Education
Jonathan Small | May 6, 2016
Free Market Friday: Children better off without Neu
Jonathan Small
When the Board of Education that governs Oklahoma City Public Schools recently voted to sever ties with Superintendent Rob Neu, there was much media speculation about why. After all, the board had welcomed Neu less than two years earlier and voted to pay him $240,000, plus a hefty $65,000 in benefits.
It’s an understatement to say that Neu’s tenure has been filled with turmoil. For example, Neu hastily led the district in revamping its student disciplinary system. Neu gleefully reported that student suspensions were down. Unfortunately, a survey of district teachers showed that classroom chaos was up.
One teacher was quoted as having “multiple bruises, bite marks and a knot on my head.”
Sadly, a check of how Neu was hired in the first place might have warned the board members of what was coming.
Jonathan Small
President
Jonathan Small, C.P.A., serves as President and joined the staff in December of 2010. Previously, Jonathan served as a budget analyst for the Oklahoma Office of State Finance, as a fiscal policy analyst and research analyst for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and as director of government affairs for the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Small’s work includes co-authoring “Economics 101” with Dr. Arthur Laffer and Dr. Wayne Winegarden, and his policy expertise has been referenced by The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, National Review, the L.A. Times, The Hill, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. His weekly column “Free Market Friday” is published by the Journal Record and syndicated in 27 markets. A recipient of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s prestigious Private Sector Member of the Year award, Small is nationally recognized for his work to promote free markets, limited government and innovative public policy reforms. Jonathan holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and is a Certified Public Accountant.