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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.
The number of schools deemed failing by the Oklahoma State Department of Education soared from 163 to 200 after the state Board of Education voted to certify the 2014 A-F school grade cards. The Peckham School District in northern Oklahoma has gone from an A district to an F in two years, which the superintendents attributes to the district enrolling many special needs transfers. A heavily-Hispanic Oklahoma City Elementary School has begun a new dual-language program, teaching simultaneously in English and Spanish. The OK Policy Blog previously discussed why Oklahoma needs bilingual education in schools to close gaps for English Language Learners.
The full Oklahoma Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on October 14 in attorney Jerry Fent’s constitutional challenge to cutting income tax rates. The OK Policy Blog previously discussed how Fent’s legal challenge could dramatically change the politics of tax cuts in Oklahoma. KJRH reported that Oklahoma is paying 75 percent of ad revenue from blue highway signs to a private contractor, a far higher percentage than other states contracting with the company. The economy in Oklahoma’s two largest metropolitan areas outpaced national growth in 2013. David Blatt’s Journal Record column shared the story of a conservative businessman who has become a champion of increasing the minimum wage.
The Tahlequah Daily Press wrote that comments by state Rep. John Bennett (R-Sallisaw) are advancing unfounded hatred and suspicion against Muslims. State prison officials are seeking to dismiss a federal lawsuit that argues journalists should have an unobstructed view of Oklahoma’s executions. Oklahoma Watch reported that the witness brought in by state Rep. Mike Christian to make a case for executing prisoners using nitrogen gas is not a doctor, but he was involved with Rep. Christian’s 2010 campaign for state House. Tulsa County Assessor Ken Yazel suggested in a public meeting Monday that the county might consider hanging people in the city square as a means of reducing crime.
The Number of the Day is the percentage of Oklahoma pregnant women who receive first trimester prenatal care. In today’s Policy Note, the Center for American Progress shows that the share of national income going to corporate after-tax profits has reached an all-time high.
In The News
New A-F school grades released; ‘F’ grades skyrocket following testing changes
The number of schools deemed failing by the Oklahoma State Department of Education soared from 163 to 200 Wednesday after the state Board of Education voted to certify the 2014 A-F school grade cards during a special meeting. School leaders pointed to numerous factors that combined to force school and district grades lower. For the first time, all but the most disabled special education students took the same tests as non-disabled students rather than a modified exam. And, in eighth-grade math, test scores suffered widely when many advanced students moved to take the state’s high school exit exam in Algebra I.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
School district with large special-needs population goes from “A” school to “F” school in two years
The public school report cards are in and more schools in Oklahoma are failing. GRADES: Check your school’s grade here Just two years ago Peckham Schools, just west of Newkirk, got an “A” but today they failed. The district says it’s because they take students no one else will. Over the past few years Peckham has started accepting more and more special needs transfers. Those students have to take the same test everyone else does. The superintendent says that’s why they’re failing.
Oklahoma City Elementary School begins dual language program
Teaching two languages at the same time is a new approach for the Oklahoma City Public School District. In four years, the district has enrolled nearly 4,000 more students whose first language is Spanish, going from merely 10,000 in 2009 to just under 14,000. For the Oklahoma City Public School District, this is truly the first of its kind. A dual language approach they hope bridges the gap between schools and a growing city. Inside Heronville Elementary School you’ll find Ms. Hernandez’ pre-K class. It’s like any other, until you listen. Not Spanish, not English, but both. They’re teaching a new dual approach, and Heronville, with 8 out of 10 students Hispanic, is the perfect place to start.
Previously: Action Items for Education: Focus on English Language Learners from the OK Policy Blog
State’s high court to hear challenge to income tax cut
The full Oklahoma Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in attorney Jerry Fent’s constitutional challenge to cutting income tax rates. The measure calls for reducing the top marginal state income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 4.85 percent over a two-year period. The justices will give each side 30 minutes to make its case regarding Senate Bill 1246 on Oct. 14. They have already been heard by a court referee. Often, the Supreme Court decides legal challenges after reviewing a referee’s report and accompanying court records, without hearing oral arguments.
Read more from the Journal Record.
Previously: Tax cut legal challenges could be game changers from the OK Policy Blog
Oklahoma sending most revenue from highway ads to private firm
Blue highway signs let drivers know where they can fill up on gas, food and road trip essentials. Helpful for drivers, the signs can be much more than that for some states: A big money maker. The companies listed on the signs pay for the advertising. In fact, companies spend roughly $1.4 million each year in the state of Oklahoma to do so. The state owns the highways, but despite owning the land, last year Oklahoma Department of Transportation only received about a fourth of the revenue generated from advertising on the signs. Kenna Carmon, a spokesperson for ODOT, says by law they must contract out the sign work to a private company.
Oklahoma City, Tulsa metro economic growth jumps ahead of national average
The economy in Oklahoma’s two largest metropolitan areas outpaced national growth in 2013, according to figures released Tuesday from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. Oklahoma City’s metro area economy grew 3.9 percent from 2012 to 2013, the bureau said in its analysis of gross domestic product. Tulsa’s metro economy grew 3.5 percent. On average, the nation’s metro areas grew 1.7 percent in that period. Growth in the metro areas of Lawton and Fort Smith, Ark. — which includes parts of eastern Oklahoma — was more in line with the national average. The Lawton area’s economy grew 1.7 percent, while Fort Smith’s grew 1.8 percent from 2012 to 2013.
Prosperity Policy: Minimum is not enough
Ron Unz is a wealthy Silicon Valley businessman who gained prominence in the 1990s by leading a ballot initiative that largely eliminated bilingual education in California. He then became publisher of the American Conservative, a libertarian-leaning magazine. This year, he gained attention for a cause not usually associated with conservative businessmen. He led an effort to raise California’s minimum hourly wage to $12 by 2016. That would make it the highest in the nation.
Read more from the Journal Record.
Peace possible only if we reach out to people of other faiths
State Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, recently put out a press release making inflammatory statements about the Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Among them was the assertion that people should be “wary of individuals who claim to be Muslim American.” Though Bennett’s comments were denounced by the Oklahoma arms of the NAACP and the ACLU, their disapproval will be shrugged off as shrill pronouncements from out-of-touch liberal organizations. But the Oklahoma Council of Churches also gave him a thumbs-down, as well it should – because if Bennett is claiming to be a Christian, his message is conveying anything but the love of neighbor Christ preached.
Read more from the Tahlequah Daily Press.
Prison officials ask court to dismiss lawsuit over media access to executions
State prison officials sought Tuesday to dismiss a federal lawsuit that argues journalists should have an unobstructed view of Oklahoma’s executions. A lawsuit filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union and two publications seeks to expand access to executions and give journalists who witness “unprecedented privileges,” argued a response filed Tuesday on behalf of Oklahoma prison officials. The ACLU lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Western District of Oklahoma, comes in response to the April 29 botched execution of Clayton Lockett. The organization seeks to stop Oklahoma prison officials from hiding any portions of an execution from media witnesses, on behalf of The Guardian US and The Oklahoma Observer.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Unspoken: Political ties of expert witness at execution hearing
State Rep. Mike Christian told a House committee Tuesday that he favors dropping lethal injection and instead using an inert gas, such as nitrogen or helium, to execute condemned prisoners. To examine the method, Christian said he turned to the criminal justice department at East Central University in Ada. Thus, at the hearing, Michael Copeland, an ECU criminal justice professor and attorney, told lawmakers that he had reviewed research on the potential of nitrogen or helium to cause death by hypoxia and found that either gas was a humane and effective method of executing prisoners. What Copeland and Christian did not tell the House Judiciary Committee was that Copeland was involved in Christian’s 2010 campaign for the state House.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Tulsa County assessor suggests public hangings as way to reduce crime
Tulsa County Assessor Ken Yazel suggested in a public meeting Monday that the county might consider hanging people in the city square as a means of reducing crime. Speaking during a Budget Board meeting, Yazel prefaced his remarks by saying that in the 1970s an official he described as a black Los Angeles mayor proposed hanging kidnappers in the city square as a way to end hijackings. Yazel said his remarks Monday were made after a long discussion regarding scheduling of jury trials, jail overcrowding and its associated costs, and ways to reduce crime.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“Society will ultimately have to act against the scourge of extremism rooted in Islam and other faiths, but to achieve this, we will need the help of like-minded allies in those faith communities. Many Muslims abhor violence and have rejected certain militant aspects of the Quran, just as many Jews and Christians have set aside similar tenets in the Hebrew Old Testament. Politicians like Bennett are not doing anyone any favors; they’re only helping to advance the hatred and suspicion that leads one group of people to demonize and eventually attack another merely because of differing philosophies.”
-The Tahlequah Daily Press editorial board, responding to comments by state Rep. John Bennett (R-Sallisaw) that Christians “should be wary of Muslim-Americans” and that the Islamic faith “is a cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out” (Source: http://bit.ly/1mdfZtb)
Number of the Day
65.5 percent
Percentage of Oklahoma pregnant women who receive first trimester prenatal care. The national average is 73.1 percent.
Source: Oklahoma State Department of Health
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Corporate profits and taxes
While middle-class and low-income Americans struggle to get by, corporate profits are soaring. In 2013, corporate after-tax profits consumed a record-breaking 11.2 percent of total national income. Between 1946 and 2010, after-tax corporate profits always remained below 10 percent of national income, but 2013 was the fourth consecutive year in which corporate profits exceeded 10 percent of national income. CorporateProfitsTaxes_fig1 Meanwhile, corporate income taxes only constituted about 10 percent of total federal revenues collected in fiscal year 2013, which is right in line with their average contribution since FY 1980 but down sharply from earlier decades, when corporations contributed double or triple that percentage.
Read more from the Center for American Progress.
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