Grocery prices continue to rise, but fewer Oklahomans are receiving help buying food. Since July 2025, more than 130,000 Oklahomans have lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits — a decline of more than 19 percent.
For families losing assistance,…
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By:
Steve Lewis
September 21, 2026 // Updated: September 21, 2026
The House County and Municipal Government Committee held an interim study (IS 26-50) last week requested by Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Yukon, to study the growing challenges for counties in Oklahoma to balance increasing service demands with constrained revenue. Kelley is…
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A new report the best way to address chronic absenteeism is for schools to work with parents, students, and community partners, rather than rely on punitive measures.
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the state superintendent announced that the Oklahoma Department of Education would be issuing guidance to school districts to identify costs and resources associated with educating undocumented immigrant children. OK Policy wants to ensure that Oklahomans understand the historical context — see Plyler v Doe (1982) — about the right of every child in this country to receive a free, public education.
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By:
Paul Shinn
August 16, 2023 // Updated: August 21, 2025
While this program could make private and homeschooling more practical or affordable for a few families, taxpayers will mostly be paying for people to do what they were willing to pay for on their own. As a result, we’ll be handing millions of tax dollars to the most well-off among us while propping up private schools, whose enrollment has stagnated in recent years.
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By:
Paul Shinn
April 26, 2023 // Updated: August 21, 2025
Oklahoma legislators are considering several unpredictable, expensive, and dangerous proposals to drastically change our state education policy. These proposals would use tax dollars to fund private education for fewer than 1 in 10 Oklahoma children and take funding from public schools.
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Changes to funding our educational system — especially sweeping changes that could cascade negative fiscal impacts to other state agencies and programs — should be based on reliable data and should include input from Oklahoma parents and caregivers. Here are 10 questions we think lawmakers should be asked about these proposals. (And as with any math problem, lawmakers should be asked to show their work.)
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By:
Guest
December 5, 2022 // Updated: December 5, 2022
This guest post was written by Michelle Dennison, Vice President of Policies and Prevention at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, and Julie Seward, the Oral Health Programs Manager at the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board.
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Oklahoma does…
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By:
Dave Hamby
August 8, 2022 // Updated: August 8, 2022
Data from 2020 show nearly 1 in 8 Oklahoma children reported anxiety or depression, according to new Annie E. Casey Foundation report
2022 KIDS COUNT Data Book
Oklahoma 2022 KIDS COUNT Fact Sheet
Oklahoma KIDS COUNT Data Map dashboard
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Due to underfunding, Oklahoma’s child care system for providers and families was in crisis long before the first COVID-19 case at a child care center was reported on March 18, 2020.
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