Beth Wallis
Education ReporterBeth Wallis is StateImpact Oklahoma's education reporter. She joined the collaborative in December 2021, initially focusing on environment and science reporting.
Beth holds two degrees from Oklahoma State University. After teaching band at a public school for five years, she pursued another degree — this time in journalism at The University of Oklahoma.
Previously, Beth was a student reporter for KGOU and The Oklahoma Daily.
In April 2021, she worked with Next Generation Radio, reporting on the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre. The digital journalism and audio training project was a collaboration between KOSU and the OSU School of Strategic Communications.
Beth is also a News21 Fellowship alum, and the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists, Professional Chapter awarded her first place for At the Seams podcast, which chronicled the community of Norman, Okla. during calls to defund the police, recalls of local politicians and ongoing threats and harassment.
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A bill that would prohibit schools from using corporal punishment on children with certain disabilities passed the Oklahoma Senate Tuesday. -
During the pandemic, schools got a big boost from the federal government through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds. But when that money ends, so may the after-school programs those funds made possible. -
Oklahoma Republican lawmakers “shucked” a bill about law enforcement recording access and replaced it with new language to allow public schools to employ religious chaplains or accept voluntary chaplains to “provide support, services and programs for students.” -
They may not have been quite in the path of totality, but pre-kindergarteners through fifth graders at Putnam City’s Tulakes Elementary School were still on pins and needles Monday, waiting to experience 94% totality at the solar eclipse. -
After five grueling days of preliminary hearing testimony, a decision on whether a case against Epic Charter Schools co-founders David Chaney and Ben Harris will go to trial is still over a month away. -
Lawmakers are at the halfway point in this year’s legislative session, and just a fraction of the education bills filed at the top of the session have survived big legislative deadlines. -
Every year, the organization Freedom of Information Oklahoma awards those who promote access and awareness of open records and open government, but it also saves one award recognizing a lack of transparency — the Black Hole Award. This year’s Black Hole Award recipient is State Superintendent Ryan Walters. -
School support staff received a statewide pay raise after the 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout, but while teacher pay remains a major legislative priority, support staff pay hasn’t. -
Sarah Lucas, secretary of the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition, set out plates of apple pie slices on a red, white and blue table while public school supporters filed into a room at the Oklahoma Capitol building Wednesday. -
The Oklahoma Senate Education Committee was scheduled to hear a bill that would have removed authority over school district accreditation decisions from the State Board of Education. But at the end of the committee meeting Tuesday, the bill’s author and chair of the committee sidelined it.
