Articles

Many policymakers—including some in Oklahoma—insist on applying 20th-century accountability constructs to a 21st-century education system, a system which includes vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts. But the world is changing, and many analysts are recognizing the need to adapt.

By eliminating some of this unnecessary spending, Oklahoma could pay teachers what they deserve without raising taxes or jeopardizing funding for roads, bridges, public safety, or the social safety net. That’s a better path – one Oklahoma lawmakers should take in the upcoming 2016 legislative session.

When Oklahoma policymakers rely on and accept federal funds knowing some of those funds are borrowed, they violate the spirit of our own state Constitution. They also act against the better judgment of the majority of Oklahomans.

When Oklahoma’s new A-F report cards were released last month, many in the education community were quick to pronounce the grading system “flawed” and “unfair” and to insist that the grades don’t accurately reflect student performance. Tulsa World columnist Jay Cronley noticed the defensiveness and remarked (sensibly, I thought) that “if people focused more on improving themselves and their families than complaining about everything from the headline in the newspaper to the testing procedure, maybe more schools would improve their grades.”

There’s a high cost to massive expansion of federal regulation; a cost that can’t be measured in dollars. Yes, we can measure dollars expended by government, extracted by taxpayers or forgone in lost economic growth. And yes, these costs are high and harmful. But the more difficult to measure cost of this centralization of regulation is the long-term dumbing-down of U.S. public policy.

A long-established principle of property law is that no person has a right to the proceeds of their criminal activity. Yet what if a government official merely suspects, rather than proves, the crime? Does government still get to seize personal property? In Oklahoma today, the answer is yes.

For the sake of teachers, students, their families, the most vulnerable among us and future opportunity for all Oklahomans, we should not raise taxes. The tax increase would catapult Oklahoma to the highest state and local average sales tax rate in the country.

The constitutional process for presidential elections is often misunderstood. That is unsurprising, since many of the Framers were at first unsure how it would work. Yet the history of the Electoral College—both its origin and its operation—offers lessons about the Constitution and how to defend it.

How bad is the situation with Oklahoma hospitals? Rural hospitals are under financial siege and are facing extreme difficulty in recruiting and retaining physicians to the rural areas.