Recent Articles

John Thompson: The real value of early childhood education

John Thompson is an Oklahoma City teacher with 18 years of urban high school experience and an education blogger at thisweekineducation.com. He contributes regularly to our blog on education issues. A large body of social science has demonstrated the long-term… Read more [More...]

State seeing some job growth, but still a long ways to go

This week, OK Policy put out the latest edition of Numbers You Need, our monthly bulletin of key economic and budget indicators for the state. Our main headline was of an economic recovery stuck in neutral. While there are certain… Read more [More...]

State revenue glass: Half-full or half-empty?

Treasurer Scott Meacham today announced that General Revenue (GR) collections for the first month of the new state fiscal year, FY ’11, came in 9.9 percent above the prior year and 11.9 percent above the official certified estimate. The sales… Read more [More...]

While We Were Out: Debate over SQ 744 heats up

My decision to take vacation over the final week of July and first week of August allowed me to avoid not only some of the worst of the summer heat wave here in Oklahoma but also much of the heated… Read more [More...]

New program for uninsured individuals with pre-existing conditions now accepting applications

A key provision of the health care reform law passed in March creates new insurance options for individuals with pre-existing health conditions. The new program, known as the Oklahoma Temporary High Risk Pool, began accepting applications this week. Click here… Read more [More...]

Gone fishin’

We’re off next week to a conference of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative network, bracketed by several days of family time in New Mexico and Colorado. We’ll be back in early August rested and rarin’ to go!… Read more [More...]

By the numbers: FY'10 revenues down..from FY'01

Last week, Treasurer Scott Meacham presented the preliminary data on full-year collections to the state’s General Revenue fund for FY ’10, which ended June 30th.  He emphasized both the magnitude of the decline in collections from the prior year –… Read more [More...]

Guest blog (John Thompson): The dropout crisis

John Thompson is an Oklahoma City teacher with 18 years of urban high school experience and an education blogger at thisweekineducation.com. He is a regular contributor to our blog on education issues. All of the neighborhood high schools in the… Read more [More...]

SQ 744: The wrong solution

Today, Oklahoma Policy Institute released an issue brief exploring State Question 744, the proposal that will appear on the November ballot that would peg Oklahoma’s education spending to the regional average per pupil expenditure in six neighboring states. On our… Read more [More...]

Fat chance? Can soda taxes help solve the obesity epidemic and state budget woes?

A recent report released by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced the latest alarming figures about the spread of obesity in America. They found that last year in 31 states, including Oklahoma, more than… Read more [More...]