Articles
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Education
Get the facts about Oklahoma education finance
Because meaningful debate relies on good information, OCPA operates an education finance data tool. The web-based tool is available to the public at no cost here, and makes it easy to find financial information about Oklahoma’s public schools.Curtis Shelton | February 13, 2018
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Education
Private schools, public benefit
Americans instinctively dislike monopolies, even rail against Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Whatever. These have a modicum of competition. There is one monopoly, however, that government not only allows, it controls. I’m talking, of course, about Big Learning.Jonathan Small | February 9, 2018
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Budget & Tax
Four questions as session begins
Actions speak louder than words, but what they tell us is not always obvious. What do our elected officials believe? What are they really trying to do? Here are four questions to ask as we watch the legislative process unfold.Trent England | February 6, 2018
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Education
Private placements benefit high-needs students
Mike Brake | February 5, 2018
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Budget & Tax, Education
Going backward on education transparency
Putting a veil around total education expenses is a step backward in the debate over total state spending. An honest debate on public education funding calls for more transparency, not less.Curtis Shelton | February 2, 2018
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Budget & Tax, Criminal Justice
Back to basics
On Monday, Gov. Mary Fallin will deliver her final State of the State address to open the 2018 legislative session. For the governor in her final year in office, and for the Legislature in the second year of session, there’s plenty of unfinished business.Jonathan Small | February 2, 2018
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Judicial Reform
Three important judicial reforms
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court district boundaries have not changed since the 1960s. While people have moved around, those lines have stayed the same for half a century. This isn’t merely unfair—it also hurts the quality of our judiciary for basic reasons described by James Madison.Trent England | January 30, 2018
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Education
Give school districts flexibility to raise teacher pay
Oklahoma’s education system is enjoying near-record revenues. Unfortunately, as OCPA’s education data tool makes clear, too much of the money is cordoned off in silos.Brandon Dutcher | January 30, 2018
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Education
Create scholarships for children of incarcerated parents
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.Brandon Dutcher | January 30, 2018
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Budget & Tax
Finish the job on federal-funds transparency
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.Brandon Dutcher | January 30, 2018