Month: March 2015

Don’t ban bilingual education (Guest post: Shannon Guss and Ryan Gentzler)

Shannon Guss is the Educare Project Director at the Early Childhood Education Institute (ECEI) at the University of Oklahoma  – Tulsa. Ryan Gentzler is a Research Associate at ECEI and an OK Policy Research Fellow. With two bills from 2011… Read more [More...]

In The Know: Thousands rally at Oklahoma Capitol for education funding

In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail. Thousands… Read more [More...]

50.6%

Percentage of Oklahoma’s 77 counties that saw population growth between 2013 and 2014. Source: Pew Charitable Trusts… Read more [More...]

Quote of the Day 3/3/2015

“I like to think that we are all seeds planted into the soil of public education, until we get covered with the cement mixtures of EOIs, unfunded classes, and overstressed teachers. And how a few of us, the ones who… Read more [More...]

Halt the tax cut

Note: This is an updated and expanded version of a column that ran in the Journal Record. Faced with a $611 million budget shortfall, elected leaders have many tough decisions to make. But one decision should be easy: halting a… Read more [More...]

In The Know: Oklahoma education advocates rally at the Capitol today

In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail. Today,… Read more [More...]

$45,690

The median income in Oklahoma in 2013, down from $46,025 in 2000 (adjusted for inflation). Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts.… Read more [More...]

“Imagine a state with no general taxes, but a thousand inequitable fees, fines and charges that it uses to fund government services. That encourages cheating and bootlegging (Remember when half the cars on Oklahoma roads seemed to have Texas tags?)… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk March 29, 2015

The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.… Read more [More...]

What’s left for the legislative session at the halfway point (Steve Lewis Capitol Updates)

Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]