Oklahoma Policy Institute News Archive: [Weekly Wonk] ARPA spending expected to ramp up | Women's representation in government needed

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Sunday, August 28, 2022

This Week from OK Policy

Column: Oklahoma could stop failing its children, if leaders would start investing in them

With children back in school this month, the quality of education is likely on many family's minds. Improving educational outcomes will take a commitment from decision makers to invest in our public schools. But student success doesn't occur in a vacuum. Improving child well-being also requires investing in the supports that surround families and their children. Without dealing with these foundational issues, it will be significantly harder for students to stay on track and thrive in school and beyond. [Gabrielle Jacobi / Tulsa World]

Policy Matters: More progress needed in women's representation in government

Policy Matters

State ARPA spending starting slowly, but likely ramping up this fall (Capitol Update)

Capitol Update

Numbers of the Day

1918 — The year Oklahoma voters approved State Question 97 that created a constitutional right for women's voting rights in all elections, two years before the 19th Amendment was ratified. However, women were unable to hold state executive office until 1942, and Black women didn't get full voting rights until 1965. [Oklahoma Historical Society]
$27,876 — The average student debt at graduation for Oklahoma college students in 2020. Half of Oklahoma college students graduated with some amount of student debt. [Institute for College Access & Success, Interactive Map]
$15.6 billion — Total economic impact that tribes made in Oklahoma in 2019. In addition to direct contributions, tribes generate billions in production by companies that support tribes' business operations. Oklahoma tribes support 113,442 jobs in the state, representing $5.4 billion in wages and benefits to Oklahoma workers. [Oklahoma Native Impact Study]
32.8% — Oklahoma teachers, all other factors being equal, earn almost 33% less than other workers with college degrees, which is second nationally behind only Colorado. This teacher wage "penalty" means Oklahoma teachers earn 67.2 cents on the dollar compared with what similar college graduates earned working in other professions. [Economic Policy Institute]
8 in 100 — Ratio of Oklahoma families receiving TANF assistance for every 100 families living in poverty in Oklahoma. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is federal funding for states to provide basic cash assistance for families with children when they face a crisis or have very low incomes. Oklahoma's "TANF-to-poverty ratio" has fallen 33 points since 1995-96. If TANF reached the same share of families in poverty that its predecessor AFDC did in 1996, 22,448 more families in Oklahoma would be helped by TANF now. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] NOTE: August 22 marked the 26th anniversary of the signing of the bill that created the TANF program in place of the earlier Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).

Weekly What's That

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), enacted in 1965 as part of the Johnson Administration's War on Poverty, was the most ambitious and far-ranging federal education law. Its primary purpose was to ensure full educational opportunity by providing additional resources for low-income students. Title I of the law distributes funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families. Other sections of the law provide funding and support for English-language learners and students with special needs, along with funding for school libraries and instructional materials, educational research and training, and grants to strengthen state departments of education.

Most major education reform laws since 1965, including No Child Left Behind (2002) and Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) are reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.

Quote of the Week

"I don't want the teachers to be scared to teach my daughter about being a good person. I want them to be able to teach 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'Killers of the Flower Moon' so that we can all hold this complicated history that we have and move forward together as a community. It's not a community if we can't all hear each other out, hold each other's truths and try to move forward together."

-Tulsa parent Ashley Daly speaking at an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting where the board was asked to reconsider penalizing Tulsa and Mustang schools over allegations that they violated HB 1775, a state law that limits classroom discussion on race and gender. [Tulsa World]

Editorial of the Week

Stillwater News Press: Past time to pay up

The national teacher shortage and student loan debt forgiveness tend to intertwine a bit.

Our country largely created a workforce that demands a college education, no not for all jobs but for many, but wages have been largely flat relative to cost of living expenses.

So, before people even join the workforce they are stuck with a huge tab. The jobs they are able to find hardly put a dent in it.

Thousands of people have fully paid the original cost of the loan only to still be tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

It's always been a bad system.

Public school teaching requires an education. The job doesn't pay as well as it should.

Economists call that a wage penalty, meaning by percentage how much less a teacher makes compared to college-educated peers in other jobs.

Oklahoma's is among the highest in the nation at around 30 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

We're glad Oklahoma State University has programs that could help alleviate some of the burden, through grant and stipend and scholarship programs. There are even a few programs for loan forgiveness for teachers who stay in Oklahoma.

We could always use more.

There's also the issue of the millions of dollars in COVID funds that could be used for teacher grants being held up at the state level.

The state can ill afford to lose any more educators. We need recruitment and retention.

The failures in this state to make public education a priority have been evident. It's time to start greasing the wheels of progress.

[Editorial / Stillwater News Press]

This Week We're Reading...

To Promote Equity, States Should Invest More TANF Dollars in Basic Assistance [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
The teacher pay penalty has hit a new high [Economic Policy Institute]
The Economic Impact of Tribal Nations in Oklahoma [Oklahoma Native Impact Study]
Casualties of College Debt: What Data Show and Experts Say About Who Defaults and Why [Institute for College Access & Success]
The 19th Amendment at 100 (2020) [Brennan Center for Justice] NOTE: Aug. 26 marked the 102nd anniversary of the formal certification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

What's up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.

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