Topic: Education

Increasing breakfast in the classroom participation can help kids learn while strengthening school budgets

By: Maggie Den Harder
March 2, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Maggie Den Harder is an intern with Oklahoma Policy Institute and a Masters of Public Administration student at the University of Oklahoma – Tulsa. Experts agree that a healthy breakfast is crucial for children to grow and learn. However, in… Read more [More...]

Where teacher raises are needed most

By: Gene Perry
March 1, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
If there’s one thing Oklahoma citizens and political leaders of both major parties agree on, it’s that our state’s teachers need a raise. Republican leaders in the House and the Senate both say a teacher raise is at the top of their… Read more [More...]

The politics of revenue raising matters for health care and teachers (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
February 24, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. There are couple of big issues starting their trek through the legislative process, and the… Read more [More...]

2017 Legislative Policy Priorities

By: Gene Perry
February 9, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
At OK Policy, our core mission is to encourage state policy changes that ensure responsible funding of public services and expanded opportunity for all Oklahomans. To that end, we’ve identified a number of policies as top priorities in Oklahoma’s 2017 legislative session. Read more... [More...]

2017 Policy Priority: Increase teacher pay

By: Gene Perry
// Updated: May 2, 2019
See the full list of our 2017 policy priorities Download this fact sheet as a pdf Background Oklahoma’s average teacher pay and benefits is among the very lowest in the nation and well below surrounding states. This noncompetitive pay damages… Read more [More...]

Statement: With failure of SQ 779, lawmakers must take responsibility for restoring school funding

By: Gene Perry
November 8, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement on the failure of SQ 779, the sales tax increase for education: SQ 779 did not reach majority support even though Oklahomans widely acknowledge that we must improve school funding. The results of this… Read more [More...]

What cuts to alternative education mean for individual lives. Lives such as mine. (Guest Post)

By: Guest
November 3, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The author of this post, a Tulsa-born social worker and parent of three children in the  public school system, asked to remain anonymous We hear a lot about the cuts to public programs that have been made in recent years as a result of… Read more [More...]

Fact Check: The claim that less than half of SQ 779 revenues will go to teachers is false

By: David Blatt
November 1, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
A central claim being made by opponents of State Question 779, the ballot measure that would increase the sales tax by one percentage point to boost funding for education, is that less than half the money will go to raise… Read more [More...]

When K-12 schools are underfunded… (Guest post: Elizabeth Smith)

By: Guest
October 31, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Elizabeth Smith is the planning director for the Yale National Initiative at the University of Tulsa, a partnership between TU, Tulsa Public Schools, and Yale University to strengthen teaching in Tulsa schools.  She recently completed a Ph.D. in Public Policy,… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s $1.3 billion school funding gap (Capitol Updates)

By: Steve Lewis
October 28, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. There was more bad news this week that Oklahoma, for the third straight year, had… Read more [More...]