Articles
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Higher Education
Common-Sense Higher Ed Reforms
To help bring discipline to the higher education system and to make college more affordable for students, we offer the following recommendations.Jonathan Small & Brandon Dutcher | January 1, 2017
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Education
Ed Choice Mythbusting Never Ends
Keeping up with the myths people throw around in Oklahoma and elsewhere about school choice is a full time job.Greg Forster, Ph.D. | January 1, 2017
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Education
Ed Choice Policies Will Help Revitalize Cities
Oklahoma City needs to recognize that good leadership can’t stop school assignments from concentrating poverty.Dr. Bartley R. Danielsen & Kirk Humphreys | January 1, 2017
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Education
ESAs Are a Much-Needed Refinement of the Public Education Model
Although Oklahoma may have suffered an ESA setback in 2016, the fight is far from over.Lindsey M. Burke | January 1, 2017
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Budget & Tax, Education
Raise Teacher Pay Without Raising Taxes
Oklahoma can’t afford to lose more homegrown talent to other states, whether in teaching or other professions. With SQ 779’s defeat, Oklahomans have given the Legislature the opportunity to address this urgency without further burdening working Oklahomans.Dave Bond | January 1, 2017
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Budget & Tax, Criminal Justice
How to Increase Labor Force Participation in Oklahoma
Both in Oklahoma and nationally, the labor force participation rate has modestly improved since a steep decline caused by the Great Recession, but that recovery from a cyclical decline has likely peaked.William Freeland | January 1, 2017
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Criminal Justice
Next Steps for Criminal Justice Reform
When voters passed State Questions 780 and 781, they spoke loudly and clearly to legislators, district attorneys, and other policymakers.Trent England | January 1, 2017
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Judicial Reform
Shift Power from the Elites to the People: Reform the Judicial Nominating Commission
No federal judges were on the ballot in 2016. Of course, federal judges are never on the ballot, and yet they are routinely an important subject in campaigns for President and U.S. Senate.Trent England | January 1, 2017
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Budget & Tax, Energy
It’s Time to Repeal Wind-Energy Tax Incentives
Due to the issue of global warming, or climate change, or catastrophic weather—that is, the claim this real-or-not phenomenon has resulted from mankind’s production of carbon dioxide and the resultant increase in that trace gas’s concentration in the atmosphere—the federal government and many states have encouraged investment in wind-powered electricity generation.Byron Schlomach, Ph.D. | January 1, 2017
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Education
Emergency Certification in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma State Department of Education has issued 1,082 emergency teaching certificates so far this fiscal year. Some use this data as a way to bang the drum on an alleged teacher shortage. However, a study published in October by the 1889 Institute found that the evidence of a shortage is scant.Byron Schlomach, Ph.D. | December 22, 2016