The Weekly Wonk: FY 2019 budget is an improvement after several years of shortfalls and cuts, but there’s still work to do

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.

This Week from OK Policy

Monday was our last Bill Watch post - see what we were looking at during this final week of session. One of those things was, of course, the FY 2019 budget. Executive Director David Blatt mused that, after several straight years of shortfalls and cut, this budget is a step in the right direction. Steve Lewis's Capitol Update remarked on the return of line-item appropriations in this budget. Our full video series on Oklahomans who are under threat by the push to restrict access to SoonerCare is now available.

Liz Waggoner, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Women's Coalition, wrote a guest post explaining the importance of pay transparency in shrinking the gender pay gap. Policy Analyst Ryan Gentzler lamented the passage of a bill that will allow life without parole sentences for juveniles in Oklahoma. Blatt's Journal Record column paid tribute to Penny Williams, the longest-serving female lawmaker in Oklahoma history and one of very few women to rise to a position of leadership in the legislature.

OK Policy in the News

OK Policy's work advocating against increasing barriers to health care was referenced by the Tahlequah Daily Press. And our work on the negative effects of tax cuts on Oklahoma's budget made an appearance in The Courier in Waterloo, Iowa.

Weekly What’s That

Sine Die

Sine die is a term for the adjournment of an assembly for an indefinite period, from the Latin “without day”. In March 1989, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 620,  which provided that regular legislative sessions begin on the first Monday in February and adjourn sine die not later than 5:00 pm on the last Friday in May.

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

Quote of the Week

“This bill will make our state the worst state in the country for children who commit crimes. We will again be known across this country as a place that does not protect its children.”

– Sen. A.J. Griffin, R-Guthrie, speaking against Senate Bill 1221, a measure making it easier to sentence minors age 13-17 to life without parole (Source)

Editorial of the Week

Ari Papahronis, Columbia Spectator

There is a running joke in my family that after I graduated from a teacher’s class, the teacher would leave the school. I thought the joke was supposed to be about my behavior in class, but now it has come to embody my experience as an Oklahoma public school student. While I would smirk, my younger brother scowled as we watched the same teachers’ positions being filled by young graduates, then coaches, then student teachers, then… no one. What I grew up thinking was inevitable career movement was in fact an education system falling apart, crumbling faster and faster behind me as I walked, then panically sprinted across a foundation that could not support the weight of its students.

Numbers of the Day

• 50.3% - Homeownership rate for Hispanic Oklahomans in 2017, above the national average for Hispanic homeownership of 46.2%.
• 82 - Oklahoma women per 100,000 who were admitted to prisons in FY 2017, 91% higher than the national average
• 8th - Oklahoma’s national ranking for suicide deaths rate in 2016, with a rate 55 percent higher than the national average.
• 7,328 - Oklahoma prison admissions for nonviolent offenses in FY 2017, 77% of all admissions.
• 2nd - Oklahoma’s national ranking for death rate from heart disease in 2016.

See previous Numbers of the Day and sources here.

What We’re Reading

• The Restaurant Industry Ran a Private Poll on the Minimum Wage. It Did Not Go Well for Them. [The Intercept]
• Why the school spending graph Betsy DeVos is sharing doesn’t mean what she says it does [Chalkbeat]
• What Adult Learners Really Need (Hint: It’s Not Just Job Skills) [NPR]
• Prosecutors Aren’t Just Enforcing the Law — They’re Making It [In Justice Today]
• Why the GOP food stamp overhaul might not work [Politico]

The post The Weekly Wonk: FY 2019 budget is an improvement after several years of shortfalls and cuts, but there’s still work to do appeared first on Oklahoma Policy Institute.

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The Weekly Wonk: Education funding package a good start, but there’s still work to do

The Weekly Wonk: Education funding package a good start, but there’s still work to do

The Weekly Wonk: Education funding package a good start, but there's still work to do

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. OK Policy i...

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The Weekly Wonk: Education funding package a good start, but there’s still work to do

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.

OK Policy is hiring! Click here for more information or to apply to be our new Operations & Development Associate.  Applications are due by April 23rd.

This Week from OK Policy

OK Policy released a new fact sheet on the recent education funding package - the funding approved by lawmakers for education is just a start and doesn’t come close to fully funding education. Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite has said they will lead an initiative to overturn the tax increases in that funding package, and Executive Director David Blatt explained how that might work. Blatt's Journal Record column reminded us that the education movement we've been watching for the last weeks was a long time in the making.

Policy Analyst Ryan Genztler updated us on the progress in criminal justice reform - the now watered down Justice Reform Task Force measured will not be enough to avoid the need for at least one new prison. Blatt pointed out that Oklahoma has made progress on collecting sales tax on online purchases. And don't forget to check out our Bill Watch post to see what we'll be following next week.

OK Policy in the News

Genztler spoke with Public Radio International about the dysfunction in Oklahoma's criminal justice system. Blatt talked with the Washington Post and The Intercept about the connection between years of tax cuts and the recent teacher walkout. Blatt also spoke with CNHI about ending the capital gains deduction in Oklahoma. OK Policy data was used by Vox, Think Progress, the Tulsa World, and KFOR.

Weekly What’s That

End-of-Instruction Tests

To receive a high school diploma in Oklahoma, students must score Proficient or Advanced on four out of seven End-of-Instructions Tests (EOIs). The tests cover the subject matters of Algebra I, English II, Algebra II, Biology I, English III, Geometry, and United States History. All students are required to pass the Algebra I and English II tests, as well as any two of the remaining five. Some exceptions can be made for students from out-of-state, students with an individualized education program (IEP), and other special circumstances. The EOI requirement was created under a 2005 Oklahoma law, and it went into effect beginning with students entering ninth grade in the 2008-2009 school year.

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

Quote of the Week

“Some of us still feel like we are not done, but we know that we have started a movement that will continue past the end (of the walkout), whenever that is.”

-Greg Oppel, a social studies teacher at Edmond Memorial High School, reflecting on the teacher walkout and the movement it has spurred [NewsOK]

Editorial of the Week

Brad Luna, Tulsa World

Gov. Mary Fallin said during a recent interview, “It’s important to get back in the classroom and to teach our children.” When asked what was happening to the students during the walkout, Fallin declared, “They’re just out of school.” Fallin’s remarks fail to recognize a powerful civics lesson happening at this very moment. At the state Capitol and in communities — rural and urban — young people are seeing our participatory democracy in action. Given the current status of civic engagement in our country, this might be the most valuable lesson our state’s educators could be teaching.

Numbers of the Day

• 4.8% - Average annual growth in Oklahoma Medicaid spending 2010-2014.
• ? - The amount of state revenues lost due to corporations taking the capital gains deduction. This tax incentive costs Oklahoma more than $100 million on personal income tax deductions, but the Oklahoma Tax Commission provides no public data about its use in corporate income tax filings.
• 62.3% - Share of Oklahoma Medicaid (SoonerCare) spending paid by the federal government, FY 2016.
• $2,734 - Average Oklahoma Medicaid (SoonerCare) spending per child enrollee, FY 2014.
• 59.6 - Evictions per day in Oklahoma in 2016.

See previous Numbers of the Day and sources here.

What We’re Reading

• Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys [New York Times]
• The Myth of the Criminal Immigrant [New York Times]
• Do states regret expanding Medicaid? [Brookings]
• Four-day school weeks, a nationwide symptom of tight budgets, lead to more youth crime, study finds [Chalkbeat]
• Rural health care is expensive, and Washington isn’t helping [Axios]

The post The Weekly Wonk: Education funding package a good start, but there’s still work to do appeared first on Oklahoma Policy Institute.

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