Hassink 2026 Campaign Newspaper — Works Cited

“The Dialogue Around Public Education” — Mark Lepak op-ed

The 2018 walkout and tax package

HB 1010XX passed the Senate on March 28, signed March 29, 2018; raised taxes on cigarettes, motor fuel, and gross production.  —  Oklahoma Legislature bill record, 2nd Extraordinary Session, 56th Legislature.

Teacher raise ranged from $5,000 for first-year to over $8,000 for veteran teachers; largest single-year education funding increase in state history.  —  HB 1010XX; NEA reporting; contemporaneous coverage (April 2018).

Walkout occurred April 2–13, 2018, five days after the raise was signed; largest districts participated; about a third of districts statewide closed at peak.  —  Contemporaneous coverage (Tulsa World, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma Watch, April 2018).

The 75% threshold

Oklahoma requires a three-fourths vote of both chambers to raise taxes.  —  State Question 640 (1992), amending Article V, § 33 of the Oklahoma Constitution.

HB 1010XX was the first revenue bill to clear the 75% threshold in the 26 years since SQ 640 was adopted.  —  Oklahoma Legislature revenue bill history, 1992–2018.

State Question 779

Voters defeated SQ 779 in November 2016 — a proposed 1-cent sales tax dedicated to education, including a $5,000 teacher raise. Approximately 18 months before the walkout.  —  Oklahoma State Election Board results, November 8, 2016; SQ 779 ballot text.

School revenue

Districts reported more than $6.3 billion in total revenue from all sources in 2017–2018; more than $9.5 billion by 2024–2025 — an increase of over $3 billion.  —  Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS), Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Teacher compensation

LOFT 2021 study found that once cost of living and state and local tax burdens are accounted for, Oklahoma ranked first in the region for total teacher compensation.  —  Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT), 2021 teacher compensation study.

Oklahoma average teacher salary $61,330 (2023–24) and $61,686 (2024–25) — ahead of Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri; trails Texas by under $2,100.  —  National Education Association Rankings & Estimates, 2023–24; Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) reporting, 2024–25.

S.S. Let’s Fix It / S.S. Bloat — campaign newspaper articles

Strong Readers Act

Strong Readers Act passed the House 87–5 and the Senate 43–2; signed by Gov. Stitt, April 2026; third-grade retention gate begins 2027–28; grounded in the science of reading; adds accountability for colleges of education.  —  SB 1778 / HB 4420, Oklahoma Legislature; Oklahoma Voice; okhouse.gov (April 2026).

Mississippi rose from 49th to 9th in NAEP 4th-grade reading following its 2013 literacy law.  —  National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state rankings; Mississippi Department of Education.

Oklahoma reading outcomes

Tulsa Public Schools reading proficiency: approximately 11% elementary, 13% middle, 18% high school.  —  US News district page (Tulsa Public Schools); Niche district reporting (2024–25).

Oklahoma sat near the national average in 2015; today only two states rank worse on NAEP 4th-grade reading; 27% of Oklahoma 3rd graders proficient (2025).  —  National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); Oklahoma House releases; KGOU (January 2026).

2021 Oklahoma ELA standards, objective 3.2.PWS.3, directs students to “use decoding skills and semantics in context when reading new words.”  —  2021 Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts, Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Emergency teacher certifications

Oklahoma issued approximately 3,928 emergency teaching certifications for 2025–26. Emergency-certified educators were 38.8% of first-year teachers in 2025, compared with 0.5% of incoming new teachers in 2010. Some emergency certifications have been renewed up to 8 times without the holder passing certification tests.  —  Oklahoma State Board of Education data; Oklahoma Voice; KFOR (July 2026).

Third-grade retention gate

Oklahoma passed a third-grade retention gate in 2011; committee-promotion and exemption loopholes weakened it starting 2014 — only about 35% of children who failed the reading test were actually retained. The loophole was made permanent in 2017.  —  Oklahoma Policy Institute; Oklahoma Watch; LegiScan; Oklahoma State Department of Education, Reading Sufficiency Act implementation data.

School spending

Oklahoma school revenue rose more than 50% per pupil over the years reading outcomes declined.  —  Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (April 2026); Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS) revenue data.

Tulsa Public Schools total expenditures approximately $483 million; current spending per student approximately $11,873; enrollment 33,617 (fiscal year 2022–23).  —  National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Restorative discipline

Tulsa Public Schools restorative discipline reform: suspension rates fell at 67 sites, but total suspension days rose by approximately 1,000; light-consequence complaints at Edison Preparatory; principals publicly denied being instructed to stop suspending.  —  Tulsa World, “It’s a balancing act” (January 2024).