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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.

Ban on youth transgender surgery clears committee

Tulsa Beacon

Legislation making it illegal to perform sex-change surgeries on children or inject them with cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers has won easy approval in an Oklahoma Senate Committee. Lawmakers also voted to bar state funds from paying for those procedures. Both measures were advanced just days after Gov. Kevin Stitt called for their enactment in…

Oklahoma officials push back on ESG

Tulsa Beacon

In recent years, environmental activists have sought to defund U.S. energy development and production by pressuring financial companies to adopt “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) policies that prioritize political considerations over returns when making investment decisions. But Oklahoma officials, at both the state and federal level, are pushing back, and ESG proponents are expected to…

Critics claim $330 million increase ‘cuts’ school spending

Tulsa Beacon

This week, new State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters unveiled a budget plan for Oklahoma schools that would increase state school spending by $330 million. Under Walters’ proposal, the state appropriation for schools would increase from $3.18 billion this year to $3.51 billion next year. Walters’ critics responded by claiming the $330 million increase…

Major school-choice bills filed in OK Senate

Tulsa Beacon

Oklahoma families across the state could use taxpayer funds to pay for private-school tuition under legislation filed in the state Senate. The bills, if passed, would provide the largest expansion of school-choice opportunity in state history. “It’s time to empower Oklahoma parents to be able to choose the best education for their own children, regardless…

Stitt makes education a priority at Inauguration

Tulsa Beacon

In an inauguration speech marking the start of his second term, Gov. Kevin Stitt vowed to continue his efforts to make Oklahoma a top 10 state in all areas with education and school choice a major focus. “Parents, we are going to fight for you,” Stitt said. “We are going to challenge the status quo….

OSU is accused of violating students’ constitutional rights

Tulsa Beacon

Oklahoma State University has been sued by a civil-rights organization alleging the college has violated the constitutional rights of its students. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Speech First argued that OSU’s harassment, computer, and bias-incidents policies violate students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The complaint said OSU has “created a series of…

Countercultural classical charter school to open in Tulsa

Tulsa Beacon

Nathan Phelps has never been someone who aggressively pushes against the grain. But he said that’s changed since he began working in 2019 to launch Oklahoma’s first classical charter school. “I’ve never had long hair. I’ve never had a tattoo,” Phelps said. “I’ve never been considered countercultural – until the world went upside down. And…

OSMA brief: ‘pregnant people’ deserve ‘abortion care’

Tulsa Beacon

The Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA) has joined an amici curiae brief calling for Oklahoma’s abortion laws to be struck down, declaring those restrictions violate the Oklahoma Constitution’s guarantee of the “right to life.” In its arguments, the association also downgraded the role of women, consistently referring to those who obtain abortions instead by gender-neutral…

Hofmeister wanted closings for 2 years due to the virus

Tulsa Beacon

From July 2020 to July 2021, Oklahoma’s population growth outpaced most of the country thanks in part to people moving into the state. Officials attribute much of that migration to the lack of COVID restrictions and, in many cases, say the lack of widespread school closures was one factor that drew families here. “I personally…

High state funding doesn’t mean improved academics

Tulsa Beacon

Oklahoma’s per-pupil funding for public schools typically ranks low in 50-state comparisons. But significant local property-tax bases have allowed several dozen Oklahoma districts to achieve dramatically higher per-pupil funding levels. In a significant share of those districts, per-pupil funding exceeds not only the average in Oklahoma, but also most states, and some districts have per-pupil…