Only two Oklahoma schools — one in Tulsa and the other in Oklahoma City — offer the nine-hour day.

Garrett said she would appoint a task force to make recommendations about how to increase the state’s school calendar.

She said Dr. Lucy Smith, the retired superintendent of McAlester’s public schools, would chair the committe. At a press conference following her speech, Garrett said she would appoint teachers, parents and union representatives to the task force.

Along with an increased calendar, Garrett called on state lawmakers to make pre-kindergarten though 12th grade education a greater priority.

“Economy-developing fields like biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and astrophysics do not thrive in places were education is not truly the priority,” she said.

Garrett said the issue “was not the $14,000 per student they spend in New York” but getting Oklahoma schools to the national average of $8,700 per pupil.

At present, the state spends about $6,613 per student which, she said, is “close to a $2,100 gap per pupil.”

“Utilities, textbooks, computers, buses, bricks and mortar cost about the same in Indianapolis, Omaha or Austin as they do in Oklahoma City.”

Saying the state was “in a race” to compete globally, Garrett said she wanted Oklahoma schools to thrive.

“Some say you can ‘survive or thrive,’” she said. “I opt for the latter. Our main concern is preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented to solve problems which we can only speculate about today. We must now maximize the power of teaching children how to learn.”

The Superintendent’s Leadership Conference continues through Thursday.

M. Scott Carter366-3545scarter@normantranscript.com