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Today you should know that the Tulsa World is publishing an in-depth series on a high-poverty school that was given an ‘F’ on the state’s A-F grading system. The latest story in the series looks at how high teacher turnover is wreaking havoc at the school. House members says they want a commitment from the governor and Senate to fund targeted state worker pay increases this year before signing off on a pension overhaul bill.
Eight judicial reform bills that T.W. Shannon touted before stepping down as House Speaker did not make it through committee. Governor Fallin said she will not release key e-mails related to her decision to refuse federal funds for Medicaid until after she leaves office. The Oklahoma State Board of Education’s meeting in Enid Thursday violated the Open Meetings Act, forcing the board to meet again to vote on several items that are invalid.
A bill was approved in House committee that would give a tax credit to Oklahomans for going without health insurance. The credit would be equal to any tax penalties assessed by the federal government for not having insurance. Tulsa World editor Julie DelCour discussed the consequences of Oklahoma’s underfunding of mental health treatment. Oklahoma Watch discussed how Oklahoma and other Republican-led states rely more on federal funds because we have higher poverty.
More than a dozen Oklahoma business leaders are joining hundreds more nationwide urging Congress to pass immigration reform. Chesapeake Energy Corp. posted a net loss of $159 million this quarter. The company announced this week that it is looking to sell or spinoff its oil-field service business. Oklahoma State University settled a federal lawsuit by an anti-abortion student group. The group sued after being denied permission to display photos of aborted fetuses in high-traffic areas of campus.
The Number of the Day is the percentage increase in corporate income tax refunds paid out by Oklahoma through January this fiscal year, compared to the same period last year. In today’s policy note, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities discussed a new federal program that could make high-poverty schools hunger free.
In The News
Teacher turnover wreaks havoc at high-challenge schools
It’s the last Monday in January, with little more than two months before students will begin taking state-mandated tests, and Hawthorne Principal Estella Bitson opens the weekly faculty meeting with more bad news. “Ms. Grinder is not coming back,” she said. The departed third-grade teacher is the latest of five teacher vacancies Hawthorne has had to grapple with since students returned from winter break. A Tulsa World analysis of teacher turnover rates over the past four years in Tulsa Public Schools shows that Hawthorne has the third-highest four-year average among graded schools in the district at 26 percent. It was tied for second highest turnover last year at 41 percent.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Read more from this project: “Inside an ‘F’ School”
House leaders want pension overhaul linked to targeted pay increases
Members of the state House of Representatives would like a commitment from the governor and Senate to fund targeted pay increases this year before signing off on a pension overhaul bill, state Rep. Leslie Osborn, R-Mustang, said. “I think the dollars are there. We may just have to make some hard decisions in other areas,” said Osborn, author of a bill to revamp the state’s employee compensation system. Osborn has the support of House Speaker Jeff Hickman. “I don’t think we can simply reform the pension plans now and tell our state employees, ‘We’ll get to the salary issue later,’” said Hickman, R-Fairview.
Senate candidate TW Shannon’s judicial reform bills sink in shuffle
The judicial reform package U.S. Senate candidate T.W. Shannon touted as speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives was apparently lost in the House’s leadership shuffle. As speaker, Shannon expressed exasperation with the state courts, and especially the Supreme Court, for frequently ruling legislative actions unconstitutional. Shannon filed at least eight bills intended to curb it through changes in the way justices are chosen and how long they can stay on the bench. All eight judicial reform measures died in committee on Thursday, the first deadline of the legislative session.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Fallin to release withheld emails after leaving office
Thirty-one documents related to the Affordable Care Act that Gov. Mary Fallin has refused to release and that are the subject of a lawsuit against her will be archived and made available to the public after Fallin leaves office, her spokesman said. Fallin’s office, however, has not yet decided whether to stipulate that release of the archived records be delayed for a certain period after her term ends. The documents could be released sooner if Fallin loses a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and a media website seeking the records, but it’s not clear when that case will be resolved. If Fallin were to delay the archives release, she would be the first governor to set such a condition that state archivists are aware of.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Education Board’s meeting violated Open Meetings law
The Oklahoma State Board of Education’s meeting in Enid Thursday may have violated the Open Meetings Act, forcing the board to meet again Tuesday to vote on several items that are invalid, because not enough notice was given to the public. Board members originally scheduled their Thursday meeting in Oklahoma City, but only notified the secretary of state of the location change a day before coming to Enid. According to state law, any change in the agenda must be submitted 10 days in advance of the meeting. State Department of Education spokesman Phil Bacharach said it “would appear to be the case” that the notification went out too late.
Read more from the Enid News & Eagle.
Oklahoma bill would offer tax credit for not having health insurance
The state would offset the financial loss to Oklahomans penalized for refusing to participate in Obamacare under a bill that passed the House Appropriations and Budget Committee late Wednesday. House Bill 3364 by Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, would create a tax credit that Oklahoma taxpayers could use to offset any fines imposed against them by the federal government for refusing to pay for health insurance through the program for tax year 2014.
The consequences of doing less for the mentally ill
Oklahoma is a state with enormous mental health issues, ranking No. 2 nationally in the number of adults suffering mental illness. Twenty-one percent of adult Oklahomans reported having a mental health issue in the past year and 12 percent experienced a substance abuse issue. Last year, ODMHSAS stretched its $155 million budget to provide help to 182,000 individuals. “But this is only 182,000 of the 700,000 to 950,000 in need,” Terri White, agency commissioner, told a packed legislative hearing when she requested the extra $21 million to pay bills not there the year before.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Federal funds reliance compared to poverty
Oklahoma’s dependence on federal funds may be attributable in part to its higher-than-average poverty rate, according to a new analysis by State Treasurer Ken Miller’s office. Revisiting a subject that raised eyebrows at the Capitol a month ago, Miller’s analysis says socioeconomic factors may help explain why state government depends on Washington, D.C., to finance more than a third of its direct spending. It was accompanied by charts showing that Oklahoma’s poverty rate is the nation’s 16th highest, and its rate of educational attainment 40th among the 50 states.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Oklahoma business leaders call for immigration reform
More than a dozen Oklahoma business leaders are joining hundreds more nationwide urging Congress to pass an overhaul of the country’s laws on immigration. The 15 Oklahomans are among 636 business owners and leaders who signed a joint letter on Wednesday to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner calling for immigration reform. The letter was released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Read more from Public Radio Tulsa.
Chesapeake Energy posts $159 million quarterly loss
Chesapeake Energy Corp. posted a net loss of $159 million, or 24 cents a share, for the fourth quarter as it continues to transform itself into a simpler company focused on developing its assets rather than seeking new ones. Chesapeake announced this week that it is looking to sell or spinoff its oil-field service business. Chesapeake has long boasted one of the most impressive asset portfolios in the industry, but investors eventually tired of the company’s free-spending ways.
OSU settles with anti-abortion group in civil rights lawsuit
Oklahoma State University officials and an anti-abortion student group reached a settlement in a federal civil rights lawsuit Friday, part of which stipulates OSU must change its code of conduct and pay legal fees to an organization involved in a federal lawsuit fighting same-sex marriage in Oklahoma. Last January, Cowboys for Life sued Kent Sampson, OSU’s director of Campus Life, and multiple other OSU figures on allegations the school violated the group’s First Amendment rights in October 2012 when members were unable to display photos of aborted fetuses in high-traffic areas of campus and hand passers-by literature about abortions.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
Parents send us the best they have. They want us to educate their children, but it’s very hard for our students to be at their best when they have no food consistently at home or the proper clothing to come to school. They’re like little adults with adult worries, and they don’t know how to be the child they are.
-Principal Estella Bitson of Hawthorne Elementary, a high-poverty school in north Tulsa (Source: http://bit.ly/1dTbVUG)
Number of the Day
239 percent
Percentage increase in corporate income tax refunds paid out by Oklahoma through January this fiscal year, compared to the same period last year.
Source: Oklahoma Policy Institute
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Making high-poverty schools hunger free
With nearly 16 million children in households that have trouble affording enough nutritious food at some point during the year, several states are taking advantage of a new federal option to reduce hunger and streamline their school meal programs. More schools should think about this new option, which will become available to qualifying school districts nationwide for the next school year. Those 16 million children are a powerful reminder of why we must make sure that every child who needs school meals gets them. The new option, known as community eligibility, allows schools or school districts where the vast majority of students are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price meals to serve free breakfasts and lunches to all children.
Read more from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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