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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 Gov. Fallin signed a letter to House leaders on Monday urging swift action on federal aid for Hurricane Sandy relief. School administrators said hiring more police officers who are trained to work in schools is far preferable to allowing teachers to arm themselves, but budget cuts have left them without funds for security. Sen. Harry Coates plans to file legislation to curb Insurance Commissioner John Doak’s use of state resources for self-promotion.
The OK Policy Blog discussed a new model for tuition that could fund higher education while making college more accessible and reducing the burden of student debt. The University of Oklahoma said a campus-wide smoking ban has led to a “noticeable decrease” in the amount of cigarette butts and other tobacco-related trash. The Pardon and Parole Board approved a policy to implement a constitutional change that takes the governor out of the parole process for nonviolent offenders.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has penalized the city of Tulsa $704,930 for failing to spend Community Development Block Grants in a timely fashion. Former State Treasurer Scott Meacham writes in NewsOK that Oklahoma needs a long-term plan for diversifying its economy.
The Number of the Day is the number of non-elderly veterans in Oklahoma without health insurance. In today’s Policy Note, Bloomberg shares five lessons that the trillion-dollar coin should teach us about how money really works.
In The News
Gov. Fallin urges swift approval of federal aid to Hurricane Sandy victims
Gov. Mary Fallin signed a letter to House leaders on Monday urging swift action on federal aid for Hurricane Sandy relief, but Oklahoma’s two newest House members already have shown their reluctance to provide money to the stricken area without cuts to spending elsewhere. Fallin, a Republican and the vice chairman of the National Governors Association, cosigned a letter with Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat and the chairman of the association, saying that, “Providing disaster relief is not and never should be a political issue.”
Local education officials prefer police to armed teachers for making schools safer
Hiring more police officers who are trained to work in schools is far preferable to allowing teachers to arm themselves, area school administrators say. But employing more school resource officers would be difficult amid declining public education dollars, they said. “School security is a good thing,” said Bixby Superintendent Kyle Wood. “There is simply no downside to providing a properly trained and sworn police officer in a school. It is expensive, however.” School funding cuts, as well as tax reductions, have left Oklahoma schools with no specific funds for security and less funding in general, he said. “I do not support in any form or fashion the notion of arming teachers,” Wood said.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma state senator criticizes spending at Insurance Department
An Oklahoma state senator has announced his intention to file legislation to curb what he calls unnecessary expenditures at the state insurance department, as well as other state agencies. In announcement released by the Oklahoma Senate, Sen. Harry Coates said his bill is spurred in part by Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak’s frequent use of state aircraft. Aside from Gov. Mary Fallin, Doak has used the state plane more frequently than any other state official, the Associated Press has reported. The only other statewide elected official to use the plane has been the lieutenant governor. Coates bill will prohibit any statewide officials besides the governor and lieutenant governor from chartering state aircraft.
Read more from Insurance Journal.
How to make college affordable? Pay it forward
America’s status as a world power has emerged side by side with the expansion of public education. From 1910 to 1940, the U.S. led the world in the expansion of universal, publicly-funded secondary schools. Following the growth of public high school, the percentage of Americans with a high school degree went from less than 25 percent in 1940 to almost 90 percent today. Post-secondary education also saw a major expansion in this period, notably with veterans from World War II and Vietnam who attended college using the G.I. bill. Even so, a hard-working high school graduate could still find a way into the middle class through plentiful manufacturing jobs with good wages and benefits. But today, American manufacturing has become heavily automated, requiring fewer workers with more advanced skills.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Campus ban on smoking is working, University of Oklahoma officials say
In the six months since a campuswide smoking ban took effect at the University of Oklahoma, no one has been fined for smoking on campus. OU’s campus tobacco policy took effect in July. Since then, OU officials haven’t issued a single citation for smoking on campus. OU spokesman Michael Nash said the policy also has led to a “noticeable decrease” in the amount of cigarette butts and other tobacco-related trash on campus. Although the university hasn’t fined anyone for smoking on campus, OU has issued 13 warnings related to the tobacco ban.
Oklahoma Parole Board now has final say on nonviolent offenders
The Pardon and Parole Board on Monday approved a policy to implement a constitutional change that takes the governor out of the parole process for nonviolent offenders. The policy is effective immediately and will be used during next week’s Pardon and Parole Board hearing, said Terry Jenks, Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board executive director. Board Chairman Marc Dreyer of Tulsa said he wanted to make history by being the first person to sign a parole under the change. Voters on Nov. 6 passed State Question 762 by nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Feds fine city of Tulsa $700k over block grant issues
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has penalized the city of Tulsa $704,930 for failing to spend Community Development Block Grants in a timely fashion. The fine, levied late last year, has been imposed in the form of a reduction in the city’s fiscal year 2012 allocation, which was decreased from $3,206,807 to $2,501,877. Dafne Pharis, director of the city’s Grants Administration Department, said the city plans to make up for the lost funding and that the fine would not affect individual recipients to whom funds were allocated.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Scott Meacham: Oklahoma’s missing link is a plan for the future
Oklahomans have a vision for the future, the vision of a diversified innovation economy — from agriculture to aerospace to energy to biotechnology and IT/software — a diversified economy that produces jobs that pay well. We have the cornerstones of that economy — entrepreneurial ambition, ready sources of risk capital, and private and public sector initiatives that support new company creation. But we’re missing a long-range plan to focus our efforts. And even if we had such a plan, we lack a mechanism to queue up recommendations for serious action through consideration, discussion and debate among state policymakers.
Quote of the Day
Do we really want our schools to be Dodge City, with Festus, the awkward but good-natured assistant principal, and Miss Kitty, the lovable English teacher, walking down the school halls packing a Glock 9 millimeter? No, we don’t.
Number of the Day
26,000
Number of non-elderly veterans in Oklahoma without health insurance, the 5th highest rate of uninsured veterans in the U.S. in 2010
Source: Urban Institute
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
What the trillion-dollar coin teaches us
The dream of my colleague Josh Barro is dead: The U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve have nixed the idea of minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin to circumvent the debt ceiling. Yet the platinum-coin debate, for all its absurdity, was in fact packed with the basic principles of monetary economics. Here are five lessons that the trillion-dollar coin should teach us about how money really works: 1. Governments with sovereign power over monetary policy need not default. Fiscal conservatives frequently offer a warning about the federal government’s large deficits. Keep spending and going into debt, they say, and sooner or later the U.S. will end up like Greece. The trillion-dollar coin debate shows exactly why the U.S. is not — and cannot be — like Greece.
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