Articles
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Education, Law & Principles
How OSSAA undermines Oklahoma’s open-transfer law
Instead of letting kids play ball, OSSAA is playing games with families’ futures. Its latest move—banning four Glencoe transfers on shaky grounds—shows how the association often undermines Oklahoma’s open-transfer law.Jonathan Small | September 2, 2025
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Law & Principles
We must get uncomfortable so others can be free
At the 33rd Annual Meeting of the State Policy Network, OCPA President Jonathan Small received the 2025 Thomas A. Roe Award for Excellence in Leadership. This article is a lightly edited transcript of his remarks delivered August 27 in New Orleans.Jonathan Small | August 28, 2025
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Education
Despite more money, Oklahoma students struggle
Since 2018, Oklahoma’s per-pupil school funding has surged by 51 percent—yet student outcomes have declined. Much of Oklahoma’s education spending goes to bureaucracy rather than classrooms, with less than half of school employees being teachers.Ray Carter | August 26, 2025
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Education, Law & Principles
OSSAA faces conflict-of-interest questions in Glencoe case
Four Glencoe High School basketball players were ruled ineligible by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA). The OSSAA board vote included members from rival Class A schools that could directly benefit from sidelining Glencoe’s athletes.Ray Carter | August 25, 2025
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Law & Principles
If you hate the poor, raise the minimum wage
In Oklahoma, where market wages already exceed the state’s minimum wage, tying pay to big-city living costs in places like San Francisco would devastate Oklahoma’s rural economies.Jonathan Small | August 25, 2025
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Law & Principles
The legal and political implications of the latest OSSAA scandal
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) is again facing scrutiny. Now with parents suing, the attorney general warning, and state lawmakers growing restless, OSSAA’s heavy-handed enforcement may be setting the stage for its own undoing.Ryan Haynie | August 22, 2025
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Education, Higher Education
Lawmakers must confront higher ed, K-12 on reading crisis
In 2022, state lawmakers made it clear that hospitals don’t get the money unless they stop harmful “gender reassignment” procedures on children. Lawmakers must now tell higher ed that they don’t get the money unless they stop harmful pedagogic procedures on children.Jonathan Small | August 22, 2025
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Education
Who’s draining whom?
Oklahoma’s public-education funding is at an all-time high. Private school choice pales by comparison.Brandon Dutcher | August 22, 2025
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Education
Report ranks Oklahoma 50th in education, warns money no cure-all
WalletHub has ranked Oklahoma’s public school system 50th in the nation, even as state funding for education has increased significantly in recent years.Ray Carter | August 20, 2025
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Education, Culture & the Family
Amid state and national backlash, OSSAA still touts DEI
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) continues to tout DEI on its website, declaring that promotion of “groups that have social and cultural differences is an integral part of education-based activities” and claimed DEI is part of that effort.Ray Carter | August 20, 2025