Layden: State Senator Adam Pugh (R-Edmond), who is the Senate Education Chair, pushed for a longer school year and was successful, at least a little bit.
Wallis: So, there is going to be a longer school year this year, but parents probably won't notice it too much. It's just by one day. So, from 180 days to 181 days, or if your school does it by hours, 1,080 hours to 1,086 hours. Originally, Pugh tried to push a bill through to tie additional school days for every $25 million added to the common education funding formula, but ultimately, the House voted it down.
Layden: There are also some restrictions coming as far as virtual learning, right?
Wallis: Yes, so these actually won't take effect until the 2026-27 school year. So, this is the last year that schools will be able to be unencumbered with their virtual days. So next year, Senate Bill 758 will cap virtual days to two days that a district can count.
The rhetoric behind the bill was that these virtual days are being overused — we are no longer in COVID times, so kids need to be in school.
Layden: So if we have one of those days where all the meteorologists are like, 'This horrible weather is coming, this is going to be a bad day' — I guess they'll just cancel?
Wallis: It'll be a snow day. Like the old times.
Layden: As students head back to class this year, they'll notice a change in their ability to access their cell phones throughout the day. Given how young folks can be attached to their phones, this could come as a shock.
Wallis: I think this will be the biggest change to the day-to-day school of students in Oklahoma. So it's a bell-to-bell cell ban. So, from when schools start to when schools end.
Now, how it's done is really up to districts. So, the bill requires districts to adopt some kind of a cell phone ban policy. And, that could mean that they put their cell phones in a locker, or they have to keep them in their backpack, or they just have to turn them off throughout the day.
All of that's up to the district, and those boards met over the summer and they decided their cell phone plans. So, make sure you go to your district's website and see exactly how your school is doing it.
The students are prohibited from using their phones, their smartwatches, or other personal electronic devices on school campuses during the school day. In the bill, there is a written-out exception for emergency cell phone use, as well as health monitoring.
But, I think an important part to remember about this policy is that instead of it being an overarching, forever bill, it got whittled down, like many bills do during the legislative process. And instead, it's just required for the 25-26 school year.
So, if it doesn't go well for your district during this year, your district can revisit it next year and take that ban off. You know, of course, unless the legislature says next session, actually this is going to be a forever bill.
Layden: Well, new social studies standards were allowed to go through, starting this semester. The process that led to their approval was controversial, and so was the content included in these new standards.
Wallis: So these social studies standards, it was, it was a very controversial process by which they were put through the State Board of Education and then tacitly approved by the legislature.
In high school standards, there's 2020 election denialism rhetoric that questions the legitimacy of the outcome of the 2020 election. And there's also, throughout pre-K through 12th grade, a significant increase in the role of Christianity in the founding of America and in the governance of America.
It is in Oklahoma statute that parents can opt their students out of learning for basically philosophical reasons they disagree with. And so, as a parent, you do have the right to opt your student out of anything like that.
And then lastly, I think it's important to note that these are standards, which means these are concepts that must be taught. However, how they're taught is totally up to the school district. And so, it really will be up to the teacher, ultimately up to the school, on how these standards are taught in their individual classrooms.
Layden: StateImpact Oklahoma Education reporter Beth Wallis, thank you.
Wallis: Thank you for having me.
Layden: For StateImpact, I'm Logan Layden.
This transcript was lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
