Professional Oklahoma Educators

Professional Oklahoma Educators is an organization of about 2,500 teachers and school support personnel in Oklahoma. It employs a staff of fewer than 10 at its headquarters on Campus Corner in Norman, Oklahoma. Professional Oklahoma Educators serves as an alternative to teacher labor unions and provides its members with liability insurance and legal advice on job-related matters. Professional Oklahoma Educators also lobbies on education issues before the Oklahoma Legislature. Executive Director Ginger Tinney and former state Rep. Doug Miller are registered as lobbyists for the organization with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Professional Oklahoma Educators promotes itself as nonunion and nonpartisan, citing its policies against work stoppages, political endorsements and campaign financing.cite web | author=APOE | year=2005| title=About Us | format=HTML | work=APOE | url=http://apoe.org/Pages/aboutus2005.html | accessdate=2007-04-18] Until 2007, the organization was known as the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators or APOE.

History

Professional Oklahoma Educators was founded in 1988 by the late Superintendent Olan Isbell of Bennington Public Schools. Ginger Tinney has served as executive director since 1996. For several years it has been affiliated with the national Association of American Educators.cite web | author=APOE | year=2005| title=Ginger Tinney, Executive Director | format=HTML | work=APOE | url=http://apoe.org/Pages/ginger2005.html | accessdate=2007-04-18]

Successes

Equal Access

In May 2005, then-Director of Legal Services Jennifer Burchett successfully lobbied for a new Oklahoma statute that created equal access on school campuses for professional educator organizations in Oklahoma, putting Professional Oklahoma Educators' recruiting efforts on more level footing with larger and more established organizations.cite web | author=Oklahoma State Court Network | year=2005| title=Statewide Professional Educators’ Association - Equal Access to Employees of School District | format=HTML | work=Okla. Stat. Title 70, Sec. 509.11 | url=http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=443830 | accessdate=2007-04-18]

State Board Case

In October 2005, then-Legal Counsel Chad Anderson won a precedent-setting case representing a member before the Oklahoma State Board of Education. An Oklahoma school district had asked the state to suspend the teaching certificate of the teacher, accusing her of breaking a contract. Anderson argued that the contract was only temporary in nature and did not require statutory notification for nonrenewal. The board ruled unanimously in favor of Anderson and the teacher.cite web | author=APOE | year=2005| title=APOE scores legal victory before state board | format=HTML | work=APOE | url=http://apoe.org/Pages/news2005.html | accessdate=2007-04-18]

3-year-old program

Professional Oklahoma Educators was instrumental in blocking Gov. Brad Henry's plan for statewide public program for 3-year-olds. In the early stages of the 2007 legislative session, Tinney and Miller presented a survey that showed 86 percent of its members opposed the program. Professional Oklahoma Educators said other funding issues were more crucial, including the underfunded Teachers Retirement System. The bill failed in a Senate committee in a tie vote along party lines. Every Democrat sided with Henry and every Republican sided with Professional Oklahoma Educators.cite web | author=APOE | year=2005| title=Oklahoma teachers oppose 3-year-old program | format=HTML | work=APOE | url=http://apoe.org/Pages/news2005.html | accessdate=2007-04-18]

Controversies

Istook press conference

Despite Professional Oklahoma Educators' claims of nonpartisanship, it is closely tied with the Oklahoma Republican Party. In 2006, Tinney appeared at a news conference with U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, R-OK, who at the time was seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Oklahoma.cite web | author=Istook, Ernest | year=2006| title=Photo Gallery | format=HTML | work=Ernest Istook for Governor | url=http://www.istook.com/index.cfm?sectionid=27&sectiontree=27&photoNum=17 | accessdate=2007-04-18] Although neither Tinney nor the organization endorsed Istook's candidacy, it was clear that the two shared conservative policy goals, which included denouncing a lawsuit filed by the Oklahoma Education Association and criticizing Gov. Brad Henry for his inaction on the issue.cite web | author=Francis Smith, Janice | year=2006| title=U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook slams OK governor's response to OEA lawsuit | format=HTML | work=The Journal Record | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20060125/ai_n16024189 | accessdate=2007-04-18]

Conservative group membership

Tinney has been listed as a member of a group of Oklahoma conservatives who joined in May 2006 to request legislative action on a number of issues, including allowing mentoring teachers to serve independently of input from a bargaining agent. The group included then-Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, then-Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau and Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode.cite web | author=Dutcher, Brandon | year=2006| title=Oklahoma Conservatives Urge Sen. Morgan to Act | format=HTML | work=OCPA Blog | url=http://www.ocpathink.org/blogArchive.asp?startdate=04/01/2006&enddate=06/30/2006 | accessdate=2007-04-18]

Family values

Tinney also has stirred controversy for her news conferences and opinion pieces that oppose advancement of a homosexual agenda in U.S. curricula. She has been quoted as saying, "I don't send my child to school to learn to be a homosexual. I send my child to learn math and to read."cite web | author=Thompson, Tara Lynn | year=2006| title=NEA: Pro-Gay? | format=PDF | work=Community Spirit Magazine | url=http://www.communityspiritmagazine.com/files/200608.pdf | accessdate=2007-04-18]

Wallace Collins criticism

Again testing the bounds of its "nonpartisan" label, Professional Oklahoma Educators issued a statement to members April 23, 2007, demanding an apology from state Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, for comments he made on the House floor. It also contained a link to a YouTube audio file of the incident.cite web | author=Unknown | year=2007 | title=Wallace Collins Shares His Secret | format=HTML | work=YouTube | url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJijJVEp3t4 | accessdate=2007-04-23] The statement read, in part:

On April 12, 2007, an inappropriate comment was made on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives regarding public education. While trying to clarify some information regarding a bill under consideration, Representative Wallace Collins (Norman) stated: “I’m only a public school graduate, so I’m not very literate…” As your advocate, Professional Oklahoma Educators is working to ensure that all elected officials act and speak appropriately and respectfully regarding Oklahoma’s public schools and public school teachers.

Wallace refused to apologize.cite web | author=The Associated Press | year=2007 | title=Lawmaker: No apology planned for school remark | format=HTML | work=KSWO, Lawton, OK | url=http://www.kswo.com/global/story.asp?s=6415567&ClientType=Printable | accessdate=2007-04-24]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.professionaloklahomaeducators.org Professional Oklahoma Educators] official site