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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.

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…

Gov. Stitt eliminated budget shortfalls

Tulsa Beacon

As a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Kevin Stitt vowed to bring private-sector management to state government and help the state avoid a repeat of the fiscal chaos experienced during then-Gov. Mary Fallin’s second term, which was marked by repeated tax increases and budget shortfalls. In 2019 Stitt unveiled a plan calling for the state to…

Tulsa District sanctioned for teaching Critical Race Theory

Tulsa Beacon

The State Board of Education has voted to sanction Tulsa Public Schools by significantly reducing its accreditation status after Tulsa was found to have violated a state law that bars various types of race-based ideology in school settings. The board lowered Tulsa’s accreditation to one step above probation, imposing a harsher sanction than the minimum…

School accounting problems

Tulsa Beacon

A cursory review of the state’s Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS), a program that compiles financial data from all public-school districts, quickly identified significant irregularities, including reports showing Oklahoma schools spent nearly a quarter-million dollars on firearms that were labelled as nutrition services and other non-weapon categories. “In the 2020-2021 academic year, districts spent $257,425…

School choice candidates win

Tulsa Beacon

From statewide offices to legislative seats, Republican candidates who supported school choice prevailed in multiple races during recentprimaries while incumbents who opposed school choice lost or narrowly avoided defeat at the hands of conservative challengers. At the top of the GOP ticket, Gov. Kevin Stitt overwhelmed three primary opponents, receiving 69 percent of the vote…

SCOTUS makes changes in McGirt

Tulsa Beacon

State can prosecute non-Indian criminals The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the State of Oklahoma has the authority to arrest and prosecute non-Indian criminals who victimize Indians living on tribal reservation land in the state. “This Court has long held that Indian country is part of a state, not separate from it,” the majority opinion…

Stopping attacks on pro-life groups

Tulsa Beacon

Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has joined 18 of his state counterparts to urge federal law enforcement officials to take action against the rising tide of domestic-terrorist attacks on pro-life organizations and also vowed to devote state resources to those prosecution efforts. “We cannot tolerate assaults on religious and pro-life groups,” O’Connor said. Since June…

Cherokee chief orders Oklahoma flag not be displayed

Tulsa Beacon

Through a new executive order, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. has prohibited display of the state flag of Oklahoma at tribal facilities. Hoskin’s executive order declares that the chief of staff of the Cherokee Nation shall “cause all flags of the State of Oklahoma to be removed from Cherokee Nation properties” by Sept….

Gov. Stitt switches yearly shortfalls to budget surpluses

Tulsa Beacon

The election of Kevin Stitt, a successful businessman who was a political unknown before he became governor, marked a dramatic change in how the Oklahoma state government operates. Since Stitt entered office, the state government has shifted from having massive annual budget shortfalls to having historic levels of savings, and from constantly enacting tax hikes…

Critical Race Theory is taught in Okla. public schools

Tulsa Beacon

When House Bill 1775 became law in 2021, banning the teaching of certain concepts broadly associated with Critical Race Theory (CRT), opponents claimed CRT was not taught in Oklahoma schools. Critics continue to make that claim today. But a recent request from the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), the state’s largest teachers’ union, indicates that union…