Articles

Building on the the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program for Children with Disabilities success—and with an eye toward breaking the intergenerational cycle of incarceration—lawmakers in 2018 should create a new program providing scholarships for the children of incarcerated parents.

In 2015 a very important piece of legislation, House Bill 1748, required Oklahoma state agencies to publicly report the amount of federal funding they receive and the strings attached to that money. The measure passed overwhelmingly in both chambers.

The time has come to reform TSET in two ways. First, new tobacco settlement dollars should be redirected to high-priority health care needs (rural hospitals, care for veterans, etc.). Second, TSET’s endowment should be reduced, capped, and limited to helping people quit smoking and to health care needs related to smoking (what most people thought TSET was about in the first place).

The legislature should repeal its zero-emission tax credit for all sources of zero-emission power, not just wind.

Because taxing income means disincentivizing paid work, OCPA advocates shifting the state of Oklahoma away from reliance on income taxes. Moreover, state lawmakers should eliminate the possibility of local income taxes within Oklahoma—while allowing city governments to access available and stable sources of revenue to support the legitimate ends of local government.

Helping teachers and students succeed is a goal we all share, a goal that matters most for Oklahoma’s most vulnerable young people. Getting public policy right in the area of education includes respecting teachers and freeing them from the shackles of old, outmoded systems.

Oklahoma has two private-school choice programs which are benefiting students. In 2018, policymakers should expand them and enact new ones.

In Oklahoma and across the nation, we’ve been trying to improve education by tightening regulations on schools. The irony is that better educational results actually come from giving more freedom and responsibility to schools, principals, and parents—which means relaxing central control.

What challenges do children with parents in prison face? Ask Robin Khoury, founder and director of Little Light Christian School in Oklahoma City:

Oklahoma incarcerates women at double the rate of Thailand. Our female incarceration rate is not just the highest in the U.S., it’s the highest on the planet.