Articles

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.

Annually, billions of dollars are lost—and stolen—from taxpayers and the truly needy through spending on ineligible Medicaid recipients. Some of the dollars are lost through outdated systems and auditing practices by the state, others through blatant fraudulent and criminal behavior.

Some Oklahoma lawmakers are looking to wage war against SQ 640, claiming it confines government by making any revenue-raising measures impossible to pass. But that’s not true.

Oklahoma needs greater transparency, an all-funds budget, and a streamlined revenue-estimation process.

In 2018 much of the focus in the state Capitol building will be on building a budget. But in this issue of Perspective, we urge policymakers to remember the larger imperative: building a state.