Education Priority

Our future is brighter when children are properly educated, fed healthy food, and encouraged to do great things. Oklahoma is currently failing. We must prioritize children above all else. We need to reduce class sizes, obtain quality educational materials, pay teachers a living wage, and put in safeguards to ensure we never end up in this position again.

Quality Healthcare

We are a community and we have to take care of each other to succeed. Part of my plan for Oklahoma is to improve access to quality healthcare and mental health services by taking several measures including but not limited to support for a high GPT (Gross Production Tax).

Taking Care of Veterans

We will work with state agencies to audit and improve conditions for Oklahoma veterans by providing priority housing and employment opportunities. In Oklahoma, veterans will not be forgotten.

Criminal Justice Reform

We need to eliminate the use of private prisons in Oklahoma. Prisons are also not a replacement for mental healthcare. We need to begin releasing certain nonviolent drug offenders and begin rehabilitation.

Percentage vs. Winner-Take-All

Everyone wants their vote to count. Unfortunately in Oklahoma our electoral votes are winner-take-all. This is unacceptable. We will change Oklahoma to a percentage state so that your vote will mean more.

THIS CHOIR TEACHER IS CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

Education

I’ve been a teacher for 14 years. Nothing is closer to my heart than public education in Oklahoma. It is imperative that we fully fund our schools and make public education the priority it deserves to be. It’s time to table the testing and replace it with more recess. Acknowledge the many studies that show how kids learn best and trust our teachers to do what’s right for the students of Oklahoma.

Poverty

The majority of lower middle class citizens are just one emergency or unforeseen event away from homelessness or bankruptcy. I have students who are at a different address every other week, are in and out of school, come to class exhausted and wearing shoes that are falling off their feet. It’s hard to remember how to do Algebra when you can’t remember the last time you had a decent meal. If we’re to solve the problems of the “failing schools,” we need to look first at the needs that are not being met before they ever get to school. These people are our future and we are letting them drift in the dust.

Social Justice

When I look at my students, I see people that are trying to figure out who and what they are. Some walk out my door and the world lies at their feet. Others are not so lucky. We are not pigs on some animal farm, where some are more equal than others. We should honor the people of this state regardless of who their parents are, how much money they have, where they were born, the color of their skin, their religion, their gender, or their sexuality. A person is a person with hopes and dreams, if only we’d stop to LISTEN.