With the busing issue behind them, Oklahoma City schools eye improvements. Academic performance and the quality of teaching are on the upswing, these boosters say, and in many cases rival that found in the 13 smaller districts within the boundaries of the city, which sprawls over 600 square miles. Read an update of education policies in Oklahoma. The district's problems have hardly been expunged, however. No one is yet claiming that academic achievement is satisfactory.
Many schools are old and overcrowded.
Student discipline and a high dropout rate are ongoing concerns, and public perceptions of the district are mixed. But for now, at least, Oklahoma City schools have favorable winds as they attempt to navigate through their problems. The 1990 passage of the Education Reform and Funding Act, HR 1017, marked a sea change for the legislature, though it passed by just one vote. Among many accomplishments, the act raised salaries and professional standards for teachers, lowered pupil-teacher ratios, established procedures to hold schools accountable, and greatly increased state funding for schools. Read more about the challenges states face in setting policies for urban education.