Fallin signs financial transparency legislation

"Oklahoma parents and leaders will soon have access to enhanced information on how much funding a school is receiving, average per-pupil spending and other information after Governor Mary Fallin signed House Bill 2860 today," The Foundation for Excellence in Education reports.

House Bill 2860, and the companion Senate Bill 1199, build upon the state’s existing School District Transparency Act to require the Oklahoma Department of Education to include district and school-level revenue and expenditure data on its website. Additionally, it requires local school districts to link to this data on their websites. This ensures financial data is easily accessible for parents, school leaders and members of the community, as well as promotes resource effectiveness, school empowerment, and fairness.

Oklahoma expands its private-school choice programs

Oklahoma has two important private-school choice programs. Happily, our state's political leaders expanded both programs during the 2017 legislative session.

Our school voucher program, enacted in 2010, is helping rural students who want a faith-based education, bullied children who contemplated suicide, autistic students, and more.

In 2017, SB 301 expanded the eligibility for this voucher program. Formerly limited to students on an IEP, eligibility now extends to children in foster care (a 2015 OCPA recommendation) and children adopted out of state custody. Click here to see how your state senator voted. Click here to see how your state representative voted. [Updates: State Sen. AJ Griffin discusses the legislation here. Oklahoma Watch reports on the legislation here.]

Oklahoma's tax-credit scholarship program, enacted in 2011, is helping hearing-impaired children, homeless students, teenage students battling addiction, and more.

In 2017, SB 445 made more cap space available for this tax-credit scholarship program. Click here to see how your state senator voted. Click here to see how your state representative voted.

It should come as no surprise that a Republican government would expand parental-choice options. The GOP platforms, both nationally and in Oklahoma, place a strong emphasis on parental rights and educational choice. Moreover, no fewer than seven public-opinion surveys conducted by reputable polling firms over the last few years have shown strong support for school choice among Republican voters. This, of course, helps to explain why Republican political leaders support school choice. Most notable are President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. (They are embracing the views held by the great President Ronald Reagan, who in his day proposed "a tuition tax credit plan," "a voucher system," and "education savings accounts.") Here at home, Sen. James Lankford, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, Gov. Mary Fallin, and others support educational choice.

Given those realities, it's disappointing that school choice hasn't made even more progress. "I think Oklahoma has been way too slow" at expanding school choice, Scott Pruitt told me in 2015. "It's shocking to me, when you look at the individuals that make up our legislative bodies, how most of them are conservative in their viewpoint, they ought to be seizing this opportunity—now—to make Oklahoma the most choice-friendly state in the country."

Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, in part because many of the Republicans in our legislative bodies arrived via the Trojan Horse dragged in by GOP campaign consultants. Regrettably, these operatives are more concerned with collecting lucrative fees than with electing candidates from the Republican wing of the Republican party. And school choice hasn't been the only casualty: Republican politicians, claiming there's a budget "crisis," also continue to raise taxes and increase government spending—even though the CAFR tells us (on page 193) that total state spending is at an all-time high. (You likely didn't know that—but you would if journalists would report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.)

Still, kudos to Oklahoma's political leaders for taking these baby steps toward securing parental rights. There's much more work to be done. All parents have the moral right to direct their child's path. As private-school choice advocate Martin Luther King III says, "fairness demands that every child, not just the rich, has access to an education that will help them achieve their dreams."

Fallin proclaims 'School Choice Week'

For the sixth year in a row, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has recognized National School Choice Week by proclaiming the week of January 22 to be School Choice Week in Oklahoma. Her official proclamation is here.

"Oklahoma has a multitude of high-quality educational institutions, including public, private, charter, virtual, career technology, tribal, religious, home, and other schools from which our students can benefit," Gov. Fallin says. "Oklahoma is committed to continually improving the quality of educational opportunities and empowering parents and students to choose effective education options that best fit their needs and academic goals."

'The evidence arrayed against Hofmeister is remarkably damning'

"The interesting question is why we haven’t heard a word from Gov. Mary Fallin or the incoming Republican legislative leaders about Hofmeister’s future," Andrew Spiropoulos writes today in The Journal Record. "One can’t help but believe that if Hofmeister were a Democrat, they would demand that she immediately resign."

Gov. Mary Fallin says one size doesn't fit all

Hats off to Gov. Fallin for calling for Education Savings Accounts.

Fallin praised for ESA stance

"Gov. Mary Fallin deserves high praise for the vision she demonstrated in this week’s State of the State address," OCPA distinguished fellow Andrew Spiropoulos writes today in The Journal Record.

People ... need to know that their leaders have a policy agenda that will address the fundamental challenges facing their state. What are these challenges? The first is an ineffective education system that, despite extraordinary spending increases in the last three decades, has produced no discernible improvement in student achievement. ... 

In education, the governor calls for the single reform that has the greatest chance of sparking systemic change––the establishment of education savings accounts. ESAs, by providing families with a significant portion of the state funds allocated for their children’s education, will empower parents to choose the educational services that will most benefit their children. Parents can choose to spend the funds on a variety of educational services, including private school tuition, tutoring, materials or even college tuition savings. 

Our state’s children will benefit because they will receive the services that best serve their needs. Our state’s public schools will benefit because, as in every other segment of the economy, the challenge of competing with other providers will foster institutional innovation and improvement.

And on the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City (at the 2:50 mark below), Patrick McGuigan discusses the ESA legislation being debated at the state capitol.

Fallin '100 percent supportive of Education Savings Accounts'

"I’m 100 percent supportive of Education Savings Accounts," Gov. Mary Fallin said today in her State of the State address.

 

Fallin says Oklahoma is committed to empowering parents to make educational choices

For the fifth year in a row, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has recognized National School Choice Week by proclaiming January 24-30 to be School Choice Week in Oklahoma. Her official proclamation is here. "All students should have access to educational opportunities that adequately prepare them for successful lives," Fallin says.

"Oklahoma has a multitude of high-quality educational institutions including public, private, charter, virtual, career technology, tribal, religious, home, and other schools from which our students can benefit," she correctly points out. "Oklahoma is committed to continually improving the quality of educational opportunities and empowering parents and students to make scholastic selections that best fit their needs and academic goals."

Let's use school choice to get tax cuts (and vice versa)

I’ve long argued that Oklahoma should phase out its personal income tax and replace it with nothing. Simply use some growth revenue each year to buy down the tax rate little by little over 15 years or so. And though I do believe we will see movement in that direction, progress to date has been slow.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to cut my own taxes.

“Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible,” Judge Learned Hand famously declared. “He is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury.”

An Oklahoma law enacted in 2011 allows businesses and individuals to donate to K-12 scholarship-granting organizations (full disclosure: I’m on the board of one such nonprofit, the Opportunity Scholarship Fund). Scholarship recipients get much-needed help paying private-school tuition costs, while donors get not merely federal and state tax deductions but also a 50 percent state tax credit.

So, for example, if an Oklahoma taxpayer in the 15 percent federal tax bracket donates $1,000 to a scholarship fund, his or her out-of-pocket cost could be less than $300.

That's good news—and it just got better. Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation this week locking in that tax credit at 75 percent for donors who make a two-year commitment.

In other words, rather than sending your money to the gaping maw at 23rd and Lincoln, you can redirect some of it to rescue kids who are trapped in bad schools.

A 2011 SoonerPoll found that nearly 9 in 10 Oklahoma voters think state government wastes “a lot” or “some” of the money we pay in taxes. (A full 51 percent said “a lot.”)

Remember, we’re talking about a state government that funds golf courses and rodeos.

A government that gives unemployment benefits to people who aren’t entitled to them.

A government that bribes mothers not to marry the fathers of their children.

A government that gives food stamps to people who promptly sell them on Craigslist and use the money to buy marijuana.

A government that annually takes thousands of normal children and makes lifelong illiterates out of them.

A government that pays six-figure salaries to more than 2,000 Oklahomans employed in the higher education system. (As another famed jurist said somewhere, taxes are the price we pay for ex-politicians to land cushy jobs in higher ed.)

It's all just adorable! No wonder people want their taxes to be as low as possible.

Now, of course, our fellow citizens who think their taxes are too low are free to inflate their tax liabilities (don’t claim dependents, don’t itemize, and so forth). If that’s not enough, Oklahoma law actually allows citizens to make voluntary gifts of cash to the state government. But for those Oklahomans who want to send the government less money rather than more money, they can use this school-choice law to cut their taxes.

In addition to using school choice for tax relief, we should also use tax relief to get more school choice.

Let’s enact individual tax credits. Allow Oklahoma parents to receive state income tax relief for private school tuition, online learning, tutoring, and other educational expenses. In Alabama, for example, the value of the refundable tax credit is the tuition cost or 80 percent of per-pupil funding, whichever is less.

At the very least, let's enact an income-tax deduction for individuals who pay private school tuition, as Scott Walker's Wisconsin has done.

More than 150,000 students nationwide are benefiting from educational tax credits. Oklahoma policymakers should do everything possible to boost that number. Rescuing a child from a bad school will completely alter the course of his or her life.

Gov. Fallin proclaims School Choice Week

Recognizing the importance of traditional public schools, charter schools, and nonpublic schools (including home schools), Gov. Mary Fallin has proclaimed next week to be School Choice Week in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma parents already have some school choices, and here's hoping they will have many more in the future. Here's one 60-second reminder of why it's important:

KFOR covers bill signing, ad campaign

I had an opportunity to take part in a very meaningful bill-signing ceremony today, and to talk to Channel 4 reporter Tina McGarry about Oklahoma's newest school-choice legislation and a new ad campaign. Unlike the Associated Press, McGarry understands that private donations to charity are "not state tax dollars."

 

Scholarship tax credit clears state House

Senate Bill 969 by Sen. Dan Newberry (R-Tulsa) and Rep. Lee Denney (R-Cushing) cleared the Oklahoma House of Representatives this morning by a vote of 64-33. The bill had already cleared the state Senate, and now will make one more pass through the Senate before it goes to Governor Mary Fallin's desk.

Under this legislation, which is modeled after successful programs in Pennsylvania and Arizona, Oklahoma businesses and individuals can qualify for tax credits for contributions made to scholarship-granting organizations. These philanthropic organizations, in turn, offer private-school scholarships to qualifying students in need, special-needs students, and others. (Contributions can also be made to support innovative programs in public schools.) This scholarship tax credit idea is popular with Oklahoma voters, is supported by state Superintendent Janet Barresi, and was given a thumbs-up this month by the Supreme Court of the United States. There is every reason to be optimistic that Gov. Fallin will sign the bill into law.

Indiana, Oklahoma lead the way

I attended the press conference yesterday where Gov. Mary Fallin, Supt. Janet Barresi, Secretary of Education Phyllis Hudecki, and Republican legislative leaders locked arms with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to promote aggressive education reforms. When a reporter asked Gov. Bush which states were leading the way with bold, transformational reforms, he pointed to Oklahoma and Indiana.

Right on cue, Indiana took a big step forward yesterday. Here's hoping Oklahoma holds up its end of the bargain, most notably with SB 969 by state Sen. Dan Newberry.

Enid News: 'Education changes inevitable'

"There's a phrase on the lips of just about every legislative leader at the state Capitol this session, and that phrase is 'education reform,'" the Enid News and Eagle editorializes.

With the election of a Republican governor, an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature and a Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, the forces of change are sweeping through the statehouse in regard to education standards and funding.

And it is becoming evident these changes will be a bitter pill for the education establishment to swallow. ...

Public education has been controlled by teacher organizations (unions) and Democratic legislators and policies for decades. Although we believe most people involved in the education system are good people who care about children and about the learning environment, we also know there are many established procedures, policies and practices that have been put in place more for the protection of the status quo than for real educational benefit.

School choice for foster kids

The Oklahoman reports today that foster-parent recruitment in Oklahoma isn't keeping up with the great need in the state. The story notes that some foster parents get a clothing voucher for children. Why don't we consider giving them a school voucher as well? (Arizona does something similar.)

Interestingly, Gov. Mary Fallin, while in Congress, co-sponsored the "School Choice for Foster Kids Act," a bill which would authorize states to provide vouchers to foster kids to cover tuition costs at private schools. Oklahoma state legislators should send Gov. Fallin a bill like that in 2011.

Oklahoma's education landscape continues to change

There's an excellent column by Dan Lips today in The Oklahoman ("Education choice for Oklahoma's future). A former Heritage Foundation analyst, Mr. Lips is co-author of the 2002 OCPA study "The Oklahoma Scholarship Tax Credit: Giving Parents Choices, Saving Taxpayers Money." He is also the author of a forthcoming OCPA study on digital learning. He writes:

For years, the idea of giving families the maximum power to choose the best school for their children has been the "third rail" of education politics. But slowly a bipartisan consensus is forming. Around the country, Republicans and Democrats are working together to enact policies that give parents the freedom to choose.

Oklahoma is fast becoming a national leader in offering families school choice, thanks to its charter schools and the new scholarship program for children with disabilities. Gov. Mary Fallin and schools Superintendent Janet Barresi both support giving families more options.

And indeed, the landscape continues to change. Future conversations will turn more and more to online learning, Lips says, perhaps enabled in part by Education Savings Accounts.

In Arizona, Florida and other states, state leaders are considering giving families state-funded education savings accounts to purchase the best possible education for their children based on a new proposal from the Goldwater Institute. Oklahoma should consider this approach to create a system of real parental choice and innovation to hasten the arrival of education's exciting future.

Credit union

"One of my top priorities in my first year in office," says Superintendent Janet Barresi, "will be to encourage innovation and choice in Oklahoma’s education system by working with Governor Fallin and members of our Legislature on policies like tuition tax credits."

I tell ya, these right-wing radicals are taking over. What would Democrats like Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Jimmy Carter say?

Amid 'education funding fatigue,' let's try school choice

"Education issues are a chief concern in Oklahoma as the new year begins," Andrew Mericle writes in a letter to the editor published today in The Oklahoman.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has determined that we already spend $7,000 to $10,000 per student. The rejection of State Question 744 and some recent school bond issues demonstrates that a majority are experiencing education funding fatigue. Even if the Teach for America teachers are brought in, who would they replace? The National Council on Teacher Quality has given Oklahoma a D-plus partly because of bad policies for removing ineffective teachers.

It's time to face reality and to face realistic solutions. The best answer is school choice vouchers. Allow parents and students to select a school with taxpayer monies. Many of our students are literally trapped in failing (and frequently dangerous) schools. Competition in general usually causes improvement or extinction. This solution will no doubt be fought against -- especially by the leadership of the failing system -- but I hope that Gov. Mary Fallin and state schools Superintendent Janet Barresi will act boldly.

Mary Fallin: 'I am for school choice'

In an interview with CapitolBeatOK, Governor-elect Mary Fallin expressed support for special-needs scholarships and said she supports "further reforms."

I am for school choice. One of the best reforms in recent history has been choice in education, allowing parents and students a choice in where they go, the ability to choose the best place for school. A child's success in education should not be determined by their ZIP code.

Fallin picks reform-minded education secretary

Governor-elect Mary Fallin has selected Dr. Phyllis Hudecki to serve as secretary of education. Hudecki is the executive director of the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition (OBEC).

Earlier this year OBEC teamed up with OCPA and the Foundation for Educational Choice to release Reforms with Results: What Oklahoma Can Learn from Florida’s K-12 Education Revolution.