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Today you should know that Oklahoma child welfare workers put in overtime and Oklahoma Department of Human Services added extra staff to reduce the backlog of child abuse cases by 82 percent. The number of backlogged cases now stands at 670. DHS is asking lawmakers for $33 million in supplemental funding this year to cover higher child welfare costs. The State Department of Education asked for another $6.5 million this year to fund teacher health benefits.
Parents and teachers spoke out against Common Core and the new third grade reading requirement at a forum with lawmakers and education department officials. Governor Fallin defended Common Core and spoke out against raising the minimum wage. A Senate proposal to complete Oklahoma City’s American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is receiving a chilly reception among House Republicans. The Tulsa World detailed how $5 million was spent to renovate legislators’ offices.
The directors of a pair of museums that Governor Fallin wants to consolidate under the Oklahoma Tourism Department said it would not be a good fit. An Oklahoma City businessman wrote in the Edmond Sun that the push for more tax cuts in Oklahoma makes no sense. OK Policy Director David Blatt wrote in NewsOK that tax cuts won’t make Oklahoma more competitive.
The Number of the Day is the the number of alcohol-related fatal car crashes in Oklahoma in 2012. In today’s Policy Note, Demos examines the economic potential of boosting wages at the bottom.
In The News
DHS cuts backlog of child abuse cases
Child welfare workers put in overtime and other staff members pitched in to reduce the backlog of child abuse and neglect cases by 82 percent. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services released information Friday explaining how the agency tackled the more than 3,700 cases in August that had been pending for at least 60 days. DHS implemented a backlog-reduction plan in early September that included overtime for front-line workers, reassignment of staff, assistance from other divisions, weekly monitoring, and outside help from a contracted vendor. The number of backlogged cases now stands at 670.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
DHS Director seeks $33 million in supplemental funding
The director of Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services is asking lawmakers to appropriate almost $33 million in state tax dollars to operate the agency through the end of June. DHS director Ed Lake will discuss the supplemental funding request on Monday at a meeting of the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Human Services. In a letter to state officials, Lake says the agency has encountered several funding problems involving salaries for child welfare specialists, rate increases for family foster care, a funding shortfall for child welfare service positions and the growth in the number of children in DHS custody.
Read more from the Associated Press.
State Department of Education seeks $6.5 million in supplemental funding
Due to the rising cost of providing healthcare coverage for school employees, the Oklahoma State Department of Education is requesting a supplemental budget appropriation of $6,540,794 to fully fund its Flexible Benefits Allowance in the current fiscal year. The FBA provides funding to districts to cover the cost of insuring full-time staff and support personnel. Based on data certified Jan. 1, school districts have added more than 1,300 employees eligible for state-funded insurance since October 2012. The increase in cost is due in part to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Under ACA, school districts are required to offer health insurance for employees who work on average at least 30 hours per week.
Frustrations rise at meeting on Common Core, reading law
Common Core was on the minds of most parents and teachers at an education legislative forum Thursday night, and many were critical of the national curriculum standards that will be fully implemented in Oklahoma next school year. Several people also spoke about their opposition to the third-grade reading law, which this year requires third-graders to show proficiency on their reading test or be retained in the third grade. Joel Robison, chief of staff for state Superintendent Janet Barresi, told parents that there are six ways a third-grader could be promoted to fourth grade after failing the reading test. But one parent told him that has backfired in her daughter’s third-grade class.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Fallin defends Common Core, opposes minimum wage increase
Gov. Mary Fallin, preparing to lead a national conference of governors, rejected President Barack Obama’s call to raise the minimum wage and defended Common Core academic standards that have generated opposition in Oklahoma and other states. Gov. Mary Fallin has called for increasing education funding and cutting Oklahoma’s income tax by a quarter-point. Meeting with reporters at the hotel hosting the National Governors Association meeting, Fallin said she opposed raising the federal minimum wage “because I’m concerned that it would destroy jobs, and especially small business owners can’t afford to increase their minimum wage.”
Oklahoma House is partly chilly on funding American Indian Museum
A state Senate proposal to use $40 million from the state’s Unclaimed Property Fund to help complete Oklahoma City’s American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is receiving a chilly reception among state House Republicans. House Speaker Jeff Hickman said it is a matter of priorities for House Republicans during a tight budget year, when the Legislature has $188 million less to appropriate than it did last year. “When you have a $188 million hole, I think it’s going to be difficult to explain to our corrections employees how we were able to put $40 million into a museum and yet couldn’t address the crisis there or the issues we have in DHS or other areas of state government,” he said.
How $5 million was spent on Capitol renovations
The draperies cost more than $2,500 per window. The ornate light fixtures were donated. And most of the vinyl chairs in the new Senate Assembly Room cost $645 each. Oklahoma’s state Capitol is crumbling, but some of it, including legislators’ offices, has been renovated with more than $5 million of taxpayer money. Those renovations and how to fund them have lawmakers facing a delicate balance.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Gov. Fallin’s proposal to merge museums with Tourism Department draws puzzlement
The governor’s recent recommendation to merge five state agencies into the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department has a pair of Claremore museums concerned. In Gov. Mary Fallin’s State of the State speech earlier this month, she recommended consolidating the Oklahoma Arts Council, J.M. Davis Memorial Commission, Oklahoma Historical Society, Will Rogers Memorial Commission and Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission into the Tourism Department. Fallin projected a 15 percent cost savings from the move.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Phil Busey: Oklahoma’s tax, budget policies make no sense
Tax cuts sound great. And in Oklahoma our governor and Legislature are all about cuts. But at some time we will have to pay the piper. Further cuts make no sense right now. The issues are several fold. The budget process in Oklahoma is short term. Some decisions are purely politically driven. What happened to business reason? There seems to be no long-range strategic plan considering overall impacts of cuts on services and magically, if we reduce taxes an increase in business and sales will make up the difference. It sounds like trickle-down economics, but there are too many variables. You could not run a business this way.
Read more from The Edmond Sun.
David Blatt: Tax rate has nothing to do with Oklahoma’s competitive advantage
When business leaders are asked what they look for when they decide where to invest and create jobs, the answer is clear. They want a workforce with the right set of skills and education. They want reliable infrastructure to move people and goods. They want healthy and safe communities. Having the lowest state income tax comes up rarely, if ever. A majority of Oklahomans agree. In a survey conducted last year, 68 percent of respondents said a well-trained and educated workforce was most important for attracting businesses to Oklahoma, compared with just 24 percent who said low personal income tax rates.
Quote of the Day
There seems to be no long-range strategic plan considering overall impacts of cuts on services and magically, if we reduce taxes an increase in business and sales will make up the difference. It sounds like trickle-down economics, but there are too many variables. You could not run a business this way.
-Phil Busey, CEO of the Busey Group of Companies in Oklahoma City, who writing in The Edmond Sun about why further tax cuts make no sense right now (Source: http://bit.ly/1doza91)
Number of the Day
242
The number of alcohol-related fatal car crashes in Oklahoma in 2012, 37.7 percent of all fatal car crashes that year.
Source: Oklahoma Department of Public Safety
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Why wage hikes should be all the rage
Airports are doing it. Big retailers are doing it. Cities are getting in on the action too. Earlier this month, I even got to see the President of the United States do it. Raising wages for low-paid workers is shaping up to be the hot new trend – and the evidence suggests it will have powerful positive effects on working people, their families, and the health of our economy as a whole. Maintaining a floor on the labor market is a basic workplace standard we’ve allowed to erode at our peril, and raising wages at the bottom is also a critical step toward addressing the inequality corroding our society. At the same time, the growing momentum behind minimum wage hikes provides a chance to consider what it would really take to lift up low-paid jobs and to listen to the workers who are calling for more.
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