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Vouchers: Another Wrong Turn for Oklahoma Schools

By: Paul Shinn
April 26, 2023 // Updated: May 8, 2023
Oklahoma legislators are considering several unpredictable, expensive, and dangerous proposals to drastically change our state education policy. These proposals would use tax dollars to fund private education for fewer than 1 in 10 Oklahoma children and take funding from public schools. More...

Recent Posts

Falling, falling

By: David Blatt
March 24, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
As we showed in the March edition of Numbers You Need, the number of laid-off Oklahomans receiving unemployment benefits is skyrocketing. An average of 4,881 workers filed first-time claims in January, an increase of 149 percent compared to September 2008.… Read more [More...]

Bad banks, great journalism

By: David Blatt
March 21, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
If you’re anything like me or most anyone I know, chances are you’ve spent a good part of the last year reading and listening to stories about “collateral debt obligations” and “credit default swaps” and “toxic assets” and “zombie banks”… Read more [More...]

Unemployed Poor

By: Oklahoma Policy Institute
March 19, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The Oklahoman had an editorial today about the increase in the numbers of Oklahomans needing assistance to get by. Food stamp usage has reached an all time high in Oklahoma. It is a sobering editorial, but an issue that needs… Read more [More...]

Hurry up and wait

By: David Blatt
// Updated: October 17, 2012
Both houses of the Legislature this week passed a resolution, SJR 12,  that would allow this year’s session to adjourn sine die on May 22nd, one week earlier than scheduled. The goal, explained President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, is to… Read more [More...]

Transparency envy

By: David Blatt
March 18, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
As we’ve said, we are very pleased by Governor Henry’s swift action in launching a state website to provide information on the federal stimulus bill (formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA), as it applies to… Read more [More...]

Kill the drill

By: David Blatt
// Updated: May 2, 2019
Sunday’s edition of the New York Times had a front-page report on the steep drop in drilling activity that has followed plunging oil prices in recent months. Since last summer, the number of oil and gas rigs deployed to tap… Read more [More...]

Numbers You Need – March 2009

By: David Blatt
March 17, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Numbers You Need is a monthly publication from OK Policy that presents key data on the state's economy, work force, human services and budget in one concise easy-to-read fact sheet. [More...]

Managing the fiscal pain

By: David Blatt
March 15, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Last week I sat down with the editorial board of the Tulsa World to discuss the state’s worsening fiscal outlook. Julie Delcour’s column in today’s Opinion section sets out some of our main messages about the severity of the problem… Read more [More...]

Inaugural meeting of Coordinating Council for stimulus funds

By: Oklahoma Policy Institute
March 13, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
This afternoon at 3:00 marked the first meeting of Governor Henry’s coordinating council to oversee the use of the federal stimulus money available to Oklahoma through ARRA. All of the members of the council were in attendance for this inaugural… Read more [More...]

State Coverage Initiative looks at options for expanding coverage

By: David Blatt
// Updated: May 2, 2019
Over the past two years,  Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland has been spearheading an extensive effort known as the State Coverage Initiative (SCI) to develop a plan to extend health insurance coverage to a sizable segment of the 640,000 Oklahomans who… Read more [More...]

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