What’s unaffordable?

In her 2013 State of the State address, Governor Mary Fallin reiterated her opposition to accepting federal dollars to provide coverage to uninsured Oklahomans through Medicaid, as provided under the Affordable Care Act. In states that extend Medicaid, the federal… Read more [More...]

Severe education funding cuts threaten Oklahoma’s economic future

Oklahoma has made some of the deepest cuts to funding for local schools of any state in the country. These cuts have serious consequences for educational quality and economic growth. Read more. [More...]

How to make college affordable? Pay It Forward

America’s status as a world power has emerged side by side with the expansion of public education. From 1910 to 1940, the U.S. led the world in the expansion of universal, publicly-funded secondary schools. Following the growth of public high… Read more [More...]

John Thompson: The A-F Report Card is just the start of the conversation about school quality

Dr. John Thompson taught for 19 years in the inner city.  He blogs for This Week in Education, the Huffington Post, School Matters, Living in Dialogue, and elsewhere.  His book, Getting Schooled: Battles Within and Without the Urban Classroom, is… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Jonathan Willner): Public school grades – what’s really being graded?

Dr. Jonathan Willner is Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at Oklahoma City University. After considerable controversy and delay, the State Department of Education released its A-F report cards for all Oklahoma public schools in late… Read more [More...]

Watch This: Dental health and school performance

Students with poor dental health are nearly three times more likely to miss school than their healthy peers. Oklahoma kids have poor oral health overall.  According to the Governor’s Task Force on Children and Oral Health:   The statewide prevalence for… Read more [More...]

What the coming federal budget cuts mean for education in Oklahoma

Last summer, Congress agreed to automatic budget cuts as part of a deal to increase the federal debt ceiling. Commonly known as sequestration, these cuts would eliminate $1.2 trillion in spending over the next decade. The cuts will be divided… Read more [More...]

School consolidation is not a new idea in Oklahoma

With education funding certain to be a major issue this next legislative session, you can be certain that “consolidation” will be suggested as a way to reduce administrative costs and put more money into children’s classrooms.  Governor Mary Fallin has… Read more [More...]

School consolidation won't fix the funding gap

Funding for Oklahoma schools has fallen dramatically in recent years, with Oklahoma spending $706 less per student in inflation-adjusted dollars than we did in FY 2008. Polls show that Oklahomans are worried about it. In response to the growing concern,… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma CountySTATS 2012

These factsheets provide quick and colorful access to key demographic, economic, and social indicators for each county in Oklahoma.  Get important county-level statistics – as well as statewide rankings and comparisons – at a glance.  Counties are listed in alphabetical… Read more [More...]