Attorney General opinion, 2012-7, 05/22/2012

              OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
The Honorable Ed Cannaday
State Representative, District 15
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION
2012-7
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 539B
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105-4885
Dear Representative Cannaday:
May 22, 2012
This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in .
effect, the following questions:
1. Does the language in 70 0.S.2011, § 6-l01.l6(A), that provides "the State
Board of Education shall adopt a new statewide system of evaluation to
be known as the Oklahoma Teacher and Leader Effectiveness
Evaluation System," prohibit the State Board of Education from
adopting a pre-approved list of teacher and leader evaluation
frameworks from which public school districts in Oklahoma may select
to evaluate the effectiveness of teachers and administrators?
2. Does this same language in 70 0.S.20ll, § 6-l01.l6(A), prohibit the State
Board of Education from adopting a policy that the 2012-2013 school
year will be considered a "pilot year" for using the pre-approved
frameworks to evaluate the effectiveness ofteachers and administrators?
I.
BACKGROUND
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [hereinafter Stimulus Act] 1 was signed into
law on February 17, 2009, to stimulate the economy by investing in critical sectors, including
education. The Race to the Top Program,2 funded through the Stimulus Act, was created as a
competition among the states to encourage and reward the development of innovative reforms in
education programs that increase student growth and success. The Race to the Top Program focused
the state competition on the creation of innovative plans in four core areas of education reform:
1 Pub.L.No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009) (codified as amended in scattered sections).
2 See Race to the Top Program Executive Summary, U.S. Dep't of Educ., (Nov. 2009) (on file with author), available
at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html; Executive Summary (last visited Apr. 10,2012).
313 N.E. 21ST STREET· OKLAHOMA em', OK 73105· (405) 521-3921 • FAX: (405) 521-6246
A
\..) recycled paper