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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. Click here to subscribe to In The Know and see past editions.
A record number of students are finding themselves homeless in Oklahoma, despite a five-year oil and gas boom and falling jobless rates. Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities will receive a 3.5 percent budget cut next year, but Chancellor Glen D. Johnson said it’s too early to speculate on whether they will seek tuition increases to offset the drop in revenue. An Oklahoma Watch Radio report discussed how Oklahoma is losing hundreds of teachers per year due to having some of the lowest teacher pay in the country.
State Bond Advisor Jim Joseph said bond rating agencies will not like the extensive use of one-time funds in Oklahoma’s fiscal year 2016 budget. The final statewide average rainfall in May was 14.41 inches, 9.59 inches above normal and well above the previous record for the wettest month in state history. Rain, wind and severe flooding have caused significant damage to state prisons, including leaking roofs, electrical systems damaged by water, power outages and a downed exterior fence that required extra officers to be posted at the breach. The state Corrections Department has halted all weddings within prison walls until after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether same-sex couples are guaranteed the right to marry.
A plan to finish construction of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is now waiting on approval from Oklahoma City. Oklahoma’s Osage Nation has become the 20th tribe to sign a U.S. Interior Department plan to buy back and consolidate small parcels of land owned by individual Indians. Gov. Fallin signed a precedent-setting compact with the Cherokee Nation to allow its tribal citizens to hunt and fish in Oklahoma for free.
StateImpact Oklahoma examined what the state is doing to regulate oil and gas wells suspected of causing earthquakes. Architects are developing a detailed 3-D model of the state Capitol building to guide repair efforts. A judge has found in favor of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in a wrongful-death lawsuit over 5-year-old Serenity Deal. Former state Rep. Randy Terrill on Friday began a one-year prison sentence on his bribery conviction. At a public forum on the issue, Oklahoma City Councilman Ed Shadid said transparency and public input are missing from Oklahoma City’s eight Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects.
The Number of the Day is 47.5% – the percentage of Oklahomans who identified as “very religious” in 2014. The national average was 40.6 percent. In today’s Policy Note, USA Today examines why only about 1 in 9 of the 22.7 million Americans who needed drug or alcohol treatment in 2013 actually got it.
In The News
In Oklahoma schools, record numbers of homeless children
A resilient economy and low unemployment have done little to stem the tide of students who are finding themselves homeless in Oklahoma. Despite a five-year oil and gas boom and falling jobless rates, growing numbers of youths are finding themselves without a bedroom to call their own – a trend seen across the nation. Tonight, thousands of Oklahoma children will fall asleep on the couches or beds of friends or relatives, according to data reported by school districts to the state.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Oklahoma’s higher education institutions to take 3.5 percent budget cut
Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities will receive a 3.5 percent cut to their base funding under a $963.4 million revenue allocation plan approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. The plan is contingent on Gov. Mary Fallin signing the state’s $7.1 billion general appropriations bill. Chancellor Glen D. Johnson said it’s too early to speculate on whether colleges and universities will seek tuition increases to help offset the drop in revenue.
Oklahoma Watch Radio: Teacher Pay
As the summer break begins, Oklahoma public schools are weighing what stagnant budgets will mean for their ability to put enough teachers in the classroom in the fall. The challenge arises from the Legislature’s decision not to increase K-12 funding because of a $611 million budget shortfall. The standalone education budget means teachers will not get a pay raise and will remain some of the lowest paid in the country.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
State bond advisor warns ratings agencies won’t like Oklahoma’s next budget
Bond rating agencies will not be fond of Oklahoma’s fiscal year 2016 budget, State Bond Advisor Jim Joseph told the Council on Bond Oversight. “This budget will not be something the rating agencies will like because of the way is was balanced with one time money,” Joseph said Thursday during a meeting of the council. The budget uses a variety of one-time funding sources, including $150 million from the Rainy Day Fund and $125.2 million from agency revolving fund accounts.
May 2015 takes record for wettest in state history
It may have stopped raining on the last day of May, but this month will go down as the wettest in state history. The final statewide average rainfall in May was 14.41 inches, 9.59 inches above normal, state climatologist Gary McManus said. May’s total trumped the previous record for the wettest month in state history: 10.75 inches, set in October 1941. The previous May record was 10.54 in 1957.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma prisons sustain damage from recent storms, flooding
Rain, wind and severe flooding have caused significant damage to state prisons, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Facilities reported leaking roofs, electrical systems damaged by water, power outages and a downed exterior fence that required extra officers to be posted at the breach. Earlier this month, the parking lot to death row at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester was closed because flooding undermined its structural integrity. In addition, water leaked into the fire alarm panels causing them to go offline, which required additional staff to provide fire watches, according to the agency.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Prison weddings in Oklahoma on hold until U.S. Supreme Court rules on same-sex marriage
The state Corrections Department has halted all weddings within prison walls until after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether same-sex couples are guaranteed the right to marry, The Oklahoman has learned. If the high court rules in favor of gay marriage, corrections officials will alter department policy to allow an offender to marry someone of the same sex, spokeswoman Terri Watkins said.
Bid to finish Indian museum shifts to Oklahoma City
The ball is now in Oklahoma City’s court. Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill Thursday with a funding formula, subject to city approval, to complete construction of a world-class American Indian Cultural Center and Museum along the banks of the Oklahoma River. Mayor Mick Cornett called it a “perplexing opportunity that we need to study.” First conceived more than two decades ago, the state project near Interstates 40 and 35 has been stalled since 2012 for lack of money.
Oklahoma’s Osage Nation signs up for land buy-back program
The Osage Nation has become the 20th tribe to sign a U.S. Interior Department plan to consolidate small parcels of land divided up over generations. The agreement is part of the Land Buy-Back program aimed at returning to tribes lands that have become difficult for the federal government to oversee. The parcels are owned by individual Indians and are typically too small to generate much income from grazing, oil and gas production or other activity.
Gov. Fallin signs compact allowing Cherokees to hunt, fish for free
Gov. Mary Fallin will sign Friday a precedent-setting compact with the Cherokee Nation that will allow its tribal citizens to hunt and fish in Oklahoma for free. Cherokee Nation citizens will not have to buy a state hunting and fishing license and each tribal member will receive one free deer tag and one turkey tag under the terms of the negotiated agreement with the governor’s office, said Bill John Baker, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. For years, the Cherokee Nation has asserted that its citizens had the right to hunt and fish in the 14-county jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation without a state hunting or fishing license.
Plug-back or prove it: Oklahoma’s anti-earthquake orders in action
In March, Oklahoma’s oil and gas regulator ordered Eagle Energy Exploration and about 90 companies operating roughly 350 disposal wells in quake-prone parts of the state to provide measurements proving they aren’t injecting into granite basement rock. If the wells are found to be injecting into the granite — through measurements called well logs or gamma ray tests — companies face three options: Shut down the well, cut disposal volumes by half, or “plug-back” — pump cement into the well so it’s shallower and away from the granite.
Read more from StateImpact Oklahoma.
Architects develop 3-D plans for Oklahoma Capitol renovations
Before workers can begin a historic project to refurbish and repair the state Capitol, they must have a better understanding of the nearly century-old building. Oklahoman Architectural drawings made at the time of construction were rudimentary compared to what is assembled for a modern project. The original plans comprise just 38 pages and show in broad strokes key elements like toilets and light switches, but don’t show details like electrical lines and water pipes.
Judge rules in favor of Oklahoma Department of Human Services in Serenity Deal wrongful-death lawsuit
A judge has found in favor of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in a wrongful-death lawsuit, ruling the agency is not liable for the murder of Serenity Deal in 2011. Serenity’s maternal grandparents, Charles and Annette Deal, of Chandler, appealed the decision Wednesday to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Serenity is the 5-year-old girl whose murder by her father in June 2011 led to widespread public outrage toward DHS.
Former Oklahoma legislator begins prison sentence for bribery conviction
Former state Rep. Randy Terrill on Friday began his one-year prison sentence on his bribery conviction. Terrill, 45, of Moore, turned himself in at the Oklahoma County jail at 7:55 a.m. and was moved about two hours later to a Corrections Department facility. An Oklahoma County jury found Terrill guilty in 2013 of offering a bribe to a political candidate to withdraw from the election. Jurors chose a punishment of a year in prison and a $5,000 fine on the felony.
Transparency nonexistent with Oklahoma City’s eight TIF projects, councilman says
Transparency and public input are missing from Oklahoma City’s use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which is designed to improve blighted areas, Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid said Thursday during a town hall meeting. Oklahoma City, which has eight TIF districts located mostly in the downtown area, has used that financing mechanism for areas that are not considered impoverished or blighted, according to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
Read more from the Red Dirt Report.
Quote of the Day
“When I went to those schools, I do remember that my grades were really low. I was failing all the time. How do you expect to keep up your grades going to nine schools during your freshman year?”
-Aliah Morales, a sophomore in Tulsa Public Schools who has already spent a fifth of her life homeless. The number of homeless students in Oklahoma schools has shot up from 17,539 in the 2011-2012 school year to 25,114 in 2013-2014 (Source).
Number of the Day
47.5%
Percent of Oklahomans who identified as “very religious” in 2014. The national average is 40.6 percent.
Source: Gallup
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Addiction treatment hard to find, even as overdose deaths soar
With nearly 44,000 deaths a year, more Americans today die from drug overdoses than from car accidents or any other type of injury. Many of these deaths could be prevented if patients had better access to substance abuse therapy, experts say. Yet people battling addiction say that treatment often is unavailable or unaffordable. Only 11% of the 22.7 million Americans who needed drug or alcohol treatment in 2013 actually got it, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
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