Oklahoma’s largest business organization is sounding the clarion call once again that Oklahoma is running out of time when it comes to investing in our future.
Last week, the Oklahoma State Chamber rolled out a renewed push to make reading literacy a top priority in this state. This isn’t a new idea. We’ve been here before.
Remember the Reading Sufficiency Act back in 2011? Mandatory third-grade reading, mandatory retention, the whole “third-grade reading guarantee?” The premise was simple: if kids can’t read by third grade, everything that follows becomes an uphill battle.
But once politics took over, the whole thing fell apart. Lawmakers, state agencies, school districts, unions, parents—everybody claimed to support reading… right up until it required consequences. From 2014 to 2018, the state backed off, watered it down and watched the plan collapse under pressure.
And now? We’re watching Mississippi—yes, Mississippi—succeed where we refused to stay the course. They made the hard choices. They trained teachers in the science of reading, hired literacy coaches, aligned teacher prep programs with K–12 needs and didn’t fold when reforms became inconvenient or unpopular. Today, Mississippi sits 7th in the nation for third-grade reading. Oklahoma sits at 49th. That should make every one of us stop in our tracks.
But the problem is bigger than reading scores. We’re 50th in eighth-grade math, 47th in health, and dead last in advanced industry job growth. These aren’t just depressing statistics—they’re flashing red lights telling us our long-term prosperity is at risk. Add two years of toxic chaos under former State Superintendent Ryan Walters, plus a Legislature that has made one head-scratching decision after another, and it’s no wonder the state chamber finally said: enough is enough.
Under its new “Oklahoma Competes” banner, the chamber is challenging lawmakers, educators, business leaders and communities to build a strategy that doesn’t fall apart with the next election cycle. Their proposal is straightforward: invest in evidence-based reading instruction, put a trained literacy coach in every elementary school and hold the system accountable so students aren’t pushed forward unprepared.
Everything they’re proposing—boosting proficiency, implementing real science-of-reading instruction, placing literacy coaches, reducing class sizes where possible, and prioritizing high-need rural and urban districts—makes perfect sense.
But here come the predictable objections: funding, parental rights, “local control,” the ongoing push to privatize education… blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it all.
If we want this to work, we must stop letting lawmakers slip away from their responsibility. This isn’t “just” an education issue. It’s an economic survival issue. Oklahoma cannot grow, cannot compete and cannot keep our young people here if we don’t fix early reading. Period.
The chamber and business leaders must stay loud, visible and relentless. Bring the data. Bring the experts. Bring Mississippi’s model right to the Capitol steps and make it impossible to ignore.
For too long, Oklahoma has cut corners and kicked the can down a very familiar road. Enough. We know what works. Other states have proven it. Now we must decide whether we’re serious about literacy—or serious about excuses.
It’s time for Oklahoma to stop tripping over the same political potholes and finally invest in the one thing that has always lifted children, families and entire economies: the ability to read.
Cindy Allen 