New Oklahoma schools chief preparing for ‘behemoth’ challenge of education turnaround

The work of Oklahoma’s top education official has already begun for state Superintendent-elect Robert Franklin. By late Wednesday afternoon, not even 24 hours since being elected Tuesday, the longtime educator from Sand Springs had spoken with a local district superintendent about preparations for the state’s new literacy law and exchanged messages with Gov.-elect Mike Mazzei, all amidst a marathon of media interviews. Once he’s sworn into office in January, Franklin, 67, will be responsible for what he described as a “behemoth” task of turning around Oklahoma’s bottom-ranking reading and math scores. He called the work ahead “encouraging” and “daunting.” “It’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of moment,” Franklin said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” Despite facing skepticism within the state GOP, Franklin received broad bipartisan support, particularly from fellow educators.

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