Oklahoma public schools’ poor standing in national rankings, typically in the bottom five states, has generated concern for decades now.

While several factors are at play, one of the most obvious is this: Kids in Oklahoma spend far less time in an actual classroom than their counterparts in many other states.

That was reinforced when the State Board of Education recently downgraded the accreditation of 59 school districts because a majority of students in districts schools tested far below grade-level expectations in math or reading for two years in a row.

Fifty-three of those districts are operating on a shortened-year school calendar of as few as 166 days.

In many states, the school year runs 180 days.

Is it really shocking that Oklahoma students don’t do as well as students in other states when many Oklahoma students may be in class nearly three weeks less per year than students elsewhere?

Under the shorter school-year calendar in Oklahoma, kids are in class fewer days but have longer days of school. That model has not been associated with the same learning gains that occur when children are physically in class for several additional weeks.

Until recently, the situation was even worse because many schools routinely included “distance-learning” or “virtual learning” days in their already-shortened calendar. In practice, those “virtual” days often involved little or no direct teacher-student interaction and instead consisted of worksheet assignments that could be completed within an hour.

In the 2022-2023 school year, roughly one-in-five Oklahoma school districts shifted students to “virtual learning” for at least three work weeks, according to public records. That meant students could attend districts where the school year was already around 165 days instead of 180 with 15 of those 165 days done at home. If Oklahoma students are in front of a teacher for only 150 days while students in other states are in class up to 180 days, it’s no surprise that Oklahoma students fall behind.

Defenders of the status quo typically claim that “underfunding” is the cause of the shortened school year and extensive use of virtual days.

But NEA Research, hardly a right-wing entity, found that revenue receipts per student, based on average daily attendance, increased 55 percent from $9,724 in the 2017-2018 school year to $15,111 in the 2024-2025 school year. That $15,111 exceeds tuition rates at 80 percent or more of Oklahoma’s private schools. Money is not the culprit here.

Fortunately, lawmakers are addressing these problems. They have severely restricted “virtual days” and mandated a 173-day minimum school year starting in the 2027-2028 school year.

If Oklahomans want our public-school academic outcomes to improve, we need our kids in front of teachers.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (www.ocpathink.org).