'Funding without reform is expensive and worthless'

Tulsa World editorial writer Wayne Greene says he intends to vote against SQ 744 because it

would increase spending without any attempt at reforming the school system. Spending more money for the same methods is sending good money after bad. Funding without reform is expensive and worthless at the same time.

More and more I am noticing this call for "reform." President Barack Obama recently acknowledged that "money without reform will not fix the problem." Ed Allen, president of the Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, recently said that "reform must come first and the dollars to support achievement must follow. As educators, we must accept the fact that reform is here and it is not going away. Demanding dollars without reform is a losing argument, morally unacceptable, and politically unattainable."

Make no mistake, Messrs. Obama, Allen, and Greene don't favor all of the reforms that yours truly would like to see. Nevertheless, their vocal opposition to the status quo is important and noteworthy.