Project Oklahoma: What needs to be done to make Oklahoma a top 10 state in education?

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — When the classroom is empty and school is out, there’s one thing that sticks with high school English teacher Jim Douthat.

“I’ve done it, done it to this day,” said Douthat. “A student says, 'Hey, Mr. Douthat,' I tell him, 'Give me five minutes.' The bell rings. The kid is gone, and I’m like, what did that kid need?”

He said, it’s not easy getting to every student when there are 38 in a classroom. If Oklahomans want to talk about fixing education, he knows where they can start.

“We’ve had neglect for public education funding for 12 years, 14 years,” said Douthat. “This isn’t going to happen overnight and many of us understand that.”

Governor Stitt ran on a campaign promise -- to make Oklahoma a top 10 state in education.

But how exactly can that be done?

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Douthat said it starts with hiring more teachers to help with ballooning class sizes. Another necessity schools are missing are counselors who can help those students who need extra support.

“That’s the money we need right now; the dollar we need right now,” said Douthat.

Oklahoma Policy Institute Education expert, Rebecca Fine, said it does come down to the dollar.

“I think that in order to make the kind of investment, make us competitive in the region, we’re going to have to raise new sources of revenue,” said Fine.

Raising taxes can be a tough sell in Oklahoma, but Fine said the money has to come from somewhere.

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It’s a lot of money, too. According to a report by the Oklahoma State School Board Association, Oklahoma will have to spend $1 billion more on education to make the state competitive with others in the region.

“The reality is that we don’t have a whole pot of money we need that would make us competitive in the region,” said Fine. “It’s just going to take many years of incremental increases.”

Douthat said he knows change won’t happen right away.

“I promise you this, it won’t happen again. Educators in the state from the top down will not allow this to spiral out of control again,” said Douthat.

He said if nothing changes, teachers won’t stand by hoping something will be different.