachers would be protected.

“My legislation would have protected teachers from layoffs and furloughs, yet it was opposed by superintendents and their allies, including Representative Inman,” Nelson said. “I hope he and other opponents will now join me in standing up for teachers.”

Nelson praised State Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi, who announced she would not accept a pay raise when the issue was first raised this month.

“Superintendent Barresi did the right thing for Oklahoma students,” Nelson said. “Given that many local school superintendents are paid more than the governor or state superintendent, there is clearly no reason for local administrators to get a pay raise at the expense of teachers and classroom funding. It’s time to freeze superintendent pay.”

“Open the Debates” is the theme of Nader’s remarks, which reflect the Nader and vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez campaign’s call for inclusive, democratic presidential debates.

Nader will also address Oklahoma’s ballot access restrictions for independent and third party candidates, as well as issues concerning national public health care, the war in Iraq, energy and global warming policies and corporate crime.

OSU-Tulsa is located at 700 North Greenwood Avenue, near I-244 and Detroit Avenue. For more information, contact the Nader campaign at 202-471-5833.

So now that Barack Obama and John McCain have both formally accepted their nominations and spoken to the nation from their respective conventions, I thought I’d post information about each of their education plans. They all have a lot of ideas, so following are the links to the details of them.

McCain: www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ce50b5-daa8-4795-b92d-92bd0d985bca.htm
Obama: www.barackobama.com/issues/education

Poke around, read both sides, and come back here to share your thoughts.

Wendy Kleinman
Education Reporter

The Oklahoman runs an “On the Campaign Trail” box every day to tell you what the candidates are up to. But if you want to know more about their positions and ideas on education — from big ideas to small comments — there’s a good place for you to find out more.

The Education Writers Association maintains a Web site that chronicles the candidates’ musings on education, which voters consistently rank as a top concern.

The blog entries are short and simple.

Want to know which candidates say they’re comfortable reading “King and King,” a book with a same-sex relationship theme, to their children and other schoolchildren? Or what’s in John Edwards’ “Restoring the Promise of America’s Schools” plan? Or why Rudy Giuliani has a controversial record on higher education?

Visit http://edelection.blogspot.com to find out, and to stay educated on election-related education issues.