John Pearson is a retired executive in the worldwide logistics industry. He is chairman of the Oklahoma Partnership  for Successful Reentry, a statewide coalition of organizations working to help ex-felons reintegrate into society.

Social Impact bonds (SIB) are a promising new approach to government financing of social programs or social “interventions.”  By combining performance-based payments and market discipline, the approach has the potential to improve results, overcome barriers to social innovation, and encourage investment in cost-saving preventive services.  In Oklahoma, SIB’s could provide a funding source to provide assistance to the eight thousand plus individuals released annually by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to transition from incarceration to becoming a successful employed neighbor.

continue reading Social impact bonds could fund smart on crime reforms (Guest Post: John Pearson)

Fred Benjamin serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Medicalodges, Inc., an employee-owned company that owns and operates over 30 facilities in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, employing over 2,200. This post is adapted from his testimony before the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, subcommittee on workforce Protections on March 14, 2013.

Skilled nursing care providers have critical staffing needs. If you are in the business of caring for our nations’ elderly, it is a daily struggle to find enough dedicated caregivers. We are different from other employers in many ways, responsible for the lives of 1.5 million frail and elderly citizens nationwide. And this is the fastest-growing segment of our population.

The general causes of the staffing shortage include chronic underfunding of Medicare and Medicaid, a regulatory system that focuses on fines and penalties, dramatically increased competition for caregivers, annualized turnover rates of nearly 100 percent, and an aging workforce.

continue reading Critical nursing care staffing shortages must be addressed (Guest Post: Fred Benjamin)

Michelle Cantrell is a tax specialist residing in Tulsa. 

Last November, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 766, a constitutional amendment which exempts all intangible personal property from ad valorem taxation. Though the new law seems simple, it creates complex questions for assessors and corporations that will have a major impact on the amount of property tax revenue that can be raised to support local services.

continue reading We still don’t know how much SQ 766 will cost (Guest Blog: Michelle Cantrell)

Dr. John Thompson taught for 19 years in Oklahoma City.  He blogs for This Week in Education, the Huffington Post, School Matters, Living in Dialogue, and elsewhere.  His book, Getting Schooled: Battles Within and Without the Urban Classroom, is under consideration at a major press.

Photo by Shannan Muskopf used under a Creative Commons license.

The test-driven accountability of No Child Left Behind was born of Governor George Bush’s faith that teachers with “High Expectations!” can overcome the legacies of generational poverty. Data-driven “reform” was conceived from the spinning of numbers in Houston that was then proclaimed the “Texas Miracle.” Even today, the market-driven theories of Governor Jeb Bush are being imposed on schools in Oklahoma and elsewhere.

In Texas, the bubble-in mania has crested. Superintendents in 818 of the Lone Star State’s school districts have joined teachers, parents, and students in Washington, Georgia, New York, and Massachusetts in protesting the educational malpractice encouraged by standardized testing. On February 23, I joined thousands of Texans in the Save Texas Schools rally in Austin.

continue reading What the Texas backlash against high-stakes testing means for Oklahoma (Guest Blog: John Thompson)

Zachary Knight is a former Elector for Gary Johnson, an independent voter, and Chief Editor of OKVoterChoice.org.

For nearly four decades, Oklahoma has had some of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. In 1974, Democratic legislators passed a bill to increase the number of signatures a new party would need to gain ballot access – from a flat 5,000 signatures, to 5 percent of the vote cast in the last general election. This set in motion a series of events that would lead to Oklahoma being the only state to limit its voters to two choices for President in the last three elections. 

continue reading Evidence mounts for Oklahoma ballot access reform (Guest Blog: Zachary Knight)

John Henning Schumann, a writer and doctor in Tulsa, runs the Internal Medicine residency at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine. An earlier version of this post ran on his Glass Hospital blog. He is on Twitter @GlassHospital

Sarah Morice-Brubaker is Assistant Professor of Theology at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, and a regular blogger for the online religion magazine Religion Dispatches.

The Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act has been reintroduced this legislative session as HB 2021, after twice being vetoed by Governor Henry. The bill would make firearms, firearm accessories, and firearm ammunitions exempt from federal regulation, provided they are made and sold only within Oklahoma.

The legislation, though, was not made exclusively in Oklahoma. To the contrary, a number of states have passed such legislation or will be considering it this year. All this is good news to the Tenth Amendment Center, which tracks Firearm Freedom-type bills and has sample legislation on its website.

The rationale comes from particular interpretations of the Tenth Amendment and the Commerce Clause. The Tenth Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Meanwhile, the Commerce Clause states positively that Congress has the power to regulate commerce between states, or with other countries or tribal nations.

In other words, if a firearm is made and sold within the same state — or so the thinking goes — then it shouldn’t be subject to federal regulation. After all, if powers not specifically granted to the federal government belong to the states, and the constitution gives Congress the power to regulate interstate and international commerce, then intra-state commerce should be fair game, right?

Well, not necessarily. The Necessary and Proper Clause actually gives Congress a lot of leeway, and the Supremacy Clause means federal law takes precedence over state law. That is exactly what the ATF pointed out in its open letters to federal firearms licensees in Montana and Tennessee, where Firearms Freedom Acts were passed.

Nevertheless, it’s important to pay attention to the burgeoning tenther movement, which has been gaining traction for the last several years. The term “tenther” was originally meant as a pejorative. Critics wanted to liken the movement’s supporters to conspiracy-minded groups like birthers and truthers. Inevitably, though, some members of the movement ended up embracing the term, and now you can purchase a coozie bearing the words “110% Certified Tenther.”

The tenther position is not just about guns. If the 110% coozie doesn’t do it for you, you could also buy this one with a marijuana leaf.  Nor is the tenther position strictly associated with the libertarian position. A tenther could conceivably support a state’s right to pass a law that a libertarian might deem an instance of government overreach.

Nor do the movement’s legislative inroads correlate with Christian religiosity. (This is what particularly interested me, as a religion nerd.)  Compare these two maps: This one, showing state Firearms Freedom measures; and this one, showing state percentages of Christian adherents. Some states, like Oklahoma, have a high proportion of Christian adherents and are also arenas for Firearms Freedom legislation. But some, like Arizona, do not.

No, the tenther movement is about using the US Constitution to get leverage against the federal government specifically. And they show no sign of halting their efforts even in the fact of federal pushback. In Montana, supporters of the Firearms Freedom filed a lawsuit insisting that they were within their legal rights in refusing federal regulation of state-manufactured firearms. When the lawsuit was dismissed, plaintiffs have filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit, and oral arguments are scheduled to begin next month.

Meanwhile, back in Oklahoma, Brad Henry is no longer governor, and Gov. Mary Fallin has been generally supportive of pro-gun legislation. If the Oklahoma legislature passes HB 2021, the practical impact would likely be minimal, unless the Ninth Circuit were to decide in favor of the Montana plaintiffs. The significance here lies in the national trend of which the HB 2021 is a part.  

The opinions stated above are not necessarily those of OK Policy, its staff, or its board. This blog is a venue to help promote the discussion of ideas from various points of view and we invite your comments and contributions. To see our guidelines for blog submissions, click here.

Shelley Cadamy Munoz, a Tulsa resident, is the adoptive mother of three children. This post first appeared on her blog on January 20, 2013 and is reposted with permission.

Usually when I write, I try to come up with some kind of lesson, something I’m supposed to learn, some bigger picture reason for why things happen the way they happen. Today, though, I’m just amazingly angry.

I just left Trinity, my 10-year-old, at inpatient psychiatric care for the second time since November. It’s her third stay – the first one was a little over a year ago. She arrived at psychiatric care via a Tulsa Police Department patrol car. The same incredibly kind police officer who showed up at our house last Tuesday (five days ago) called me after she heard our address on her radio today and said, “I’m on my way. I heard dispatch give your address, and I said “I know that kid. I’m coming over.” By the time she arrived, I was drenched in sweat, shaking, afraid I might be having a heart attack, and pushing with all the strength I had left in my legs to keep our attic door closed as Trinity threw her weight against it from the other side, as she screamed and yelled to be let out and kicked holes in it. She hurled her tiny little 10-year-old body like a weapon against the years of abuse and neglect that she suffered and can’t escape, though she’s been safe, loved and cared for for almost four years.

That’s where I find myself more and more lately. Sweating, exhausted, terrified and praying to God that my daughter doesn’t get out of wherever I’ve been lucky enough to trap her and accidentally break her neck or throw herself into the covered pool and drown. For years she would at least stay in her room while she was raging, which provided some level of safety. But over the last few months, she leaves her room, roams the house, the yard and our neighborhood if I don’t physically restrain her, which is getting harder and harder. Last Tuesday, with both my husband and I home, she managed to throw her closet door down the stairs, nearly falling down with it, then get out the back door, narrowly miss falling into the covered pool, out the gate, and run down the street wailing hysterically and tearing off her clothes. My husband and I stood in the driveway, knowing if we chased after her it would only get worse. So, we stood, feeling hopeless, doing nothing, hoping the police arrived soon.

So, here’s where I have to ask, how in the hell is this as good as it gets for mentally ill children in this country? I read with both horror and relief  “Thinking the Unthinkable” by the Anarchist Soccer Mom where she writes “I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother,” and I thought, “yeah, that’s me. Is my kid the next one on the national news?”And I know a lot of other parents who are thinking the same thing.

My husband and I both have advanced degrees, we make what is an upper income for the state in which we live, we’re resourceful, and I’m assertive to the point that I’m sure I’ve been called a b*tch more than once. I’ve got a great supportive network, including a wonderful extended family, and I’ve read every book I can find on Reactive Attachment Disorder (her diagnosis). She has therapy weekly, takes medication, sees a good psychiatrist, and is on the waiting list for the Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) unit in our community. Though the RAD unit has a good reputation, there are only four beds, and the stay there is a minimum of 6 months, so the beds don’t open up often.

There’s not much written about her diagnosis – in fact, if you read attachment texts, it’s generally not covered. My kids’ therapist has asked to write his doctoral thesis on our family, because both of my girls have RAD diagnoses, and in his words “are not burning down our house nor stabbing us to death in our sleep,” so we must be doing something right. So, basically, I’m the Mrs. Cleaver of the RAD set, and I still can’t help my kid. I’m doing every damn thing I can think of, and I still can not help my kid.

In ten days, the psychiatric hospital will likely send Trinity home, because she will no longer be “acute,” – no longer a danger to herself nor others. Trinity can do 10 days in a psych ward like it’s Six Flags. She won’t show any of her defiance. She’ll be a super sweet kiddo, because she’s smart and she knows how the system works, and she wants to be in control. In foster/adoptive circles, we call this the honeymoon. If she didn’t have a RAD diagnosis, she’d be stepped down into residential care once she was no longer acute. But, because she has a RAD diagnosis, the hospital will send her home, because they know they can’t help her in the 90 days or so they could keep her and actually get paid. They know she needs the RAD unit (6 months to 2 years). So, they’ll send her home, and she’ll continue to have rages that require police intervention once a week, with no end in sight, and it will traumatize my two other already traumatized children and stress my marriage and slowly but surely destroy our family. And, the best I can hope for is that she doesn’t hurt anyone else. And, this is as good as it gets.

The opinions stated above are not necessarily those of OK Policy, its staff, or its board. This blog is a venue to help promote the discussion of ideas from various points of view, and we invite your comments and contributions. To see our guidelines for blog submissions, click here.

Kevin Burr is Superintendent of Sapulpa Public Schools. This post was originally submitted to the Sapulpa Daily Herald in response to  a proposal by Rep. Mark McCullough (R-Sapulpa) to allow CLEET-certified teachers to carry firearms on school campuses.

The nation cried as we watched our humanity at its most vulnerable last month. We are teachers, and we cried as we lost twenty innocent, angelic, creative, children and six dedicated, caring, loving fellow servants forever. They do not have to be lost, however, from our thoughts and actions as a human race. As we grieved that horrible day, nowhere in my mind was the thought that  arming our teachers would be an appropriate way of responding to such tragedy.

We are teachers, both of my parents, my wife and I. I am father to two wonderful adult children, both of whom chose teaching as a profession. I am grandfather to three of the most beautiful, bright and happy children ever to walk the earth. My daughter and I cried together on that Friday afternoon when we spoke by phone. My son could only ask why, as he thought of his middle school classroom and his own son who will be a student one day. My son, the hunter, and my daughter (the wife of a farmer), never once mentioned that they thought it would be a good idea for the teachers to have been armed “so they could defend the children.”

I know Representative Mark McCullough. I know he cares deeply for his children and for the children of Sapulpa and of Oklahoma. I consider him a good man and I think the feeling is mutual. We could not, however, be more at opposite ends of philosophy when it comes to the legislation he has proposed. We are teachers. We are not law enforcement, nor are we soldiers, even though many in our ranks serve our nation when called. We should not become gun toting, first-line defenders of institutions of learning. Ours should never be an environment where children look to their teacher as a soldier, ever ready to stage a shoot-out with some obscure, but feared, intruder.

I grew up in Dodge City, Kansas. My formative years from three to 23 were spent in what Wyatt Earp made famous as the “Wickedest little town in the West.” We hunted pheasant every fall weekend on the farms of Southwest Kansas. The local history of the most famous cow town in the world is part of my soul. Dodge City citizens enjoy the charm that accompanies their city’s history– 140 years can turn lawless, ruthless, and heathen behavior into charm, I suppose—and they even reenact gunfights for the tourists each summer night. They certainly do not advocate for a return to or replication of such an era. No great compelling reason – even the slaughter of twenty children and six teachers – justifies returning our society to the antiquated human behavior of the 1870’s.

We are teachers. We are beacons of learning whom children watch, echo, revere, extol and emulate. We are role models who should demonstrate what we want our society to be. We should never model a society that is taught to shoot first and ask questions later. Arming teachers and principals is not a solution, it’s a waste of precious time debating something that has no merit. More guns will never equate to less violence. Rather than expecting our teachers to lead our students with a piece of chalk in one hand and a loaded gun in the other, we would better direct our energies into quelling the divisiveness and disrespect that is so pervasive in our society.

This is an ideal time to act on effective, long-term solutions that do have merit. Placing a police officer in every school building should receive real consideration by our legislators. It’s an idea that would be supported by students, parents, taxpayers, teachers, principals and superintendents – I’ve asked them. While an officer in every building might cost the taxpayers, it certainly would cost less than sacrificing our principles. Let’s ask Oklahomans what they think of this realistic idea. Let’s not needlessly debate putting a gun in a teacher’s hands. Let’s ask Oklahomans if law enforcement presence in schools is a priority. I think I know the answer already.

The opinions stated above are not necessarily those of OK Policy, its staff, or its board. This blog is a venue to help promote the discussion of ideas from various points of view and we invite your comments and contributions. To see our guidelines for blog submissions, click here.

Dr. John Thompson taught for 19 years in the inner city.  He blogs for This Week in Education, the Huffington Post, School Matters, Living in Dialogue, and elsewhere.  His book, Getting Schooled: Battles Within and Without the Urban Classroom, is under consideration at a major press.

The Oklahoma City school system is 88 percent low-income and it earned a “D” in the new A-F School Report card.  The state also earned a “D” for improving outcomes for low-performing students.  Since it is far more difficult, systemically, to improve performance of poor students, did Oklahoma City do better or worse than the rest of Oklahoma in helping students who struggle?

Jonathan Willner, an Oklahoma City University economist, asks whether schools are being graded on their effectiveness or on the zip codes that they serve. He ran a multivariate analysis of family and economic data of 1,676 schools.  He predicted the grades that schools would receive based on their demographics.  He predicted with 70% accuracy which schools would earn a “B.”

continue reading John Thompson: The A-F Report Card is just the start of the conversation about school quality