Good day, CharterFolk.
A recurring theme we’ve explored here at CharterFolk in recent months is the sheer volume of change now rippling across public education – and the challenge of distinguishing signal from noise.
So it is with Oklahoma.
A place that calls us.
Recently, a story from Oklahoma captured national attention: an eleven-year-old boy with autism who has mastered dozens of bird calls with uncanny precision, winning new friends when he boldly demonstrates his ability at his school’s talent show.
It’s hard not to be moved by it.
A reminder of the value – especially in this noisy, distracted world – of listening carefully, observing closely, and staying in tune with what truly matters.
Because the most important calls coming out of Oklahoma today are not necessarily the loudest.
Take the religious charter school case. The entire nation has been fixated on it for years, as if the story were fed to us by a perfectly calibrated algorithm.
Of course, it deserves its share of attention. What could be more consequential than a case that may redefine the boundaries of religious liberty and the separation of church and state for generations to come?
But on purely educational grounds – the very ones we at CharterFolk try hardest to stay attuned to – is this the first species of call we should be obsessing over mastering?
To my knowledge, there is not a single state-specific online Catholic school in the country. And regardless of how this case is decided, there are unlikely to be many more thereafter. And as Greg Richmond noted in February, many religious schools of all types would be unlikely to convert to charter status if given the option.
So you tell me, CharterFolk:
Is this proposed new school a catalyst?
Or a curiosity?
From where I stand, the calling that resonates on the deeper register – the one more aligned with those of us dedicating our lives to improving public education in this country – is coming out of Tulsa.
There, the public school district is unraveling. The Governor ordered an audit in response to a request from parents. The findings have appalled all who’ve taken the time to read them.
And yet, perhaps the saddest part is just how unsurprising it all is.
It’s what we’ve come to expect from many of our large urban school districts.
For years, I’ve written about “The Great Disconnect” happening in public education – the growing failure of our schools to meet even the bare minimum expectations of families. I’ve described it as a “Rough Beast,” slouching toward the central offices of school districts across the country. A recognition that a profound reckoning is near.
But reckoning’s timing is always hard to predict.
As Hemingway said, bankruptcy happens two ways – gradually, and then suddenly.
That’s what we’re seeing now: a demise long foreseen, but whose exact moment of arrival we can never quite name.
Whether it’s tomorrow or the day after, the important thing, CharterFolk, is that it’s happening.
Like the old Don Williams tune says: we’re living on Tulsa Time.
The clock face of public education ticks forward – whether we want to look at it or not.
And that clock face reaches far back into history. Into a history many would prefer to forget.
Like Tulsa’s history – marked by one of the most appalling episodes of racial violence in American history. A century ago, the Greenwood District – Black Wall Street – was burned to the ground by white mobs. Hundreds were killed.
Atop that devastation was built a system of public education that did not repair the injustice – but perpetuated it.
A 1974 study published in the American Journal of Sociology examined segregation in elementary schools across 60 U.S. cities. Using a dissimilarity index, where 0 meant perfect integration and 100 meant complete segregation, the researchers found Tulsa scored a 97 – tying it for the most segregated school system in the country.
And the city that it was tied with?
Oklahoma City.
The two largest cities in a state now drawing national attention – but for an altogether different reason.
So yes, CharterFolk, the religious charter school case deserves its due. It raises profound constitutional questions – ones that will reverberate for generations.
But let’s not fixate so narrowly on the edges of what’s permissible that we miss the center of what’s so tragically broken.
Because the truth is, it’s not just the major cities of Oklahoma.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of cities across the United States exhibit the same dysfunction, and perpetuate the same unfairness.
That’s why I say: it’s not just public education in Tulsa that is living on Tulsa Time.
But public education in our entire country.
So it is essential we learn to tune our ears correctly – so that we can begin making more meaningful calls ourselves.
That means staying attuned to the positive developments, too.
To the reasons for hope, which are certainly there amid the din.
Like charter schools such as Dove – already serving large numbers of Tulsa families well, now being given the resources they need to grow.
Schools doing great things for students without replicating the unfairness and dysfunction that have become so deeply entrenched in much of public education.
In the coming days, I’ll turn more attention to the religious charter school case.
On the deeper register, there are certainly profound implications for a fairer and better public education system that we should all be keyed into.
But I’ll do so attempting to emulate a child with a special gift.
Someone who is able to hear – and to master – what others have not yet.
The most important call.
The recognition that all of public education is living on Tulsa Time.