Education

‘Pitching money out the windows’ at OKC schools

December 11, 2018

Trent England

On Monday, The Oklahoman reported on rampant waste in Oklahoma City Public Schools. To his credit, new Superintendent Sean McDaniel is trying to fix the situation.

Nearly two dozen schools in the Oklahoma City district are operating at 50 percent of capacity or less or have lost hundreds of students to transfers, according to new data that will help determine which schools may be closed or consolidated as part of a school improvement plan.

The district is paying to heat, cool and maintain many buildings, essentially “pitching money out the windows because we are underutilizing our facilities,” Superintendent Sean McDaniel has said.

Some of this is related to population and demographic shifts within the city, but much of it is due to parents choosing to put their children into schools they believe are safer or academically better. “The ways that families are choosing schools for their children is one of many indicators of what is happening in our schools,” McDaniel told The Oklahoman.