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The Tulsa Beacon

 

Ray Carter

Center for Independent Journalism

Ray Carter is the director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism.

Oklahoma schools may have 55,236 ‘ghost students’

Tulsa Beacon

Newly released enrollment figures for Oklahoma schools show districts may receive at least $195 million combined for 55,236 “ghost” students who do not attend classes in the district but are nonetheless included in enrollment counts used to determine state funding for each district. Under Oklahoma law, state funding for schools is distributed based on several…

OSDE: Christian schools must ‘change’ to get funding’

Tulsa Beacon

A member of the Oklahoma State Board of Education suggested recently that private schools should not be allowed to participate in a state program for children with special needs unless they substantially abandon their Christian identity. During a monthly meeting, Altus Christian Academy and Christian Heritage Academy both applied to participate in the Lindsey Nicole…

TPS ‘social justice’ training seeks to ‘dismantle oppression’

Tulsa Beacon

A recent training program at Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) advised teachers to incorporate “social justice” into all courses, including subjects such as physical education and math. “When we teach, we either reinforce the oppressive status quo, or we work with students to dismantle it,” the training-program material stated. In August, staff at TPS underwent training…

State review of coronavirus criticizes lockdown strategy

Tulsa Beacon

To better prepare for future pandemics, state lawmakers conducted a review this month of state and local government responses to COVID-19. Among the takeaways: Many challenges early in the pandemic were the result of the government itself. “We started with, really, nothing,” said Oklahoma Commissioner of Health Lance Frye. Frye told members of the House…

Debate on class size limit continues: Research not conclusive

Tulsa Beacon

Class-size limits imposed by passage of House Bill 1017 in 1990 are often cited as a major reform, but those limits have effectively been repealed for almost a decade now. While some school lobbying groups continue to call for reducing class sizes, experts told members of the Senate Education Committee  that class-size reduction is very…

Chinese propagandists funded long-time OU program

Tulsa Beacon

OU’s Confucius Institute cited by U.S. State Dept. The U.S. Department of State has declared that the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, which has long operated an institute at The University of Oklahoma, is a foreign mission of the People’s Republic of China. In a statement on the action, the U.S. Department of State said the…

Freedmen ask Choctaws for their rights

Tulsa Beacon

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, whose members owned Black slaves and fought on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War, is now opposing federal efforts to require that descendants of the tribe’s former slaves, called Freedmen, be given promised rights before the tribe can receive federal housing funds. Choctaw leaders say any such…

Hunter’s agreement with the tribes raises troubling questions

Tulsa Beacon

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says he has reached an agreement with five tribal governments on proposed federal legislation that would address issues raised by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. However, the proposed agreement may raise more questions than it answers since its provisions appear to open the door for tribal governments to exercise…

GOP pays a political price for approving tax increases

Tulsa Beacon

In 2018, the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature approved some of the largest tax increases in state history. Ever since, GOP supporters of those tax increases have proclaimed their moral courage and insisted voters endorsed their decision. But the results of the June30 elections provide evidence to the contrary, as the political bodies continue to pile up….

Private schools aren’t getting CARES aid from OSDE

Tulsa Beacon

The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which included $161 million for Oklahoma’s K-12 schools, requires public schools to coordinate with private schools on “equitable services funding” that can cover a host of costs. But the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) and local public schools appear to be violating provisions of…