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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 local school district leaders say a lack of detailed information about the State Department of Education’s decision to invalidate some standardized test results is just adding to their concerns about the state’s new testing vendor. The okeducationtruths blog discussed why delays in releasing test scores are leaving schools without information to make important choices about initial student placements and remediation programs. AT&T, which is already getting a $23 million tax break this year from SQ 766, could receive $350,000 in job creation incentives from Oklahoma City.
The OK Policy Blog shared three reasons why Oklahoma using state funding for pro-marriage advertisements is a bad idea. David Blatt’s Journal Record explains how Oklahoma businesses and families are paying the price for state leaders’ obstruction of the new health care law. The University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine Bedlam Clinics estimate that they have saved the community nearly $30 million by helping uninsured patients avoid the emergency room.
This Land Press discussed a new map based on Census data showing diversity and racial segregation in Oklahoma. OK Policy previously discussed a similar map showing Oklahomans living in poverty by race. Eighty-three state lawmakers filed a legal brief arguing that a 2011 law regarding drug-induced abortions was aimed at regulating them, not banning them altogether.
The Number of the Day is how many Oklahomans will be eligible to receive premium assistance tax credits through the state’s new online insurance marketplaces in 2014. In today’s Policy Note, Wonkblog explains why there’s no good reason to want drug tests for food stamp recipients.
In The News
Local school leaders raise new testing concerns after some results invalidated
Local school district leaders say a lack of detailed information about the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s decision to invalidate some standardized test results from last spring is just adding to their questions and concerns about the state’s new testing vendor, CTB/McGraw-Hill. Oklahoma officials acknowledge that a final head count of students whose scores will be disqualified won’t be known until the state’s test results from 2012-13 are finalized in late September. Public schools throughout the state used to be able to rely on receiving students’ results in July, which allowed teachers to address any learning deficits from the very beginning of the new academic year.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Test score delays deprive schools of information when it is needed from okeducationtruths
AT&T could receive $350,000 in job creation incentives from Oklahoma City
AT&T is seeking $350,000 in job creation incentives from Oklahoma City to bring about 140 new positions to the city over the next three to five years. The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust voted on Tuesday to begin negotiating with AT&T for the incentives, offered through the city’s Strategic Investment Program, funded by $75 million in general obligation limited tax bonds that Oklahoma City voters approved in 2007.
Got marriage? Three reasons marriage PSAs are a bad idea
This past legislative session Oklahoma passed HB 1908 into law. HB 1908 authorized the use of ‘welfare’ or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to be spent on an ad campaign promoting marriage. Let’s set aside for a moment the question of whether or not marriage actually does reduce poverty, which is not at all clear. Let’s also set aside whether or not it’s wise to divert resources from services that directly feed, clothe, house, and care for very low income children. Instead let’s ask a more basic question: can PSAs create more marriages?
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Prosperity Policy: Oklahomans will pay price for state leaders’ obstruction of health care law
Last week, federal officials announced that three Oklahoma organizations had been awarded $1.6 million in navigator grants to assist Oklahomans with shopping for and enrolling in health insurance on the new online marketplaces beginning this fall. How did state leaders respond to this news of federal funding to help Oklahomans benefit from the law? Did they applaud these efforts and commit to working with the navigator grantees to make sure Oklahomans are well-informed and ready to take advantage of the benefits they are entitled to? Not exactly.
OU Bedlam Clinics celebrate 10 years of helping uninsured
The University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine Bedlam Clinics are marking their 10th year this month, and officials estimate that they have saved the community nearly $30 million by helping patients avoid the emergency room. The program started in response to job losses in the Tulsa area after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Bedlam Evening Clinic opened in late August 2003 to offer health care for the uninsured at no charge. Organizers began seeing a need for longer-term care, and thus in 2008, the Bedlam Longitudinal Clinic was opened to serve patients with more chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Map of the Week: Race in Oklahoma
The Racial Dot Map, created by researcher Dustin Cable using 2010 U.S. Census Data, shows just how diverse America is. Labeled is each and every of the 308,745,538 Americans on a map with dots in colors that represent a spectrum of race profiles. The dots are mapped on a beautiful, fascinating, interactive map of the country. At first glance, Oklahoma appears blue and purple. Zoom in, though, and it’s clear how diverse the state is—and, in most cities, especially Tulsa and Oklahoma City, how segregated.
Read more from This Land Press.
See also: The changing map of poverty and race in Oklahoma from the OK Policy Blog
Oklahoma lawmakers argue 2011 law does not ban all drug-induced abortions
A 2011 law regarding drug-induced abortions was aimed at regulating them, not banning them altogether, a group of Oklahoma legislators said in a court filing this week. The brief, filed on behalf of 83 state lawmakers, addresses a question posed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which accepted a case involving the Oklahoma law and took the extraordinary step of asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to clarify its own ruling. Oklahoma’s high court struck down the law, which sought to ban chemically induced abortion procedures that weren’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Quote of the Day
The drug testing of SNAP recipients is yet another ideological sideshow that disfigures substance-abuse policy. It falsely implies that substance use disorders are a widespread cause of welfare dependence. It also implies, again falsely, that these disorders are highly concentrated among recipients of public aid.
– Harold Pollack and Sheldon Danziger, writing in the Washington Post (Source: http://wapo.st/17MV4k9)
Number of the Day
330,000
The number of Oklahomans that will be eligible to receive premium assistance tax credits through the state’s new online insurance marketplaces in 2014
Source: Families USA via Oklahoma Policy Institute
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
There’s no good reason to want drug tests for food stamp recipients
Traditionally, food stamps have been less stigmatized than other welfare benefits. Two-thirds of beneficiaries from the the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are children, elderly, or people with disabilities . Benefits are modest, with the average recipient receiving about $133 per month. Most recipients have incomes below 130 percent of the poverty line. It’s hard to begrudge poor people, especially poor children, access to food. Yet that’s started to change in recent years.
Read more from the Washington Post.
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