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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 the number of Oklahoma children in foster care rose in 2012 due to increased reports of substance abuse and domestic violence. Nearly 556,000 insured Oklahoma women are guaranteed a list of free preventative health services – including birth control – under a provision of the Affordable Care Act that goes into effect today. The number of people facing serious financial challenges continues to rise in Cherokee County, where more than 1 in 4 are in poverty.
The OK Policy Blog discussed a survey by Governor Fallin that shows Oklahoma businesses still value improved education funding over tax cuts. Urban Tulsa Weekly writes Oklahoma’s groundbreaking education reforms passed in 1990 have mostly disappeared due to lack of funding. NewsOK reports on lawmakers and rural Oklahomans’ reactions to school consolidation. OKC Schools Superintendent Karl Springer answered questions from NewsOK readers.
Oklahoma City Council members are seeking to hire an independent traffic engineer to examine options for building a new downtown boulevard at grade instead of a controversial proposal by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to build an elevated roadway that restricts pedestrian access. Steve Lackmeyer writes that the boulevard fight represents a divide between traditional road building and modern urban planning.
Governor Fallin has replaced eight of nine members of the commission overseeing the Veterans Affairs Department, and the executive director is retiring. The Department has come under scrutiny for allegations of mistreatment of residents at some of its seven veterans centers. Tulsa union representatives said an anonymous ad campaign urging American Airlines mechanics and stores groups to reject a labor agreement is misleading and doesn’t reflect the sentiment of Tulsa workers.
The Number of the Day is the number of deaths prevented per year on average in three states that voluntarily expanded their Medicaid programs 10 years ago to cover more low-income working-age adults. In today’s Policy Note, Atlantic Cities shows that Oklahoma and most other states where fracking occurs have no disclosure laws at all.
In The News
Number of children in Oklahoma foster care system rises
The number of Oklahoma children in foster care rose in 2012, figures from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services show. Information through June 30 shows that 9,131 children were in foster care in Oklahoma. That is an increase from 8,206 that were reported in DHS care in 2011. Oklahoma’s foster care numbers had consistently declined from 2008, when 11,201 children were in state custody, to 2010. That number dropped to a low of 7,970 in 2010. The numbers began climbing in 2011 and again in 2012. DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell said child welfare administrators believe the recent increase is tied to increased reports of substance abuse and domestic violence in Oklahoma.
Free women’s health services, including birth control, kick in today for insured
Nearly 556,000 insured Oklahoma women are guaranteed a list of free preventative health services – including birth control – under a provision of the Affordable Care Act that goes into effect Wednesday. Nationally, some 47 million women will get guaranteed free access to the services. Wednesday’s mandate avoids a conflict with churches and religiously affiliated organizations opposed to contraception, although such a fight could be coming next year. The Affordable Care Act includes a requirement that eight different areas be included in most health insurance programs for women. Insurance companies can’t require co-pays or deductibles for any of the mandates, which include some almost completely uncontroversial things, such as breast-feeding support, gestational diabetes screening and domestic violence screening. However, some church-related organizations have objected to other requirements, especially a mandate for birth control coverage.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Cherokee County poverty numbers are increasing
The number of people facing serious financial challenges continues to rise in Cherokee County. A report released recently by the Annie E. Casey Foundation indicated that the number of children living in poverty in the state increased by nine percent from 2005-2010. A year ago, Cherokee County held the third highest poverty rate in Oklahoma, according to the numbers produced by the American Community Survey. Only Latimer, Marshall and Roger Mills counties had higher poverty rates. According to current U.S. Census Bureau statistics for people living below the designated poverty level, Cherokee County has a 26.3 poverty rate. “The phone pretty much rings off the wall all day long with people who are needing utility assistance, help with rental payments, food, gasoline to be able to make doctor appointments and for other various reasons,” said Hope House Executive Director Laura Garner. “We’ve been busy, and unfortunately the need is higher than the funds available.”
Read more from the Tahlequah Daily Press.
The survey says… Oklahoma businesses need a well-funded education system
A few months ago, Governor Fallin released the results of a survey of businesses from across the state that asked what they viewed as the strengths and weaknesses of doing business in Oklahoma. The results showed clearly that Oklahoma businesses value a state education system that they can rely on to produce skilled workers. Oklahoma’s educational institutions at the common, career tech, and higher ed levels all have major roles to play in our state’s economic success. This web-based survey collected responses from 5,376 Oklahoma-based businesses, representing approximately 20 percent of the state’s total workforce.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
More than one drought welcomes students back to school
No single line item in the state budget garners more lip service than public schools. Lawmakers and would-be lawmakers are forever casting themselves as unabashedly pro-education, keenly aware that voters typically list it among the issues most important to them. Yet, except for approving Gov. Henry Bellmon’s groundbreaking House Bill 1017 reforms in 1990, the pro-public schools talk mostly has been just that — talk. Oklahoma’s spending on K-12 schools — as a share of the total state budget — has declined since 2008, from 38.2 percent ($2.5 billion) down to 34.1 percent ($2.3 billion). The state is now 47th in what it spends on a child’s education. Has Oklahoma stopped growing? Are there fewer students enrolling in public schools? Have costs decreased? No, no and hell no. Most of the extraordinary reforms enacted in Bellmon’s package are gone — victims of legislative stinginess.
Read more from Urban Tulsa Weekly.
Oklahoma public school officials says they are reluctant to consolidate
Just 22 students graduated from New Lima High School this year, but the 400-seat auditorium was full. Family and community members crowded in to support one of the smallest graduating classes in one of the smallest districts in a state that ranks near the top nationally for its high number of school districts per capita. New Lima, with 266 students, is one of 521 districts statewide. There are 10 school districts in Seminole County alone, a largely rural area of just 25,000 people 60 miles east of Oklahoma City. As lawmakers look for ways to reduce the more than $2 billion spent yearly on common education, the idea of consolidating school districts often is suggested as a way to reduce costs, but that’s a tough sell in Lima.
OKC Schools Superintendent Karl Springer answers readers’ questions
Classes begin Wednesday for students in the Oklahoma City School District. To get ready for the start of the school year, school district Superintendent Karl Springer sat down to answer questions from readers of The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com users. Q: MAPS for Kids promised that “Rolls-Royce-quality” alternative schools be expanded so that no troubled student would “perpetually disrupt class because alternative schools are full.” If resources could be made available, would you try to honor that promise? A: The issue there with alternative schools — there are a couple of camps on that. One would be that any child that’s got some kind of behavioral problem that doesn’t perform in the classroom in our traditional setting, that we would come up with some sort of building with concertina wire around it; we’re not into that. What we’ve got to be able to do is we’ve got to be able to take our alternative education program and not let it become a parallel education program to what we’re doing.
Oklahoma City will hire independent engineer to look at downtown boulevard options
Oklahoma City Council members are seeking to hire an independent traffic engineer to examine possible options for building a new downtown boulevard at grade instead of it being elevated as proposed by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. An elevated downtown boulevard between Western and Walker Avenues, as shown in this drawing looking west, is advocated by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Drawing Provided State highway engineers listened but said nothing as council members questioned City Manager Jim Couch and Public Works Director Eric Wenger about the state’s plans to build an elevated boulevard in the same path as the recently removed elevated Interstate 40 between Western and Walker Avenues.
Boulevard fight represents divide between traditional road building, modern urban planning
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is in the business of building roads and bridges. By nature, these engineers seek to expedite traffic so that roads can handle a large volume of motorists driving at high speeds. This is how it has been since the advent of the Interstate Highway System in 1956. When the state’s highway engineers sought in the mid-1990s to rebuild Interstate 40 south of downtown, they approached the project with the same concerns and forcefully pushed for relocating it a few blocks south of the central business district along an old rail line. As part of the plan, the state Transportation Department included a boulevard that would replace the old highway alignment and maintain access to downtown. Now, as state highway engineers are about to let out construction bids for the road, they’re encountering a buzz-saw of criticism that the road will kill development south of the road by Classen Boulevard and will recreate the old highway barriers that blighted the area a half-century ago.
New chairman pledges changes for Oklahoma’s Veterans Affairs Department
Changes are coming to the state Veterans Affairs Department, which has come under scrutiny for allegations of mistreatment of residents at some of its seven veterans centers, the chairman of the board overseeing the agency said Tuesday. A reconfigured War Veterans Commission — eight of the nine members were appointed in May by Gov. Mary Fallin — accepted the retirement of Martha Spear, who had served the past several years as executive director of the Veterans Affairs Department. Fallin said she overhauled the commission to “actively and aggressively pursue the necessary changes to improve the quality of services at these facilities and to protect the safety and well-being of our veterans.”
American Airlines Tulsa union angered by ‘ghost’ ad
A “ghost” ad campaign urging American Airlines mechanics and stores groups to reject a labor agreement is misleading and doesn’t reflect the sentiment of many workers at the bankrupt airline’s Tulsa maintenance base, local union representatives said Friday. A half-page advertisement featured in Friday’s local newspaper urged workers: “Vote No Save Our Profession.” It’s not clear who is behind the ad, which listed several reasons why the bankrupt air carrier’s final, best labor offer is no good, including lack of job security, frozen pensions and slashed vacation time. American, which has about 73,000 employees, filed for bankruptcy protection in November and announced a plan in February to eliminate thousands of union jobs as part of a cost-cutting move, including hundreds in Tulsa. American is Tulsa’s largest private employer, with about 7,000 workers. Mechanics and stores groups began voting Monday on the airline’s proposed labor agreement after months of back-and-forth negotiations.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Quote of the Day
There’s an issue with public ed. … There’s been a significant reduction in funding, but also a significant increase in the level of expectation. You’re expecting educators to prepare individuals for a better society. So it’s almost like saying we’re going to go to war, but we’re going to give you a slingshot and a BB gun and we want you to win this war.
-Michael D. Johnson, a former Tulsa Public Schools principal who is leaving to become principal of a Denver high school
Number of the Day
2,840
Number of deaths prevented per year on average in three states (Arizona, Maine, and New York) that voluntarily expanded their Medicaid programs 10 years ago to cover more low-income working-age adults.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The secrets frackers are allowed to keep
Are frackers in your state allowed to keep secrets? A new analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council shows that the majority of states where fracking occurs have no disclosure laws at all, and that those that do are woefully behind when it comes to revealing behind-the-scenes details of their operations. While the Obama administration has put some new rules in place, many decisions about what drillers are allowed to hide are left to the states; Interior Secretary Ken Salazar complained to Reuters that state-level regulation is “not good enough for me, because states are at very different levels, some have zero, some have decent rules.” That’s a problem, study author Amy Mall said, because unlike coal plants and other large-scale energy operations, fracked natural gas wells are often in close proximity to houses, schools, or other high-traffic areas.
Read more from Atlantic Cities.
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