| Policy Matters: The Big 'Beautiful' Delay While most Oklahomans this summer have been focused on backyard cookouts and planning trips to the lake, the Republican-controlled Congress passed what they proudly named "The One Big Beautiful Bill." Behind that name is a carefully engineered blueprint to fast-track tax cuts for the wealthy, while paying for them by snipping the ropes of the social safety net for our working poor. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record] |
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You're invited to join a Community Listening Session near you! This summer, the Oklahoma Policy Institute and Together Oklahoma are hosting in-person listening sessions across the state to hear directly from Oklahomans about the issues that matter most in their communities. These free, public events offer a chance to connect with neighbors, share your experiences, and speak with policy experts. Participants will receive compensation for their time. Make your voice heard—find a session near you and join the conversation. Make Your Voice Heard — In Person or Online Can't attend in person? Take our online survey (available in English and Spanish) and share your thoughts about the laws and policies that affect you and your neighbors. Your input helps shape our priorities for the next legislative session to build stronger, healthier, and more equitable communities across Oklahoma. |
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| "The fact of the matter is, we have homelessness and eviction rates hitting every demographic in Oklahoma. It is a problem that people don't recognize and we need solutions to come out of the Capitol building that will help these folks be able to provide some stability and stay in a home that hopefully is permanent." – Joe Dorman, CEO of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, speaking about the growing housing crisis in Oklahoma He discusses how childhood evictions are closely tied to chronic absenteeism in schools — a pattern that can derail a child's education and limit future economic opportunities — and urges lawmakers to step up with solutions that help families find stability and remain in homes that can become permanent. [Oklahoma Watch] |
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5% - The estimated share of Oklahoma youth ages 12 to 17 who carried a firearm at least one day in 2019, not counting days when they carried a gun only for hunting or for a sport such as target shooting. The national average that year was 4.4%. [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] 21% - The share of Parental Choice Tax Credits in Oklahoma that went to high-income households — those earning over $250,000 — according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. That's $19.3 million out of the $91.7 million awarded, raising questions about who truly benefits from school choice programs. [Oklahoma Tax Commission] 14% - The median rent (including utilities) for an apartment in Oklahoma was $1,020/month in 2023, a 14 percent increase since 2001. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] -84,718 - The shortage of rental homes in Oklahoma that are both affordable and available to extremely low-income renters — leaving thousands without access to stable housing. 1 in 4 households in Oklahoma are considered extremely low-income. [National Low Income Housing Coalition] 1974 - The year the federal Privacy Act was passed to protect Americans from government overreach and misuse of personal data. Today, the Trump–DOGE initiative is sidestepping those very protections in a sweeping attempt to collect sensitive information from state agencies — without public input or clear guardrails. [Center for American Progress] |
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Plyler v. Doe Plyler v. Doe is a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established that all children in the United States have an equal right to enroll and participate in public elementary and secondary schools without regard to their or their parents' or guardians' immigration status. The court's decision overturned a Texas law allowing local school districts to deny enrollment to students who were not legally admitted to the United States. Writing for the majority, Justice William Brennan stated: "By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation." Plyler v. Doe remains the law of the land, and subsequent federal guidance has made clear that under both federal civil rights laws and the mandates of the Supreme Court, "[school] districts may not request information with the purpose or result of denying access to public schools on the basis of race, color, or national origin." Nonetheless, several states have subsequently tried to challenge the education rights of undocumented students. In 2025, the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a rule aimed at requiring school districts to determine the legal status of their students. This action was strongly criticized by Governor Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma Legislature is working on disapproving the rule. Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here. |
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Editorial: Our Congressional delegation should be home to explain themselves Here's what should happen this time of year, especially after the passing of a federal law that changes so many things. We should all have a town hall on our calendars to go to with our members of Congress so we can hear them out, ask some questions and have a discussion about what life will look like in this new "One Big, Beautiful" world they have created for us. But as of this writing, nothing like that is scheduled. [Tulsa World Editorial Board] |
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From Punishment to Prevention: A Better Approach to Addressing Youth Gun Possession: The U.S. justice system's increasing reliance on punitive approaches — like locked detention and automatic transfers to adult court — for youth caught with guns is ineffective, exacerbates racial disparities, and undermines community safety. Instead, evidence shows that diversion programs, community-based interventions, and targeted gun violence prevention models (such as focused deterrence and cognitive behavioral therapy) reduce recidivism and support healthier youth development. [The Sentencing Project] Who Really Benefits From Universal School Choice?: Universal school-choice policies tend to skew benefits toward higher‑income families with access to private schools, while rural communities and low-income students often gain little due to limited school availability and eligibility criteria favoring the wealthy. Despite claims of fostering competition and innovation, they frequently siphon funding from public schools, exacerbate inequities, and may leave underserved areas with even fewer quality education options. [Governing] Cuts to Health Care, Food Assistance, and Income Support to Fund Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Would Worsen Housing Instability and Homelessness: In the wealthiest nation in the world, we have the resources to ensure everyone can afford necessities, including a safe, affordable place to live, enough food, and access to quality health care. But Republican budget proposals to deeply cut health coverage, food assistance, and income support to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy would do the opposite. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] The Secret of Affordable Housing: Governments Have to Do It: Sustained, large-scale investment and direct government production remain the only reliable way to build and preserve truly affordable housing — market incentives and tax breaks alone fall short. Cities and states must take ownership of the housing challenge by using public financing and development tools to ensure long-term affordability and stability in their communities. [Governing] The Trump administration is making an unprecedented reach for data held by states: The Trump–DOGE initiative is pushing for unprecedented federal access to state-held data — such as DMV records, birth certificates, tax info, and more — to build a centralized "mega‑database" intended to flag noncitizen voters. While billed as preventing voter fraud, the effort raises serious concerns: it sidesteps normal public notice and Privacy Act procedures, consolidates highly sensitive personal information under a political appointee agency, and invites potential misuse and intimidation of immigrant communities. [NPR] |
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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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