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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 you should know that Oklahoma public schools are bracing for the impact of intangible property taxes being eliminated, which could cost schools up to $120 per student. The Oklahoma task force on school security submitted its recommendations, including the creation of a school security institute and mental health training for school staff. Oklahoma City public school leaders are hiring 120 full-day pre-kindergarten teachers to give every 4-year-old in Oklahoma City a chance to attend the program.
Gov. Mary Fallin signed an executive order to create a Blue Ribbon Panel for Developmental Disabilities. Among the panel’s tasks will be to examine the problem of more than 7,000 individuals and families on waiting lists to receive services from the state’s Developmental Disabilities Service Division, some for more than eight years. The OK Policy Blog has a guest post discussing ballot access reform in Oklahoma, which was the only state to limit its voters to two choices for President in the last three elections.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a law that restricted doctors’ ability to prescribe an abortion-inducing drug. The House passed a bill to put a line on individual income tax forms allowing contributions to a fund for defending state statutes from constitutional challenges and filing lawsuits against federal laws. The Associated Press reports that there has been a surge of legally questionable states’ rights bills in GOP controlled states.
Sales tax revenues for Oklahoma City and Tulsa were flat or declining in December and early January. More than 1,000 Oklahoma National Guard employees will receive furlough notices this week warning that they could see a 20 percent reduction in pay between April and September due to federal budget cuts. NewsOK reports that despite freshman Rep. Markwayne Mullin’s public plea for bipartisanship, the Oklahoma Republican’s voting record in his first few weeks in Washington has been decidedly partisan.
The Number of the Day is how much Governor’s Fallin’s tax cut proposal would cost Oklahoma when fully implemented next year. In today’s Policy Note, the Washington Post reports that sequester-related education cuts are hitting schools on Native American reservations and military bases hard.
In The News
Eliminating intangible property tax means deep cuts for OK schools
Oklahoma public schools are bracing for a tax cut that it seems no one can predict with much certainty. Schools are always waiting this time of year to see what happens with the state budget, but one part of the equation is certain: there’s going to be a loss of funding because of a tax cut voters approved last fall. Debra Jacoby is Chief Financial Officer for Union Public Schools. She said she’s worried the tax cuts of State Question 766 will mean big cuts in her district. “And now they’re estimating we could lose up to $120 per student,” Jacoby said.
School security panel makes recommendations
The creation of a school security institute and mental health training for school staffs were among five recommendations submitted to lawmakers Tuesday by an Oklahoma task force created after last year’s deadly shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. The other recommendations call for mandating school intruder drills at public schools along with fire and tornado drills; establishing a school security tip phone line to report suspicious activity; and requiring that any firearm discovered on a school’s grounds be reported to law enforcement. An Oklahoma school security institute would coordinate and standardize school security procedures statewide.
Read more from the Associated Press.
OKC public schools strengthen early childhood education
Oklahoma City’s public school leaders are looking to the future by investing in their youngest students and hiring 120 full-day pre-kindergarten teachers. The idea was generated in December 2010 when the school district’s board of education approved funding for the pre-K teachers over a four-year period. Sixty have been hired so far, with an additional 60 slated to be added by the 2014-2015 school term. The Inasmuch Foundation has agreed to finance the additional classrooms. A report from the district last year shows full-day early childhood education students scored higher on a series of literacy measures than half-day students.
Read more from the OK Gazette.
Governor Fallin signs order for panel on developmental disabilities
Gov. Mary Fallin signed an executive order Tuesday authorizing the creation of a new Blue Ribbon Panel for Developmental Disabilities, an action seen as encouraging by those who work with clients with disabilities. The new panel will develop a comprehensive plan to: Support individuals with developmental disabilities and their families; Address the state’s growing waiting list of thousands of individuals hoping to receive services from the state’s Developmental Disabilities Service Division; Research and analyze best practices for the comprehensive delivery of high quality services.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Evidence mounts for Oklahoma ballot access reform (Guest Blog: Zachary Knight)
For nearly four decades, Oklahoma has had one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the United States. In 1974, Oklahoma’s Democratic legislators passed a bill that changed the petitioning requirement to form a new party and gain access to the highest election ticket in the state. This new law increased the number of signatures a new party would need to gather in order to gain ballot access from a flat 5,000 signatures to 5 percent of the vote cast in the last general election. This new requirement 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. Evidence is mounting that this is a failed policy for both practical and ideological reasons.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma AG asks US Supreme Court to review abortion case
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that invalidated a state anti-abortion statute. The state’s highest court ruled in December that the anti-abortion law was “facially unconstitutional” and that a lower court judge was right to prevent its enforcement. The law restricted the off-label use of certain abortion-inducing drugs, such as RU-486. Pruitt’s appeal, filed on Monday, challenges the state Supreme Court’s ruling.
Oklahoma taxpayers could help fund federal challenges
Oklahomans who support Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s effort to push back against federal mandates on states would be able to donate to the cause while filing their taxes under a measure approved Tuesday in the state House. The bill passed on an 80-15 vote would put a line on individual income tax forms allowing a contribution to be made to a new “Constitutional Challenge Litigation Cost Revolving Fund.” The money in the fund could be used to defend state statutes from constitutional challenges or to file lawsuits against federal laws. Oklahoma has more than a 20 funds currently listed on tax forms to which taxpayers can designate a portion of their refund, including programs for wildlife diversity, food banks, abused children, breast cancer and pet overpopulation.
Read more from the Associated Press.
States’ rights bills surge in GOP states
One bill would make it a felony to enforce the new federal health care law, punishable by up to five years in prison. Another prohibits a physician from asking a patient about firearms. Yet another is designed to curb the possible influence of the United Nations in local government. While provocative bills aren’t particularly unusual in state legislatures, so many have been offered by conservatives in Oklahoma this year that GOP leaders have established a special committee to handle what is now a major category of business: measures to combat the federal government’s influence in the states. Even though many measures are legally questionable and may never come to a floor vote, the special committees are providing more public attention to sovereignty issues that were sidetracked in previous years.
Oklahoma City sales tax collections slow
Indecision in Washington over the federal budget has the attention of Oklahoma City’s financial managers. The Oklahoma City Council heard Tuesday that sales tax collections grew only 0.2 percent in late December and early January, the holiday period marked by uncertainty over whether federal income tax cuts would be extended for middle-class taxpayers. Now the sequester — automatic, across-the-board federal spending cuts — and expiration of the payroll tax cut are raising concerns about consumer spending. The city depends on sales taxes, based to a large degree on retail sales, to fund its budget.
State National Guard employees to get furlough notices
More than 1,000 Oklahoma National Guard employees will receive furlough notices this week, warning that they could see essentially a 20 percent reduction in pay between April and September. The notices will inform federal technicians of the Oklahoma National Guard that furloughs would start in 30 days and would include one day a week until September, or about 22 days, said Guard spokesman Maj. Geoff Legler. The furloughs are part of broad federal budget cuts that went into effect Friday known as the sequester.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin’s early votes don’t reflect his public call for bipartisanship
Despite freshman Rep. Markwayne Mullin’s public plea for bipartisanship, the Oklahoma Republican’s voting record in his first few weeks in Washington has been decidedly partisan. And in some rare cases when bipartisan legislation cleared the House, Mullin was among a small minority in opposition. Monday, just hours after a House speech in which he quoted George Washington and talked about common bonds, Mullin voted against a bill that passed 370-28 to guide federal agencies in preparing for public health emergencies such as pandemics. Members of both parties praised the bill Monday for its bipartisan support; it cleared the Senate without a dissenting vote.
Quote of the Day
You can talk to a kindergarten teacher, and she can tell you, “This [student] went to pre-K, and this one didn’t.” When a student attends pre-K, it makes a significant difference in reading, alphabet knowledge and comprehension.
–Pam Hibbs, director of early childhood education at OKC Public Schools. The district is hiring 120 full-day pre-kindergarten teachers to give every 4-year-old in Oklahoma City a chance to attend the program.
Number of the Day
Amount the Governor’s tax plan would cost the state in revenue when fully implemented
Source: OKPolicy Blog
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Sequester-related education cuts hitting schools on reservations, military bases
The Window Rock School District, in the heart of the Navajo nation in Arizona, is proposing the unthinkable: closing three of its seven schools as a result of the federal sequester. The schools are among 1,600 public schools on Native American reservations and military bases that are feeling the impact of federal cuts now, months before the rest of the country’s classrooms see the effect of reduced dollars from Washington. Public education is largely funded by state and local governments; the federal government pays about 10 percent of the costs. Federal dollars are largely concentrated on poor children and those with disabilities, and the amounts are determined according to the number of children in each category in every state. But two exceptions are schools on Indian reservations and military bases, which receive a larger share of their funds from Washington as compensation for the fact that they can’t raise funds from local property taxes.
Read more from the Washington Post.
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