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In The Know is your daily briefing on Oklahoma policy-related news. OK Policy encourages the support of Oklahoma’s state and local media, which are vital to an informed citizenry. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Some stories included here are behind paywall or require subscription. Subscribe to In The Know and see past editions.
New from OK Policy
Opinion: Stop using our children as political pawns: Oklahomans should be ashamed that some of our elected officials are using our children as pawns in their political games. It’s time that we say enough is enough. [Shiloh Kantz / Tulsa World]
State Government News
Calls for Walters to be held accountable grow after insulting comments, possible Open Meeting Act violation: Legal experts tell News 4 the events of Wednesday’s Oklahoma State School Board meeting are unprecedented, and should alarm anyone with power to hold State Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education accountable. [KFOR]
- ‘Disappointing’: State Board of Education denies 3 lawmakers attendance in executive session [NonDoc]
- AG’s office looking into potential Open Meeting Act violation during State Board of Education meeting [Public Radio Tulsa]
- Attorney general to investigate possible violation of law at Oklahoma education board meeting [Oklahoma Voice]
- Education Watch: Board of Education denied lawmakers entry to executive session [Oklahoma Watch]
- 3 State Lawmakers Shut Out Of Closed-Door OSDE Meeting [News 9]
- Oklahoma Board of Education stalls on decision to allow lawmakers in executive sessions [Fox 25]
- Opinion: Remember the board members enabling State Superintendent Ryan Walters [Ginnie Graham / Tulsa World]
Details of new Oklahoma medical marijuana program kept top secret, even from Legislature: Details are not currently being shared with the public, though a report will be available to lawmakers later this year, a spokesperson said. [Oklahoma Voice]
‘A detriment for me to step aside’: Todd Hiett resists calls to resign: A defiant Todd Hiett, the chairman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, said Wednesday that allegations he got blackout drunk and groped an energy industry employee at a conference in Minnesota will not cause him to resign from office. [NonDoc]
- Democrats push for impeachment of Todd Hiett amid misconduct allegations [Journal Record]
Opinion: State Superintendent Ryan Walters confusing vanity with leadership: When those around a leader are silenced and repressed out of fear of retribution, we are not witnessing leadership but coercion. During a decade as a Marine Corps officer, I learned that authentic leadership is earned, not seized. It is founded on trust, not fear. Dictators, despotic bosses and abusive authority figures are not leaders but impostors. [Rob Miller / Tulsa World]
Federal Government News
Federal government to pay $100.6 million to Oklahoma farmers for discrimination: Tens of thousands of farmers or would-be farmers who say they suffered discrimination when they applied for assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will get one-time payments that total about $2 billion from the federal government. [Oklahoma Voice]
Tribal Nations News
What we know about new U.S. report into Native American boarding schools: The United States ran more than 400 boarding schools aimed at assimilating Native American children, and at least 973 children died at the schools. Those details are part of a new federal report on the destructive boarding school era, which lasted for more than a century until the 1960s. The U.S. government compelled generations of Native children to attend the schools, where they often faced violence and trauma, federal officials confirmed. [The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma tribes continue repatriation efforts with new NAGPRA guidelines: New guidelines for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act mean Oklahoma tribal nations are renewing efforts to reclaim cultural items. [KOSU]
4 Oklahoma tribes receive federal funding for housing needs: The Iowa Tribe, Kickapoo Tribe, Wyandotte Nation and the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes will all receive a portion of more than $11 million provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funds will be used for new and existing housing projects across the four reservations.[KGOU]
Voting and Election News
Candidates for Tulsa mayor reveal more about themselves ahead of Aug. 27 election: The five mayoral candidates on the Lorton Performing Arts Center stage Thursday night did not say much startling, but they did reveal a little more about themselves. [Tulsa World]
- Meet the Tulsa mayor candidates: Why they are running and opinions on city’s biggest issues [Tulsa World]
- State settles lawsuit with Tulsa company, mayoral candidate over undelivered masks purchased during pandemic [Tulsa World]
‘Sheriff showdown’: Chris Elliott, Tyler Cooper clash in Wagoner County runoff: As Oklahoma’s Aug. 27 runoff election date approaches, incumbent Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott is pushing back against accusations from challenger Tyler Cooper while making his own allegations that the Board of County Commissioners placed his wife on administrative leave as political retribution. [NonDoc]
Health News
Oklahoma County officials move forward with Behavioral Care Center construction: This week, the Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to break ground on a Behavioral Care Center to operate in tandem with the county jail, without a site for that jail nailed down. [KOSU]
Housing & Economic Opportunity News
Oklahoma Tenant Unions Give Voice to Renters’ Concerns: In Oklahoma, tenant unions are slowly taking root and growing in numbers and power. In a state ranked sixth worst for evictions, Oklahoma renters have few protections and little power individually. [Oklahoma Watch]
Education News
Bixby Superintendent Responds To Criticism From State Superintendent Walters: Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller responded to State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who called him a liar at Wednesday’s state Board of Education meeting. The dispute between the two stems from Title I funding allocations. Miller says preliminary figures should have been provided in the Spring, but districts have still not received them as schools prepare to start. [News on 6]
- ‘They Were Juvenile’: Bixby Superintendent Responds To Walters Comments [News on 6]
Tulsa Public Schools touts rising test scores, new leadership: Tulsa Public Schools administration has new blood and is praising other shake-ups. TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson gave her monthly update to the State Board of Education Wednesday morning. [Public Radio Tulsa]
- State Testing Shows Tulsa Students Academic Improvements [The Black Wall Street Times]
Community News
City of Tulsa creates commission to explore race massacre reparations: Tulsa officials announced Thursday the city will form a commission to explore how to give reparations to victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. [Public Radio Tulsa]
- Bynum preps Tulsans for reality of what ‘reparations’ commission can accomplish [Tulsa World]
- From City of Tulsa: Beyond Apology report
A Greenwood summer camp is teaching kids about Black history before and after 1619: A group of elementary school students put on a series of performances Wednesday at the Greenwood Cultural Center to highlight what they learned during a summer program based on The New York Times’ 1619 Project. [Public Radio Tulsa]
Local Headlines
- On the cusp for 50 years: Why isn’t Capitol Hill one of OKC’s thriving historic districts? [The Oklahoman]
- A $1 billion stadium district may be coming to Lower Bricktown [The Oklahoman]
Quote of the Day
“I think some of these things are real deterrents for places like (Edmond Public Schools) and every other school district in Oklahoma who are experiencing the teacher shortage and who are continually looking for good people to come teach. What we need is a champion to explain how working with and teaching in Oklahoma public schools is a destination — is a place you want to be. And it doesn’t seem like some of the rhetoric is designed to do that, and in fact maybe sometimes quite the opposite.”
-House Rules Committee Chairman Mike Osburn (R-Edmond), who also serves on the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee for Education, speaking about some of the state superintendent’s recent actions have taken up time and resources. Osburn and two other lawmakers were denied attendance to the State Board of Education’s executive sessions on Wednesday, despite guidance from the state Attorney General saying the board had to allow the lawmakers to attend. [NonDoc]
Number of the Day
22
Number of state laws that enact mandatory paid family leave systems or voluntary systems that provide paid family leave through private insurance. Oklahoma is not among these states. [Bipartisan Policy Center]
Policy Note
What workers, especially low-wage workers, really want and how best to provide it: The United States continues to lag behind other industrialized democracies when it comes to a national paid leave law protecting workers. The U.S.’ lack of paid leave policies—family, medical, and sick leave—has a disproportionately harsh impact on low-wage workers, who are predominantly women, immigrants, and people of color. These workers are far less likely to receive paid time off or have flexibility in controlling their work schedules, even though their need for leave is every bit as acute. [Economic Policy Institute]
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