Governor Fallin Announces Appointments to the State Board of Education

OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today announced the new composition of the State Board of Education. All of the appointments are filling new positions that are four-year terms and require confirmation from the Senate.

The State Board of Education consists of seven members and is chaired by State Superintendent Janet Barresi. Each of the appointed members will represent a congressional district, with one being an at large member. 

One vacancy remains for the appointee representing the third congressional district. Governor Fallin is working to fill that vacancy as quickly as possible.

“These men and women are dedicated public servants and business people who know the value of quality education in Oklahoma,” said Fallin. “I’ve charged each one of them with pursuing and implementing reforms that will boost student performance and ultimately help us to create the kind of educated, highly skilled workforce that will bring more and better jobs to the state.”

Lee Baxter

Maj. Gen. Lee Baxter (retired) of Lawton is president of Signal Mountain Associates, a general and defense consulting firm. In addition, he is the owner of Medicine Park Management, managing partner at Mount Scott Management, and partner at Cobblestone Canyon, all real estate development companies. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. He currently serves on the State Board of Career and Technology Education. Baxter has a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota and a Master’s in personnel management from Central Michigan University. He also is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. Baxter will represent the fourth Congressional District.

Amy Ford of Durant is president of Neon Clinic, a physician staffing company. She serves as a board member on the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Foundation, president of the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals and as a board member on the Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer. Ford has a bachelor’s degree from OSU. She is representing the second Congressional District.

Phil Lakin, Jr.

Phil Lakin Jr. of Tulsa is the chief executive officer of the Tulsa Community Foundation. He previously served on the Health Care Reform Task Force, Community Hospitals Authority, Education Quality and Accountability board and the Metro Tulsa Transit Authority. Lakin earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in business administration from Baylor University. He will represent the first Congressional District.

Bill Price

Bill Price of Oklahoma City is an attorney at Phillips Murrah P.C. and is a managing partner and trustee at Price Oil and Gas & Family Trusts. He serves as chairman of the board and is the founder of Shiloh Summer Camp, a Christian summer camp for disadvantaged kids. Price previously served on the board of trustees at Casady School. He has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from OU. Price will represent the fifth Congressional District.   

Bill Shdeed of Oklahoma City is a private practice lawyer. He is a member of the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame.  He previously served as chairman of the board of Oklahoma City University and currently serves as chairman emeritus.  Shdeed has a bachelor’s and law degree from Oklahoma City University. He is serving as an at large member.

Digital education and the lessons of history: a conference summary

By Patrick B. McGuigan at www.CapitolBeatOK.com (Published: 01-Aug-2011) 

A provocative and wide-ranging conference on “Education in the Digital Age” unfolded at the Oklahoma History Center last Friday (July 29). A sub-title of “Practices and Policies for Personalized Education” affirmed the historic setting of the event, sponsored by the conservative Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. 

Lee Baxter

Major General Lee Baxter, who holds the distinction of serving on the boards of both the state CareerTech and state Education Department, kicked off the day’s reflections with a brief address in which he referenced the “elite” education he garnered as a youth. 

When Baxter referred, in younger days, to his “UND” training, colleagues in the military assumed he meant “University of Notre Dame” – until he explained it was the University of North Dakota.

Andrew J. Coulson of the Cato Institute  examined ways public policy can protect and enhance development of a digital education marketplace. As did several speakers, Coulson pointed to the excellence of the Khan Academy’s online curriculum. 

He observed, “Public Schools are a $600 billion a year business, with 6 million people employed.” For this reason, it is perhaps not surprising that “change is threatening.” The bottom line, in Coulson’s view, is that educators must “find out what works, and then do the same.”

As part of a recipe for the future, Coulson argues education should become “a free enterprise,” full of dynamic models. He noted the move toward school choice, and robust examples of digital schooling, is a world-wide phenomenon, with examples abounding in Asia. In Chile, robust models of school choice have emerged since 1978. In Sweden, both public and private school choice has met the needs of one the world’s best educated citizenry. 

Coulson delivered a free market review of impediments and opportunities found in educational price, regulation, legal and regulatory threats, vouchers, Education Savings Accounts, tax cuts and policy solutions. 

In the ever-present tension between compulsion and conflict, on the one hand, and reasoned regulation, on the other, Coulson delivered a strong endorsement of the latter. 

Dr. J. Rufus Fears

In introducing the seminar’s luncheon keynote speaker, Dr. J. Rufus Fears of the University of Oklahoma, the sponsoring group’s policy vice president, Brandon Dutcher, quipped, “We are foolish if we think our microchips and bandwidth make us immune to the lessons of history, as I’m sure Dr. Fears will remind us. And unlike previous speakers, he won’t be using a PowerPoint. Dr. Fears is a historian of freedom and, like Lord Acton, he understands that power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.”

Dr. Fears proceeded to deliver a powerful distillation of thousands of years of human history – without either notes or power points. His theme was “The New Technology: Lessons from History.”