Articles
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Health Care
‘Nonbinary’ settlement draws strong pushback from Stitt
A reported court settlement agreed to by officials at the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which created a process for designating an individual’s sex as “nonbinary” on Oklahoma birth certificates, has drawn swift condemnation from Gov. Kevin Stitt and other officials.Ray Carter | October 21, 2021
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Law & Principles
McGirt leads to another reservation ruling
The fallout of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma has led to yet another court ruling that formally re-established another reservation in Oklahoma—the land of the Quapaw Nation in northeast Oklahoma—compounding the jurisdictional chaos that critics say has severely reduced public safety in those areas.Ray Carter | October 21, 2021
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Education
Quality, not seniority, stressed for teacher pay
Among the reasons Oklahoma struggles to retain quality teachers is that existing financial incentives encourage teachers to leave the classroom and that basing teacher salaries on seniority, rather than performance, discourages good teachers and leads them to quickly abandon the profession, officials told lawmakers during a recent study.Ray Carter | October 21, 2021
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Education
OSSBA declines to publicly condemn attack on parents
The head of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association said his group is not planning to publicly condemn the National School Boards Association’s recent request that parent protesters at school board meetings be investigated by federal officials under anti-terrorism laws.Ray Carter | October 21, 2021
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Education
Activist groups file lawsuit against HB 1775
A coalition of activist groups has filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Oklahoma state law that prohibits public schools from teaching children that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.”Ray Carter | October 20, 2021
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Education
School diversity officers associated with worse achievement
Nationwide, K-12 schools are hiring chief diversity officers to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, typically in the name of reducing racial achievement gaps.Ray Carter | October 19, 2021
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Education
O’Connor sides with Edmond parents in quarantine dispute
Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has sided with parents in a legal dispute over Edmond Public Schools’ policy of requiring healthy, unvaccinated students to be quarantined when similarly situated vaccinated students are not.Ray Carter | October 18, 2021
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Law & Principles
Stitt, O’Connor vow to fight Biden vaccine mandate
Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said the state is prepared to fight the private-business COVID vaccine mandate recently announced by President Joe Biden.Ray Carter | October 14, 2021
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Higher Education
Oklahoma colleges rank low in free-speech report
A new national report shows that Oklahoma’s top two universities trail most of their national peers when it comes to having a pro-free-speech environment on campus.Ray Carter | October 13, 2021
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Education
OSSBA silent as counterparts reject ‘terrorism’ rhetoric
State school board associations from across the nation are publicly condemning the National School Boards Association’s call for parents who object to Critical Race Theory to be investigated under anti-terrorism laws.Ray Carter | October 13, 2021