Walters Touts Student Safety First Initiatives

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (March 14th) – Today, Superintendent Ryan Walters highlighted the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s (OSDE) commitment to student safety through aggressive action against bad actors in the education system. Since taking office, Walters has overseen a robust crackdown on misconduct, ensuring that Oklahoma classrooms remain safe and focused on student success.

Under Walters’ leadership, OSDE has undertaken 94 investigations, leading to significant accountability measures, including:

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 13th) – The Oklahoma House of Representatives advanced House Bill 1076, also known as the Food Truck Freedom Act, authored by Rep. Derrick Hildebrant, R-Catoosa. With an 85-3 vote, the bill aims to streamline the licensing process, allowing vendors with a valid state food establishment license to operate anywhere in the state, provided they follow all applicable state and local laws.

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 13th) – The House passed two measures this week that would reform the way judges are vetted and selected in Oklahoma.

The state's Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC), established in 1967 by an amendment to the state Constitution, is charged with nominating the three most qualified candidates for appointment by the governor to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Court of Civil Appeals, as well as district and associate district judgeships when vacancies occur outside the normal election process for those positions. Currently, six of the 15 members of the commission are attorneys and nine are non-lawyers.

"A majority of Oklahomans are ready to modernize how state judicial applicants are vetted and appointed," said Speaker Pro Tem Anthony Moore, R-Clinton, who is the author of the bills. "The judiciary provides a vital check and balance function as laws are created, and it is important the system remains above reproach and is managed by those who know the law best. These two measures would update the nominating process in a way that would benefit the public while preserving the integrity of this system."

Initiative petition transparency an important reform

Oklahoma’s initiative-petition process allows voters to determine major policy issues, but some system flaws have become apparent. That’s why Oklahomans should support bringing greater transparency to the petition process.

Under Senate Bill 1027, the initiative-petition process would have to include clear language, transparent reporting of funders, and buy-in from a wider swath of Oklahoma.

None of these ideas should be controversial.

I haven't been able to blog over the past week, but there's a good reason:

Introducing Josiah Benjamin, the latest addition to the Faught family! Mother and baby are both doing well (praise the Lord for a smooth delivery last Tuesday). His three older siblings are smitten and excited to even things up with girl-boy-girl-boy... they prayed very insistently every night for this order during early pregnancy, haha!

Back to regularly scheduled programming when time allows. I've got a bit of a news backlog, for sure.

Parents in the community were rightfully upset, as pictures of the assignment quickly disseminated among even elementary students at the school. 

Jenni White at Reclaim Oklahoma Parent Empowerment (ROPE) interviewed the mother who first went public with the perverted assignment (you should read the whole thing):

A truly unfortunate event happened in the classroom of Ashlyn Jade’s niece at Waurika Public Schools Monday afternoon.

According to an interview with Ashlyn this afternoon, Coach Roger Jesse, a teacher/coach with 40+ years in Oklahoma education – and someone with many years of service and an excellent reputation in Waurika Public Schools – gave his 11th grade psychology class an assignment that has now made internet viral status.

Coach Jesse was asked to teach a new extra curricular psychology class at Waurika High School this semester. Ashlyn believes that, in a hurry and under duress from a strenuous teaching/coaching schedule, he downloaded a STATE APPROVED psychology curriculum to use during his class on Monday afternoon, copied it and handed it out without really reviewing it.

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 6th) – The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a series of tax reform measures aimed at simplifying Oklahoma’s tax code, providing relief to individuals and businesses and promoting economic growth. 

Senate Bills 304, 299, 291, and 60, authored by Senator Dave Rader, R- Tulsa, and Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, address income tax structure, corporate tax fairness and taxpayer relief mechanisms.