Articles
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Education
Lawmakers vote to protect teachers from lawsuits
Oklahoma government would pay for insurance policies that protect teachers from frivolous lawsuits under legislation that advanced from committee on a party-line vote.Ray Carter | February 15, 2022
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Education
Parent empowerment bill wins committee approval
Legislation that would empower parents to choose from a greater range of education options for their children has advanced from a state Senate committee.Ray Carter | February 15, 2022
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Good Government
Predicting congressional elections
The partisan control of Congress is more a matter of self-fulfilling predictions than a matter of competitive elections.Rick Farmer, Ph.D. | February 15, 2022
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Education
Driving students away reaps benefit for public schools
Data released by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association indicates that Oklahoma public schools directly or indirectly reap as much as $534 million annually for students they don’t serve.Ray Carter | February 14, 2022
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Law & Principles
Hughes County sheriff says tribe ignoring McGirt duties, crime victims
Since the U.S. Supreme Court upended law-enforcement jurisdiction throughout most of eastern Oklahoma with its McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling, tribal government officials have claimed they will fill much of the resulting law-enforcement gap.Ray Carter | February 11, 2022
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Law & Principles
Defending McGirt, tribal leaders ignore, dismiss Indian victims
In their efforts to defend the McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling that Gov. Kevin Stitt wants curtailed or overturned, Oklahoma tribal leaders have increasingly taken an unexpected tack. They often ignore—and in one high-profile case appeared to dismiss as “made up”—the plight of tribal citizens who are victims of crimes that may now go unpunished because of McGirt.Ray Carter | February 10, 2022
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Education
Putting Oklahoma parents in charge of education
Today in Oklahoma, parents fall into two camps. One camp has the financial resources to move to another school district or independently pay for private school if a local district isn’t working out for their child. The other camp must endure problems and hope things somehow improve because those families don’t have the finances to get their children out of a geographically assigned school.Jonathan Small | February 10, 2022
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Culture & the Family
Hofmeister backed by tribes, casinos
Individuals and entities associated with two groups substantially intertwined in Oklahoma—tribal governments and casinos—represented a significant share of donations to the Democratic gubernatorial campaign of Joy Hofmeister in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a report filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.Ray Carter | February 9, 2022
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Education, Law & Principles
Lawmakers seek answers for teacher exits
Reports of a teacher shortage in Oklahoma have long been blamed on pay levels, yet the shortage has persisted even after massive salary increases in recent years.Ray Carter | February 8, 2022
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Culture & the Family
Paycom employees boost Democratic campaign
Paycom officials represent a substantial share of fourth-quarter donations to Joy Hofmeister’s gubernatorial campaign, making the company a significant player in the Democratic Party’s effort to win an election for Oklahoma governor for the first time since 2006.Ray Carter | February 8, 2022