The June 1787 Meeting: What You Missed

By Justin Wilmeth

1787 Society Vice President

If you were unable to make it to the June meeting of the 1787 Society, then shame on you!

Kidding. We know you’re a busy, young professional and sometimes joining us just isn’t possible. But fear not, the 1787 Society blog will keep you updated on our monthly meetings and other events as we move forward. Make sure you bookmark this page and keep up with the 1787 Society online.

Now, for the June meeting. We were honored to have Representative Jason Nelson as our guest speaker. He serves District 87, which covers a small piece of Northwest Oklahoma City just south of Lake Hefner. He has served in the state House of Representatives since 2008.

The 2011 legislative session was busy and Rep. Nelson was kind enough to give us a full report on the happenings under the dome this past spring. There were many issues addressed in the last session, but the subject of education and education reform seemed to make the most progress. Rep. Nelson shared with us his take on the reforms made this year, including such revolutionary measures as Senate Bill 969, which will create an equal opportunity scholarship to enhance competition between public and private schools. He also mentioned the abolition of Trial de Novo, which made it hard for schools to get rid of poor-performing teachers. Rep. Nelson addressed other measures related to education, including the grading of our schools (House Bill 1456) and giving more control to our state school superintendent (HB 2139). All of those measures have already been signed into law by Governor Mary Fallin.

The meeting was very informative and insightful. We are thankful that Rep. Nelson shared part of his Friday talking to us about education reform and state legislative matters. The topic of education is one that impacts each segment of society, whether you’re in school or not, or have a child in school or not. The next generation of great Americans are scattered across elementary schools all over this nation. It’s up to us to ensure that their education is the best in the world so that when it’s their time to run the country they are capable of doing so.

Thanks again to Rep. Nelson for a great luncheon and the informative talk.