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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 a survey of teachers in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska found that many feel so pressured to increase performance in the high-stakes reading and math tests that they have cut back or eliminated class time for science, even though they continue to report science grades on report cards. A letter to the Norman Transcript argued for the importance of science education. OK Policy’s quick take on the latest state revenue numbers shows that Oklahoma may be on track for another flat budget year.
Newly elected and re-elected members of the Oklahoma Legislature took their oaths of office on Wednesday. A Democratic state lawmaker is seeking a special legislative session to take action on whether Oklahoma should create a state-run health insurance exchange. A spokesman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority said that Oklahoma could expand Medicaid coverage without any action by the Legislature. See OK Policy’s fact sheet on why expanding Medicaid in Oklahoma makes sense.
A three-member committee representing survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing has written a letter to Gov. Mary Fallin requesting that an upcoming audit of donated bombing funds include an examination of rejected requests for assistance. Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services said children are found to be abused nearly every day across the state.
OK Policy Director David Blatt’s Journal Record column discusses the surprising election result that voters approved all six state questions on the ballot by comfortable margins. Bob Waldrop listed many ways for poor Oklahomans to make a living that have been made illegal or are so highly regulated that you have to have money in order to get started in the first place.
The Number of the Day is the amount of natural gas delivered to consumers for electric power in Oklahoma. In today’s Policy Note, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why passing the “middle-class” tax cuts for incomes under $250,000 benefits the very wealthy, too.
In The News
Report: Science instruction disappearing in elementary school, but not science grades
The Kansas State Board of Education heard a report Tuesday that as many as one in five elementary teachers in Kansas and surrounding states are reporting science grades on student report cards, despite the fact that they don’t spend any time teaching the subject or testing pupils’ knowledge in it. George Griffith, superintendent of the Trego school district in western Kansas and a member of a Kansas committee helping craft new national science standards, said he conducted a survey of more than 900 elementary teachers in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The survey was conducted as part of Griffith’s doctoral dissertation. Griffith said teachers responding to the survey said they reported grades in science because there was a spot on the grade card for it. But the teachers felt so pressured to increase performance in the high-stakes reading and math tests that they have cut back or eliminated class time for science.
Read more from the Lawrence Journal-World.
Science education important to gain understanding
Lately words like “accountability,” “common core” and “charter school,” have dominated the headlines of the debates surrounding public education. While these are easy buzzwords to throw around during election campaigns and debates, they do not address why we have public education in the United States. The dream of public education is to provide a basic level of education to all citizens. This not only benefits the individual but the society as a whole. When farmers were educated about soil conservation, the Dust Bowl was controlled. When education about the importance of seat belt use was unrolled across America, deaths from traffic accidents decreased dramatically.
Read more from The Norman Transcript.
Quick take: On track for another flat budget year
Yesterday’s announcement of General Revenue (GR) collections for October shows that the state is on track to bring in about the same amount as in FY 2012. Overall GR in October was $439 million. This is $30.9 million, or 7.6 percent, above the same month last year. However, as the chart below shows, cumulative state revenues remain very close to the previous year (FY 2012). The stronger collections in October allowed revenues to catch up from a $28.3 million drop in August. Revenue collections are about halfway between those in the depths of the recession (FY 2010-11) and the pre-recession peak (FY 2008-09).
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
New and returning House member take oath of office
Newly elected and re-elected members of the Oklahoma Legislature took their oaths of office on Wednesday, with most new members saying their top priorities when the session begins in February will be improving the state’s economy and jobs climate. Nearly all of the 101 House members and 24 Senate members who filed for office this year were sworn in by Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Taylor during separate ceremonies in each chamber. Republicans extended their majorities in both chambers, and they now have a 36-12 advantage in the Senate and a 72-29 edge in the House. Although a recount has been requested for one Republican-held seat in eastern Norman that the GOP incumbent won by just 18 votes, both Republican majorities are the largest in state history.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Lawmaker seeks special session for Legislature to act on insurance exchange
A Democratic state lawmaker is seeking a special legislative session for lawmakers to take action on whether Oklahoma should create a state-run health insurance exchange required under the federal health care law. Rush Springs Rep. Joe Dorman announced his plan on Wednesday to seek signatures from two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate that would be needed to convene a special session. It’s unlikely Dorman would get enough signatures in the Republican-controlled House or Senate, and incoming Republican House Speaker T.W. Shannon had Dorman’s microphone shut off during his announcement on the House floor.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Medicaid expansion possible with a passive Legislature
Oklahoma could expand Medicaid coverage under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act without any action by the Legislature, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority said Wednesday. If Gov. Mary Fallin decides to go ahead with the Medicaid expansion – as seven states already have and several others are considering – the most likely scenario is that the new eligibility standards would be set through the administrative rules process by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority Board, said Carter Kimble, spokesman for the state Medicaid agency. Under state law, administrative rules can have the effect of law, unless the Legislature takes action to prevent them from taking effect.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Expanding Medicaid in Oklahoma makes sense from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Group says audit of Oklahoma City bombing fund needs to examine rejected claims
A three-member committee representing survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing has written a letter to Gov. Mary Fallin requesting that an upcoming audit of donated bombing funds include an examination of rejected requests for assistance. “Our allegation is that in addition to denying survivors access to the donations, the treatment by the Oklahoma City Community Foundation staff was designed to discourage people from seeking assistance,” the letter states. “In regards to the audit itself, the allegations are not about misspending. It is nonspending that is the primary complaint among survivors of the bombing.”
Child abuse seen ‘every single day,’ DHS official says
Although aspects of the alleged child-abuse incident in which a toddler was found in a dog cage Sunday are considered shocking, officials with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services said children are found to be abused nearly every day across the state. According to the department’s annual report, nearly 10,000 substantiated reports – including 1,325 in Tulsa County – were investigated by DHS’ Child Protective Services section in the fiscal year ending in June. “This incident is extremely indicative of all children who come into DHS care,” said DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell. “The fact we have had to take three little children into DHS care is not unusual. “Sadly, this is the type of situation our workers see every single day. It’s the reality of the work of DHS.”
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Prosperity policy: Saying yes
Election night in Oklahoma yielded few surprises. Mitt Romney captured the state’s seven electoral votes, beating President Barack Obama by a 2-to-1 margin. Republicans swept the state’s five congressional districts and increased their majorities in the state House and Senate, where they now control nearly three-quarters of all seats. The closest thing to a real surprise may have been that voters approved all six state questions on the ballot by comfortable margins. Support ranged from 68 percent for State Question 758, lowering the cap on annual property tax increases, to 57 percent for S.Q. 754, increasing bonding authority for water projects. I’ve frequently heard the adage ‘if you don’t know what you’re voting for, vote no.’ If this advice had held true this year, we would have expected different outcomes.
Read more from The Journal Record.
An open letter to Oklahoma conservatives
Let me be the first to throw a proposal out to the conservatives of the State of Oklahoma. How about a little old fashioned, free enterprise, as a strategy to counter both the hard times facing the nation and our own problems with poverty here at home. There’s a reason why we have so much poverty in Oklahoma. It’s the way our system is designed to work. You may reply, “you’re making an absurd statement, we have lots of free enterprise,” but that isn’t exactly so. We have lots of highly regulated and restricted enterprise. We’ve organized things so that the marketplace isn’t especially welcoming to some folks and we completely exclude many from participation. I am talking about the ways that the government of the state, the counties, and the cities oppress the poor by making the traditional ways that poor people made a living illegal in many cases, or so highly regulated that you have to have money in order to get started in the first place.
Quote of the Day
I never was in favor of it, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court, we don’t have a new president, and we don’t have a Congress that will repeal it. We are going to have to work with what we have.
–Rep.-elect Arthur Hulbert, a Fort Gibson Republican, speaking about the Affordable Care Act
Number of the Day
288,986 million cubic ft.
Amount of natural gas delivered to consumers for electric power in Oklahoma, 42.8 percent of all the natural gas consumed in the state, 2010
Source: U.S. Energy Administration
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Why passing the “middle-class” tax cuts benefits the wealthy, too
President Obama today clarified an important, and often misunderstood, point: the so-called “middle-class Bush tax cuts” also benefit high-income people. So, if the House were to approve the Senate-passed bill to extend the middle-class tax cuts (as the President favors), “that would prevent any tax hike whatsoever on the first $250,000 of everybody’s income,” he said at his press conference. That’s because the middle-class tax cuts do not just apply to people making less than $250,000 but to incomes — for everybody — up to $250,000 ($200,000 for singles). In fact, as this chart based on Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center data shows, extending the “middle-class” tax cuts would be worth about $12,000 next year to people making between $200,000 and $500,000.
Read more from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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