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Today you should know that more than 200 school districts statewide have joined a coalition urging the state Board of Education to delay the release of the new A-F school report cards, saying the way grades have been calculated is faulty. The okeducationtruths blog outlines the history of numerous education reforms in Oklahoma over the past two decades. The Tulsa World writes that the choice to adequately fund education is in state Republicans’ hands.
Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman said that more workers comp reforms will be his top priority for the next legislative session. Bingman also said that he does not favor a general tax cut, because he did not want a situation like in Kansas, where state agencies have been told to reduce spending 10 percent after lawmakers slashed income taxes. An interim study examined how Oklahoma has plenty of jobs, but the state’s residents don’t have the skills and training to fill them.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is gaining a national reputation for his numerous lawsuits against federal laws. Oklahoma has been awarded more than $5 million in federal grants to help transition state children’s shelters into assessment centers and help workers better recognize and treat abused and neglected children for emotional trauma. Rep. Jason Nelson and House Chief Counsel Sue Ann Derr said that the Oklahoma Department of Human Services will not be abolished if State Question 765 passes. The OK Policy Blog previously discussed how ambiguities in the legislation and ballot title language make it appear as if the Department could be abolished.
A retired state health department worker has created a website to track tobacco industry donations to Oklahoma lawmakers. The Secular Coalition for America is seeking volunteers to lobby Oklahoma lawmakers to oppose religiously based measures. Laura Boyd writes in NewsOK about why we need to take a more balanced approach to federal deficit reduction.
The Number of the Day is how many people lived in Cardin, the smallest town in Oklahoma in 2010. In today’s Policy Note, researchers at Washington University showed that free contraceptives dramatically reduce the number of abortions and unintended pregnancies.
In The News
Number of school districts opposed to grading system now up to 201
More than 200 school districts statewide have now joined a coalition of school administrators who are urging the state Board of Education to delay the release of the new A-F school report cards Monday. The number had grown to 201 as of 2:12 p.m. today, up from 107 as of close of business Friday. In a hastily arranged press conference in Oklahoma City Thursday, numerous school superintendents said the way the grades are calculated is faulty and do not reflect an accurate representation of a school’s quality and performance. Instead, they said the complex formula is weighed so that grades reflect the socioeconomic demographics of a school or district, rather than quality of instruction.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: A brief and recent history of the status quo from okeducationtruths
Oklahoma funding fix is in Republicans’ hands
If public education funding in Oklahoma is to be repaired, it’s up to Republicans to repair it. More specifically, it’s up to voters in future Republican primary elections. … A great majority of voters are concerned about the state of public education funding in Oklahoma, and they are right to be. Public education funding this year is estimated to be about $200 million less than in 2009. The national Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that since 2003, education spending in Oklahoma, kindergarten to 12th grade, declined by more than 20 percent, third worst among the states. The deep cuts in education funding were due in part to the nationwide economic downturn, which drove down revenues from Oklahoma’s three main sources of state funds – sales taxes, personal income taxes and oil and gas taxes. But the problem was exacerbated by the Legislature’s foolish persistence in making almost yearly cuts in the personal income tax top rates.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Senate not done with workers comp reform
An old legislative favorite, workers’ compensation reform, may be returning to the top of the agenda in the state Senate. Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, told the Tulsa Metro Chamber on Thursday that workers’ comp reform is his top priority for next year’s session, followed by education, tax reform and capital improvements. Bingman said he favors “revenue neutral” tax reform and made a pitch for capital improvements that include as much as $200 million in renovations and restoration work on the state Capitol. Bingman indicated afterward that he does not favor a general tax cut, saying he did not want a situation such as the one in Kansas, where state agencies have been told to reduce spending 10 percent after the Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback slashed income taxes by $2.5 billion.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Lamakers look to boost community college, CareerTech educations
Oklahoma has plenty of jobs, but the state’s residents don’t have the skills and training to fill them. As the economic recovery takes hold and employment grows, the problem is on pace to get worse, state leaders said. The state Senate Education Committee met Thursday with education and commerce leaders to discuss ways to head off the state’s looming shortage of qualified workers. During the interim study session, lawmakers discussed ideas for increasing the number of degrees and postsecondary certificates awarded at the state’s community colleges and CareerTech centers. The problem comes from job growth in particular areas, said Diedre Myers, director of policy research and economic analysis for the state Commerce Department. Only 18 percent of the new jobs created in Oklahoma between 2010 and 2020 will require no postsecondary education, Myers said.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is gaining a national reputation
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt says fighting to make sure federal officials don’t exceed their constitutional authority may be the most important role he plays as Oklahoma’s attorney general. Elected as just the second Republican attorney general in state history in November 2010, Pruitt has quickly gained a national reputation for his Don Quixote-like advocacy of federalism and relentless efforts to challenge any federal law or action that he sees as an infringement on individual liberties or states’ rights. Pruitt sat down with a reporter from The Oklahoman recently to discuss why he has chosen to devote so much of his time and office’s resources to combating new federal laws and administrative actions. The former state senator insists it’s not a matter of partisan politics.
Oklahoma gets federal funds to help convert children’s shelters into assessment centers
Oklahoma has been awarded more than $5 million in federal grants to help transition state children’s shelters into assessment centers and help workers better recognize and treat abused and neglected children for emotional trauma. The federal Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau, has awarded $3.2 million to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and $2 million to NorthCare. NorthCare is a nonprofit, charitable organization that provides behavioral health and wellness services to children, adults and families in central and western Oklahoma.
Voters to decide fate of Oklahoma Human Services Commission
Nine unelected part-time volunteers are responsible for Oklahoma’s biggest bureaucracy, and proponents of State Question 765 say it’s time for that to change. “What we’re doing now isn’t working,” said Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, legislative point man for the proposal, which goes before voters Nov. 6. The ballot language before voters says the measure would abolish not only the commission but also the Department of Human Services itself. That’s an incomplete picture of events, but the statutory language that ensures the future of the agency isn’t mentioned in the ballot language because it wasn’t a part of the resolution passed by the Legislature. “The agency is not going away,” Nelson said. An Aug. 20 memo to Speaker of the House Kris Steele from House Chief Counsel Sue Ann Derr says that if the question passes, DHS will still exist.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Previously: SQ 765: Are voters being asked to do away with DHS? from the OK Policy Blog
Website links tobacco money, Oklahoma leaders
A retired state health department worker has come up with an aggressive tool aimed at the lobbying muscle of the tobacco industry. Tobaccomoney.com is the creation of Doug Matheny. He told me that he had seen tobacco money skew the results of public policy debates at the state Capitol when he worked as the director of tobacco prevention for the health department, but his state job prevented him from doing much about it. After he retired, Matheny said he looked for a way to get what was in the public record to the public, and he decided on his website.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Group seeks Oklahoma volunteers to lobby against religion-based measures
A national group is seeking volunteers to lobby Oklahoma lawmakers to oppose religiously based measures, which have been on the increase since Republicans gained control of the Legislature four years ago. “Some of the most egregious examples of attempts to insert religion into government are happening at the state level,” said Lauren Anderson Youngblood, spokeswoman for the Secular Coalition for America. “We know that Oklahoma has had some bills that we would consider to be unacceptable.” The nonprofit group was formed 10 years ago to lobby Congress, she said. Chapters have been formed in 38 states since June; Oklahoma is among the remaining 12 states where chapters are being started.
Former Oklahoma lawmaker: Balance needed in Washington to avoid harmful budget cuts
Government improves our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. It provides for the teacher in our children’s classrooms. The roads and bridges on which we drive. The research seeking cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s. The safe medications we take and safe food we eat. The police who patrol our neighborhoods, and the first responders who help in times of crisis. The air-traffic controllers who ensure our flights get us to our destinations, safely. Such basic services and more are all under attack in the name of deficit reduction. Without bipartisan action in Washington, the modern conveniences we all take for granted will be compromised.
Quote of the Day
It’s high time that in Oklahoma we have a civil, productive and adult conversation about what our plan is going to be to meet the health-care needs of our citizens. My take on this is that we’ve become paralyzed by the polarized politics of this particular issue, so much so that we can’t even have a discussion.
–Outgoing House Speaker Kris Steele, R-Shawnee
Number of the Day
3
Number of people living in Cardin, the smallest town in Oklahoma in 2010
Source: U.S. Census
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Free contraceptives reduce abortions, unintended pregnancies. Full stop.
The idea that contraceptives prevent unintended pregnancy is, well, pretty intuitive. That’s the whole point of contraceptives. Except that’s not how it always works: About half of all unintended pregnancies are the result of contraceptive failure, where a condom breaks or birth control pills aren’t taken at the right time. The least expensive methods of contraceptive tend to be the least effective. That got a team of researchers at Washington University wondering what would happen if women had access to all contraceptives at no cost. The researchers published their results Thursday and saw some dramatic differences between those in the study, and those outside of it. Teen pregnancies – 80 percent of which are unintended – plummetted. They stood at 6.3 per 1,000 teens in the study group, compared to 34 per 1,000 teens nationally. Abortion rates were significantly lower, too. In the St. Louis area, 13.4 per 1,000 women had an abortion in 2010. Among the women involved in this study, the rate stood at 5.9 per 1,000 women.
Read more from The Washington Post.
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