To thrive in school, Oklahoma’s children must be okay outside of school. Free from trauma, hunger, and violence. Sadly, the data shows that Oklahoma is not meeting the needs of our children.

Oklahoma is a bottom 10 state in overall child well-being, ranked #42 in the 2021 Kids Count Data Book.

Oklahoma is a bottom 10 state in percent of children with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), ranked #45 in 2019 data published by the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH).

Oklahoma is a top 10 state in incarcerations, imprisoning enough citizens to rank #3 globally according to a 2021 report from The Prison Policy Initiative, leaving many children behind who struggle in school.

We cannot expect exceptional academic outcomes at school, when our kids are facing such difficult situations at home. It’s time to acknowledge that improved school performance begins with addressing larger social and economic issues like access to health care, mental health services, justice reform, domestic violence, and poverty.

We stand for public schools because public schools choose all kids – traumatized kids, hungry kids, hurt kids. As public school advocates, we stand for every child. We must ask our lawmakers to do the same, until every child is OK.