State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister Meets With White House To Discuss Education Post-Pandemic

Joy Hofmeister

WASHINGTON D.C. – Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister is meeting with education leaders from the Biden administration and other states on Monday, discussing the most effective and efficient ways to close learning gaps caused by the pandemic and, more generally, charting the best course forward for public education.

Congress allocated hundreds of billions of dollars in three separate COVID relief packages specifically to address the needs of schools and their students, related to the pandemic. Oklahoma received approximately $2.3 billion.

“There’s a great amount of federal funds that have been given by Congress to education in all the states,” Superintendent Hofmeister said Monday in an interview, “and now is the time where we want to see effective use of those funds in closing learning gaps, but also reimagining education.”

Hofmeister, who is running for governor, says the funding that’s available, combined with a better understanding of our education system’s shortcomings, laid bare by the pandemic, make this perhaps “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to, not only put new paint on education, but really work at shoring up the foundation.”