Latino legislators, business owners and community members are playing politics in Oklahoma with the long game in mind. The strategy is to establish greater Latino political influence by educating the voter base and generate a pipeline of young Latinos who will one day run for office at local and state levels. The hope is to engage more Latinos in the electoral process overall.  Even though Latinos are the second-largest and fastest-growing demographic in the state, census data shows they register and vote the least compared to other racial and ethnic groups.   Latino registrati ..read more

Oklahoma Watch · Department of Education Looks to Add Academic Standards Jennifer Palmer discusses new expectations the Department of Education has for Tulsa schools that could become statewide accreditation requirements. Paul Monies reports on the delay in opening the portal to apply for private school tax credits, and Keaton Ross talks about an uptick in Oklahoma’s prisoner count. Ted Streuli hosts. The post Long Story Short: Department of Education Looks to Add Academic Standards appeared first on Oklahoma Watch ..read more

Families wanting to apply for a new private school income tax credit of up to $7,500 per child will have to wait a little longer.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission said late Thursday it was delaying acceptance of applications after several schools had problems getting enrollment verification forms to parents and guardians. The portal was supposed to open at 8:30 a.m. Friday.  The opening for the Parental Choice Tax Credit will now be delayed until 2 p.m. Dec. 6, the Tax Commission said.  “The decision to delay the application start date was not made lightly,” the agency said in a wr ..read more

The state Board of Education on Thursday placed a new set of expectations on Tulsa Public Schools as part of its heightened monitoring of the district. Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters laid out the expectations for improvement in student test scores, teacher training and overall school performance, and the board approved his proposal.  The district is expected to:  Have at least 50% of students testing basic or higher in reading and math on state tests in spring 2024, or increase the number of students who do by at least a 5% Train all teachers in the science of re ..read more

Oklahoma’s prison population is growing after years of steady decline, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report released Thursday. On Dec. 31, 2022, Oklahoma incarcerated 22,745 people, a 2.3% increase from 22,235 in December 2021. Oklahoma had the nation’s fourth-highest incarceration rate at the end of last year, trailing Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Oklahoma was one of four states where more than 1% of male residents were serving a prison sentence of one year or longer.  State prison admissions increased 6% during the survey period, from 5,799 in 2021 to 6,145 in 202 ..read more

Oklahoma Watch · Minimum Wage Increase Proposal Challenged Keaton Ross reports on a proposal to raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, Jennifer Palmer explains why only one in four state high schools are ready for new Advanced Placement course requirements, and Paul Monies discusses why the state treasurer is still using blacklisted banks. Ted Streuli hosts. The post Long Story Short: Minimum Wage Increase Proposal Challenged appeared first on Oklahoma Watch ..read more

According to the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the national poverty rate of two parent households in 2021 was 9.5%. This is less than the recorded poverty rate among single parent households, 31.7%, and the overall poverty rate of all family types, 16%. Child Trends, a nonprofit organization focused on child welfare research, explains that greater rates of poverty in single parent households are not solely due to depending on a single earner’s income. A single parent may face additional obstacles to employment, such as inflexible work policies ..read more

As of November 4, 2023, Oklahoma has the second-highest COVID-19 death rate in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since January 1, 2020, Oklahoma’s total deaths per 100,000 from COVID-19 has been 429.9, equating to a death rate of about 0.43%. Oklahoma is preceded only by Mississippi, whose COVID-19 death rate is 433 per 100,000 people, or 0.433%. The national average death rate is 288.5 per 100,000 Americans, or approximately 0.289%. A low statewide vaccination rate and high rates of chronic illness, which predispose individuals to more severe cases of ..read more

Oklahoma is ranked 44th out of 52 in the “Best States to Work Index” of 2023, according to Oxfam, an international nonprofit organization specializing in poverty and economic injustice. Oxfam’s index ranks the laws of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico on three dimensions; access to living wage, worker safety/quality of life protections, and workers’ organizing/union rights. Oklahoma ranks 45th in wage policies, 27th in worker protection policies, and 39th in right to organize policies. Oxfam ranks DC as 3rd, Oregon as 2nd, and California as 1st in their overall ranking ..read more

Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ has publicly criticized one of the state’s largest pension funds for taking an exemption to a new law forbidding state pension funds from doing business with financial companies perceived to be hostile to the oil and gas industry.  But Russ has quietly taken an exemption to the law when it comes to investments managed by his own office. The treasurer’s office exercised one for services from Bank of America and is negotiating with JP Morgan Chase on another exemption. Both companies are among six Russ placed on a list of restricted financial companies.  T ..read more