Hoftmeister's Scandals

JOY HOFMEISTER AND

THE SCANDALED STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

THE WATCHMAN

  To no one's surprise, the Superintendent of Education drew a few challengers for her seat and the potential of unseating her is still a real possibility. The scandal plagued Department of Education even at one time had the Superintendent charged with felony campaign finance regulations. That is not the only scandal that transpired during her administration. We would have been shocked if she didn't have a rival. As it currently stands, she faces a run-off election for her position in August.

  What brought our attention to this story was this article from the MusgokeePolitical.com site. After the criminal case against her was dismissed, she still received enough votes to face a run-off against a challenger. The charges, though dismissed at this time, are still under investigation by the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office.

  We did verify the election results at this site. Her opponent will be Linda Murphy. There will be a report on her next week. We are fully aware that Hofmeister should be considered innocent until proven guilty. We are also aware that neither innocence nor guilt has been established in this case. With the case still under investigation, we have no doubt that the investigation cost her votes and may well cost her position. Until the matter is resolved, she shouldn't even be running for office. This is another prime example of political corruption in the state of Oklahoma.

  We next found this article in Wikipedia. Quoting from the article we found this "Constitutionally the State Superintendent of Public Instruction has no duties. The office's powers and responsibilities come from Oklahoma school code and the powers granted to the office by the Oklahoma State Board of Education. The primary function of the State Superintendent is giving advice and making recommendations to the State Board of Education." Basically, this is an elected official being paid over $120 thousand dollars a year as a consultant. That is a lot of money for a consultant who has little to know powers to enforce the laws of the state regarding public education.

The next article of interest was this from Ballotpedia.org. Here you'll find that she was first elected in 2014. There is now a term limit on the position of 8 years. To us, that is a position making almost a million dollars over eight years for consulting. They are way overpaid for the position they hold. This can only be corrected by the State Legislature.

We did find a second article from Ballotpedia.org.. This article shows the actual results of the 2018 primary election. Should she win the run-off election, she still faces an uphill climb to retain her office from two other candidates in the November general elections. They both won their primaries without having to go to a run-off election. That will decide whether or not all statewide elected officials remain as a Red State or not.

We next found this article from Oklahoma Watch.org. The competition should be no surprise to Joyce Hofmeister. During her term in office there have been many scandals not only about her legal matters, but also those that plagued the Oklahoma City Public Schools but also the Tulsa Public Schools. This is most likely due to the lack of direction in the standards of the Public-School system.

We almost had to laugh at this article. At best she is indicating that the solution to our education problem is the solution. At worst it indicates that she has fully read the bill. Quoting her again from this article "These measures finally ensure Oklahoma's dedicated, hard-working public-school teachers receive a well-deserved, competitive pay. In addition, the bills provide desperately needed resources for text books and support staff who perform vital services for our students. We know that the increased teacher pay is not a cure-all for our states crippling teacher shortage, but it would solidly put us on track to retain our committed educators and recruit new teachers to the profession. Without a teacher pay raise, an already devastating situation will only worsen, with children being the ultimate victims." She failed to mention the fact that the raise is only financed for a two-year period. After that the funds allocated to the raise will be distributed to other state agencies. One would think that the information would be provided to all teachers. She also failed to address the fact that acting like a true progressive she gives the credit to our children's needs. She failed to address the fact that when money was available, most districts chose to hire administrators over teachers at a rate of two to one. Our districts are overloaded with administrators.

She gave herself a lot of credit for the charges being dropped. You can look at her reaction at this site. She appears to believe that all the charges were dismissed. Is she not aware that the investigation is on-going?

The next article of interest we found was this. As citizens of this state, we should have been informed of this matter. What we got in return was a dog and pony show from the legislator's. This would include the State Health Department which indicated that it would need an additional $30 million dollars to avoid laying off staff and to make salaries. Even after getting the needed funds they still laid-off 200 employees and the found the missing $30 million dollars. They have not returned those funds as of yet so that they could be re-allocated to the agencies they were taken from.

There was one scandal that was discovered by her auditors. This show you just how badly how education moneys are spent. It is a really sad state of affairs that the demand for a pay raise failed to live up to the of their promise to educate our children. The State Public Education auditors found that a full 81% of those individuals scheduled to graduate lacked the required courses to do so. We can't help but wonder if the 2.5 grade point average required to become a teacher is part of the problem. The requirements to become a teacher should be raised. This may account for the downward slide in the overall dumbing down of our children.

We found this article about the Tulsa Public Schools administrator. This is uncalled for. Between a district allowing 8% of their students to graduate lacking the specific course completion to changing votes in the other system is nothing short of committing a fraud on the students and the state. How much more can our children take before no college in the nation will accept them? Both occurred in the two largest public education systems in the state. We must ask where is the oversight of these districts?

Then we found this disgusting article. How are we to have confidence in the public education system? Simply we can't. Is it any wonder parents want school choice and vouchers to enable them to attend better schools? We don't believe that the State Superintendent is doing enough to help educate our children. We are saying that it truly exposes the inability of Joyce Hofmeister to have the ability to lead the department or to retain her seat.

The next article of information we found to be both contempt and laughter in. What made us laugh and feel contempt for is the photo. The picture is centered on an individual demonstrator, we don't know if he was a supporter or a teacher, holding a sign that says "If you think education is expensive wait and see how much ignorance cost. #I Love my Public School." We can't help to feel contempt simply because they are not educating our children. We laugh because whom ever the protester is has failed to realize that she is part of the problem.

The next article of interest we found ask the question that no one has thought to ask. Who are the educators of the teacher's? Does the downward level of the education of our children fall on their shoulders? These are questions that we, as parents and grandparents need to know. We feel confident that the unions are included as a cause for the decrease in the scoring of how the teachers are taught.

In conclusion, that lack of leadership skills in her possession make Joyce Hofmeir unsuited to continue her job as the State Superintendent of Public Education. It is time for her to terminate her campaign and return to the private sector. Raising the required minimum GPA to become a teacher is not just needed, but it has become an urgent necessity to see the proper education of our children. The teachers always say it's for the children when it's actually for themselves. We can't help but wonder which other districts that have not been audited are using the same criminal behavior as the two districts mentioned in this article.