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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.
Students at Norman High School are planning to walk out today in a protest of the school’s response to bullying and rape allegations. The students have released a list of changes they are asking for from the school district. Jezebel shared the story of the rapes and how three teenage victims were bullied out of school. An associated with Human Rights Watch wrote an op-ed charging that the Tulsa Police Department is not taking rape investigations seriously.
Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger has told state agencies that budgets will not be cut as the result of an attorney general’s opinion that the Legislature illegally transferred money out of a revolving fund for uncompensated care. On the OK Policy Blog, Steve Lewis discussed predictions that Oklahomans is headed for another “flat” state budget year. SCOTUSblog discussed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s request to argue against health care subsidies going to Oklahomans before the U.S. Supreme Court. If Pruitt’s challenge succeeds, about 55,000 Oklahomans could lose access to affordable health coverage.
In an Oklahoman op-ed, OK Policy Executive Director David Blatt made recommendations for Governor Fallin’s second term. The Oklahoman reported that Gov. Fallin and legislators are looking more supportive of criminal justice reform in the coming legislative session. The Tulsa World reported that among those who were exonerated after being wrongfully convicted of serious crimes in Oklahoma, few have ever received compensation from the state. An in-depth investigation by The Guardian looks at changes in access to an abortion in Oklahoma and nearby states.
Tulsa Public Schools and the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association have come to a deal on contracts that will provide an average $400 salary increase for teachers. Two Tulsa first-grade teachers are standing by their refusal to give their students high-stakes tests, despite the risk to their jobs. The U.S. Department of Interior filed a lawsuit to stop a wind farm project in Osage County, which the Departments says is breaking the law by damaging and destroying rocks that belong to the Osage Nation. A trade association says wind power saved electricity customers in Oklahoma and surrounding states more than $1.2 billion last year.
The Number of the Day is the median annual wage of a petroleum engineer in Oklahoma in 2013. In today’s Policy Note, the Washington Post examined an Affordable Care Act program that is helping reduce health care costs by incentivizing doctors to make house calls.
In The News
Norman Students To Protest High School’s Response To Bullying And Rape Allegations
Administrators and faculty at Norman High School are preparing for a protest by students upset with the handling of rape allegations. Scott Beck, principal of Norman High School, said in a letter to parents that sexual assault victims’ advocates were organizing the Monday protest after an alleged rape involving two students that occurred off campus two months ago.
See also: Norman HS students set for walkout, release demands from Fox25
Why Were Three Teenage Rape Victims Bullied Out of School in Oklahoma?
The audio on the recording is clear and crisp. The boy slurs his words slightly, but the sentiment is unmistakable.
Are Tulsa Police taking rape seriously enough?
Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch received a letter from a woman who explained she had been brutally gang raped by strangers in an abandoned lot in Tulsa in 1971, when she was 12 years old. Though she had been literally torn open by the assault, she wrote that “the trauma of the event was nothing compared to the trauma she received afterwards at the hands of police.”
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Agency budgets will not be cut as a result of attorney general opinion, finance secretary says
Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger has told state agencies that budgets will not be cut as the result of an attorney general’s opinion. Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, requested a legal opinion as to whether the transfer of $5 million from a fund used to reimburse providers for uncompensated care was legal. The money was moved to balance the fiscal year 2015 budget of $7.1 billion.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Managing budgets and expectations
State Finance Director Preston Doerflinger issued a press release last week saying Oklahomans should expect another “flat” state budget next year. For the first third of this fiscal year general revenue collections are about $141.5 million above last year. Assuming the trend remains the same it would mean $424.5 million in “new” money. That hardly sounds like a flat budget.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma seeks faster health care appeal
The state of Oklahoma, arguing that the Supreme Court should consider the views of a state government when it rules on the legality of federal tax subsidies to be paid to insurance-buying consumers under the Affordable Care Act, has urged the Court to review that state’s case when it considers the already granted case of King v. Burwell. Following a request by the Obama administration, Oklahoma’s case is on hold now at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, while the Justices review the King case. But Oklahoma’s attorney general, Scott Pruitt, is now seeking to bypass the appeals court with a new petition.
See also: Misguided ruling could rob health care from 55,000 Oklahomans from the OK Policy Blog
Fallin given four more years as Oklahoma governor. Now what?
As expected, Oklahoma voters have re-elected Gov. Mary Fallin to a second term. Backed by a strong Republican majority in the Legislature, the governor will have another four years to put her policies in place. Yet even those voters who were paying attention during the campaign can be forgiven for lacking a clear sense of the governor’s second-term agenda.
Is criminal justice reform in Oklahoma on the table for the 2015 legislative session?
With a pending prison population report that is expected to show the state system is well over capacity, recent talks between the governor’s office and a national nonprofit have some advocates wondering: Is 2015 the year for criminal justice reform in Oklahoma? Spokesman for the governor’s office Alex Weintz confirmed they recently met with representatives from the Council of State Governments Justice Center, a nonprofit agency that helps states implement justice reinvestment programs. The group helped the state formulate the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, and in 2012 it successfully passed through the state Legislature.
Few exonerees receive payment for wrongful convictions
What Greg Wilhoit really wanted after five years on death row was an apology from the state of Oklahoma. Sure, the money would have made a huge difference in Wilhoit’s life after being convicted of murdering his wife, losing his freedom and missing the chance to raise his two daughters. After 12 forensic experts said Wilhoit’s teeth did not match a bite mark used to convict him in 1987, an appeals court threw out his conviction.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
‘I can’t think of a time when it was worse’: US abortion doctors speak out
A couple emerge from a silver Sedan into an empty parking lot in north-eastern Dallas, Texas. They are carrying multiple bags and an elegant, three-tiered white cage, temporary home to their West African parrot, Tutu. The pair, in their late-60s and 70s, share a courtly, gentle manner and a Southern drawl, although his is more pronounced. It is a Sunday morning, and the smart brick and smoked-glass clinic they have parked outside is closed.
TPS signs deal with teachers
Congratulations to Tulsa Public Schools and the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association for coming to terms on a new contract for the current school year. The deal will mean an average increase of $400 for teachers, $500 for the district’s most senior teachers. The $1.6 million increase is retroactive to the beginning of the school year. Similar deals also have been approved with the district’s other employees.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Two teachers’ refusal to give tests puts their jobs at risk, but they say it’s worth it
Why are two first-grade teachers risking the jobs they love to take a stand against new student tests and surveys? Because they know they’re not alone. “It’s definitely not about my evaluation,” said Skelly Elementary School’s Nikki Jones. “It’s about watching kids cry and throw chairs and pee their pants and scratch their face until it turns red or they bleed. That’s what it’s about — that’s all that it’s about.”
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Lawsuit Claims Osage Wind Project Is Breaking The Law
The United States Government wants construction of an Osage County wind farm stopped immediately. The U.S. Department of Interior filed the suit late Friday, claiming Enel-Green Power, the company behind the project, is breaking the law by damaging and destroying rocks that belong to the Osage Nation. The tribe owns all the mineral rights in Osage County, which, according to the lawsuit includes limestone, sand and gravel.
Report: Wind Power Saves $1.2 Billion Each Year
A trade association says wind power saved electricity customers in Oklahoma and surrounding states more than $1.2 billion last year. The Oklahoman reports that the American Wind Energy Association analyzed hourly data from the Southwest Power Pool in 2013 and calculated when wind turbines were used to generate electricity.
Read more from Public Radio Tulsa.
Quote of the Day
“It’s definitely not about my evaluation. It’s about watching kids cry and throw chairs and pee their pants and scratch their face until it turns red or they bleed. That’s what it’s about — that’s all that it’s about.”
-First-grade teacher Nikki Jones, one of two Tulsa Public Schools teachers who are refusing to give tests and surveys they feel are inappropriate for the six year-olds they teach (Source: bit.ly/1xK5zny)
Number of the Day
$151,080
Median annual wage of a petroleum engineer in Oklahoma in 2013.
Source: OESC 2013 Wage Report.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
One doctor’s old-fashioned idea to cut health care spending: house calls
The two medical students in the back seat lurch left. Then right. Then left again. “I’m hoping you guys are not vertiginous or anything,” calls out Peter Boling, 60, as his taupe Passat carves the winding, wooded road to his afternoon house call. Boling, an affable geriatrician who looks like George Bluth but drives like Jeff Gordon, has been visiting elderly patients in their homes since 1984. In those early years, as a newly-minted faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University, he staffed a clinic in the morning and made house calls in the afternoon. Home visits, by then, already had become passé.
Read more from the Washington Post.
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