Quotes of the Day

“These grades are meaningless, and I think it’s important for the public to understand that for the second year, at least, they need to dismiss this information. The only reason this information is even being released publicly is because it is required. It is a bureaucratic exercise. Everyone in the state — everyone — understands that this current system is not an accurate reflection of school performance in Oklahoma.”

– Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist on the second annual release of widely-criticized A-F school report cards (Source)

“I personally feel you shouldn’t be able to take someone’s property without a criminal charge. But we have a bicameral Legislature and the governor’s office to deal with, and I don’t think the mood of either of those bodies would be to do a wholesale ban of civil asset forfeiture.”

– Rep. Cory Williams (D-Stillwater), who says he and Rep. Kyle Loveless (R-Oklahoma City) are considering proposal to make smaller-scale changes to civil asset forfeiture laws (Source)

“Hunger is very real and very raw. It’s down the South Oval, and hunger is in the Union sitting on a couch. Hunger is in our classrooms. You can’t ever look at someone and assume you know what they’re going through because hunger is in the whole entire college campus-climbing social ladder. Every single tier we’ve created, hunger is on it; people just don’t really like to talk about it.”

-University of Oklahoma student Joelle Glimp, one of many college students who struggle with hunger in the state. Oklahoma consistently ranks in the top five for the number of people who do not get enough to eat (Source)

“If State Question 779 were to pass I’m sure the Legislature would be hesitant to do any additional funding for education. But if it fails, the Legislature won’t do anything.”

-Rep. Ed Cannaday (D-Porum), who believes the Legislature won’t take action on education funding next year, regardless of the outcome of the education sales tax state question vote (Source). See OK Policy’s fact sheet about SQ 779 here.

”The difference I’ve seen from the other systems that grade schools and ours is the level of input the schools and parents had up front. I’m not saying we had zero research from lawmakers, but we didn’t have enough. That is the mortal sin, if you will, of our current system.”

-Raul Font, a member of the task force redesigning Oklahoma’s A-F grading system for public schools, which has been widely criticized as inaccurate and unhelpful for promoting school improvement (Source).

“For one, I think it shows the will of the people to make a decision – are you for treatment and actually improving the health of individuals who are struggling with these illnesses? Is the Oklahoma Standard to provide these resources to individuals who are struggling with chronic illnesses that are diseases of the brain, or is it to be punitive and lock them up to get them out of the way and out of our society for a limited period of time without solving or addressing the issues that really plague these individuals, which are illnesses? I think we’ll find out on Nov. 8.”

– State Health Commissioner Terry Cline, on State Questions 780 and 781, which would reclassify some drug crimes and invest the savings in treatment (Source). OK Policy’s fact sheet on State Questions 780 and 781 are available here.

“We’ve got to make sure our officers are safe. We’ve got to make sure they have appropriate training for these programs, and we’ve got to make sure that our system has somewhere to divert people for treatment so they can be well and go back to work and raise their own children.”

– Traci Cook of NAMI Oklahoma on SQ780 and SQ781, which would reclassify some drug crimes and reinvest the savings into treatment programs (Source). Oklahoma’s fact sheet on SQ780 and SQ781 is available here.

“We are running a felon factory in Oklahoma that, in generations to come, will exacerbate the problem we already have.”

-Gene Rainbolt, chairman of BancFirst Corp., on his support for SQ 780 and SQ 781, which aim to reduce the prison population and invest in mental health and substance abuse treatment (Source). See OK Policy’s fact sheet on the justice reform state ballot questions here.

“Oklahoma has a revenue problem: We don’t have enough money to do the things that have to be done. The result is four-day-a-week public schools, dangerously overcrowded prisons, and talk of state highway patrol furloughs. … The Legislature didn’t get many things right this year, but in agreeing to revitalize the enforcement mechanism of the tax commissioner it took a stand for good government and fairness.”

-Tulsa World Editorial Board, applauding the Legislature for authorizing increased staffing and salaries for auditors at the Oklahoma Tax Commission (Source)

“Teachers have been given lip service from (state leaders) for quite some time. When oil and gas revenues were going great … our legislators and governor said we support public education, but they continued to make cuts. You can’t say that you support public schools and not act on that. It has made teachers very frustrated.”

-Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, speaking about a new poll that shows 79 percent of Oklahoma teachers have an unfavorable view of Governor Fallin and 81 percent have an unfavorable view of the state Legislature (Source).