Ray Carter writing for OCPA November 23 covers a new report showing Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) has received millions of dollars from a national group that claims “white supremacy” is a problem in education. If you wonder why school board meetings have become increasingly intense, the answer is that parents are actively questioning government school indoctrination funded by such ideological foolishness and historic ignorance.

Carter notes the report shows only five school districts nationwide received more funding from the highlighted foundations. Yes, NGOs (non-government organizations) dedicated to destruction of America as a Constitutional Republic are active right here in River City and have been for decades.

Carter writes: “In ‘Cracked Foundations,’ a new report from Parents Defending Education, the organization examined how large philanthropic foundations use grant money to advance practices in public schools that can include ‘divisive teaching practices such as critical race theory, gender and queer theory, and social and emotional learning.’

“During the five-year period, the organization found Tulsa Public Schools received more than $3.6 million from one of the entities reviewed, the Wallace Foundation. That $3.6 million figure exceeded the amount spent by the five foundations in all but five other school districts nationwide.

“Tulsa Public Schools received grant funding from the Wallace Foundation to participate in the foundation’s Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative (PSELI) and its Principal Supervisors Initiative,” Carter wrote.

Parental Warning: If you have children enrolled in TPS this is likely to upset you.

For those without children enrolled in TPS, consider that 60 percent of your property taxes fund TPS. Do you want to live in a community of people that cannot read or do basic math and lack the skill or ability to think critically, rationally?

Carter continues: “Parents Defending Education noted that one Wallace Foundation report, ‘Navigating SEL From The Inside Out,’ defines equitable social-emotional learning (SEL) as a program that ‘acknowledges and addresses persistent environmental stressors such as racism, transphobia, homophobia, and classism.’

“The Wallace Foundation’s definition of ‘robust equity’ incorporates the ‘more expansive systems-focused aspects of racial equity such as dismantling white supremacy.’ The organization also declares its programs are not simply for minority students.

“’Children who are never asked to confront their role in a racist and unjust society are at a disadvantage; unexamined assumptions and biases undermine and limit white children’s ability to develop and use SEL skills like empathy, perspective-taking, and kindness,’ a foundation document stated.

“The millions spent pursuing equity in Tulsa schools have not resulted in across-the-board academic success for all students. Instead, what equity exists in Tulsa schools is in negative form: Nearly all students, regardless of race or other background, are not proficient in core subjects.

“Parents Defending Education noted that only 12 percent to 18 percent of Tulsa elementary and middle-school students test proficient in reading and math, while just 24 percent of Tulsa high school students are proficient in reading and 36 percent proficient in math.

“As of publication, Tulsa Public Schools had not responded to a request for comment on the report,” Carter concludes.

As then school board candidate Tim Harris noted in his unsuccessful campaign, “It is time for a forensic audit… the top ten administrative annual salaries at TPS total $2,239,475 with Superintendent Deborah Gist alone earning $377,675 per year while a beginning teacher earns only $36,6011 per year.”

Tulsa Today has also reached out for comment to TPS and look forward to their prompt response.

,TPS received millions for racial programing
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

How would you like to avoid paying taxes on your hard work and labor to the state of Oklahoma? Citizens in Texas, Florida, and even Tennessee don’t have a state personal income tax. Maybe that’s why so many businesses are moving there!

The Hoover Institute recently released a report documenting that 352 companies with high-paying jobs left the state of California from 2018 to 2021. 43%, or 153 of those companies, left just last year. Their top destination was Texas which got 132 of the businesses. Tennessee came in second with 31. Nevada, Florida, and Arizona rounded out the top five.

Four of these five states do not have a personal income tax, and Arizona has a new flat tax of only 2.5%. It’s high past time for Oklahoma to join the ranks of the no-income-tax states if we truly want to be a top-tier state for job and population growth.

Imagine a hard-working Oklahoma household with both spouses making $53,780. That’s the average income per worker in Oklahoma for 2021 according to the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). Currently, that family, in simple terms, must pay $5,109 of their hard-earned wages to the Oklahoma Tax Commission because of our 4.75% income tax rate.

If we eliminated the income tax rate and shifted to more of a sales-based activity system, the family would likely save some of that money, reduce debt with that money, and give some away to help others. The remaining portion, let’s call it 80% or $4,087, would likely be spent at local businesses— which would increase their profitability and economic impact.

The state would still receive, at say a higher sales tax rate of 8% from the current 4.5%, around $327, a large overall savings for our family of $4,782! Can you see why tax reform is good, and why 11 other states have no income tax? Tax reform is never quite this cut and dry, but it’s the best way forward for more growth and prosperity for our kids and grandkids.

Are you ready to join the movement?

About the author: Mike Mazzei, CFP®, MPAS®, is the President of Tulsa Wealth Advisors. A Certified Financial Planner professional, and Master Planner Advanced Studies, he created The Financial Freedom Process to help individuals leverage their wealth in order to help them achieve their lifetime visions. Mike is a former Oklahoma State Senator (Dist. 25 in Tulsa) & Sec. of Budget. He is the proud husband to Noel and father to 5 great kids.

,Should OK become a no income-tax state?
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Many young people are struggling to find a meaningful career as they enter the workforce. Oklahoma has long been a state which has low unemployment rates, but when delving deeper, one will see that underemployment impacts many.

Underemployment describes individuals working multiple low-wage jobs in an effort to cover monthly costs, often with no health insurance benefits. Many adults are impacted by this, where in the past, these jobs were mainly for high school students.

Entering the workforce is tough for young people, and when you also look at different demographics among youth, that is especially true about young people in foster care. Many aging out of the system have not had an adult role model to help them navigate entering adulthood.

Last week, the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy hopefully connected two organizations that will both benefit from a tremendous opportunity to provide jobs for young people.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting with Jimmy Curry, the Oklahoma president for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). We were discussing both our jobs at a backyard cookout held by one of our mutual friends in south Oklahoma City and I asked him what programs are in the labor movement that support young people.

My father was a member of the Operating Engineers while working as a building contractor, so I knew personally the benefits one receives in a career through a trades union, but wanted to know if there were other things available.

Jimmy pointed out an opportunity for high school students to learn a profession through CareerTech classes, which could lead to an apprenticeship through a labor association that would provide a job.

For those not familiar with an apprenticeship, this is a pathway to learn a skilled trade through planned, supervised, on-the-job training and related classroom instruction. An apprentice is a regular part of the workforce and earns wages while acquiring important skills. The length of the tuition-free apprenticeship ranges from three to five years.

After completion of the program, an apprentice becomes a journeyperson, an individual fully qualified to perform the work of the specific trade with the ability to earn full pay for their skill.

I recently attended an apprenticeship recruitment event hosted by the Oklahoma Building & Construction Trades Council. Their executive director, Jimmy Fish, extended the invitation to me to help find young people who might want that opportunity to find a career path. I reached out to friends with the Oklahoma Successful Adulthood (OKSA) program under the Department of Human Services to invite them to also learn about this opportunity. We have both groups connected, and hopefully this will lead to additional opportunities for foster youth who might not know about apprenticeships.

Larry Brouk with the Plumbers & Pipefitters shared with me there are 1,152 construction contractors who employ apprentices through programs that employed 112 instructors to help educate potential journeypersons. There are more than 2,000 apprentices annually, with enrollment increases with women and veterans of late.

More than $10 million goes into the training of apprentices in Oklahoma, and the average starting wage for an apprentice is $17.65 an hour, not including health insurance and retirement benefits added on for an additional $15.41 extra.

If you know of someone who is looking for a rewarding career path with great pay and the satisfaction that comes from a quality job, have them go to www.okbctc.org to learn more about these tuition-free classes. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

,A Way Out of Underemployment
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

V1SUT Vantage broke the story of a growing public controversy (with video) of a Bartlesville gay pride event forcing the small community of just over 37,000 residents in Northeastern Oklahoma to ask very important questions. What is appropriate in the presence of children, and what types of events are too perverse for public space?”

Oklahomans know that what is taught children defines culture, community and sets the path for future generations. Are we now up for public square porn?

“The law defines pornography as any material that depicts sexual activity or sexual organs in a way that is intended to cause sexual arousal… Pornography is generally considered to be harmful to both adults and children. It can be addictive and can lead to distorted views of sex and relationships. It can also be a major contributor to gender violence and other forms of abuse,” Attorney Dean Wallace writes.

V1SUT Vantage begins

Back in 2018, a local chapter of a group called Oklahomans for Equality (OKEQ) started an annual pride event in Bartlesville. This event began as a few hundred people meeting for a picnic in Johnstone Park, a pavilion and kiddie park owned by the city. This initial event went largely unnoticed, and the event did not occur during 2020. Since 2021, the Bartlesville Pride event has expanded and is now held at the very public Unity Square outdoor space and adjoining Bartlesville Community Center in the town center of Bartlesville.

OKEQ: Big Money Billionaires Reaching into Rural Communities

OKEQ is a well-funded, non-profit based out of Tulsa that operates the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center. Major sponsors of the organization include Oklahoma’s most well-known and progressive manipulanthropists (George Kaiser Family Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and George Krumme, among others).

Following the group’s 2021 event in Bartlesville, OKEQ-Bartlesville Board Member Morgan Lawrence reflected the group’s goals by stating, “I definitely think we have a lot of work to do. The battle is not over (in Oklahoma). We live in a state that is extremely conservative.”

The goal is not “equality”, as the group’s name suggests. It is to undo conservativism which indicates a lack of respect for the beliefs of others on the part of OKEQ.

Click here to review the videos and consider further the following:

• What is Inappropriate in Public Spaces and Who Gets to Decide?
• What Begins Quietly, Emboldens Quickly
• Standing Room Only at the Bartlesville City Council Meeting
• OKEQ’s Argument: Don’t Believe Your Eyes and Know We Have Lawyers
• Their Claims of Innocence are Comforting, Until You See the Unedited Version of Bartlesville Pride
• A Pastor’s Warning to the City Council: Protect Your Community from Moral Degradation
• Bartlesville Citizens Did Not Go Softly into the Darkening Progressive Night
• Oklahoma Laws Protecting Children

It may be time for Tulsa to apologize to Oklahoma for perversion and funding of propaganda.

Tulsa Today readers may remember the city’s daily paper masthead once quoted, “Set up a standard, publish and conceal not.” (Jeremiah 50:2 KJV) That masthead changed with ownership.

Christ said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32 KJV)

Islamic readers would also note, “Surely God enjoins justice, kindness and the doing of good, to kith and kin; and He forbids all that is shameful, indecent, evil, rebellious and oppressive.” InnaAllah Yamuru bil adel, wal ehsane, wa itae zil qurba; wa yanha anil fuhshae, wal munkari walbaghi; yaizukhum lallakum tazakkaroon. (Quran 16:90)

For those that strictly believe only in science, please explain how mixing sexual organs in human excrement is healthy and thus proper to teach children?

For those that support alternative lifestyles, consider Gays Against Groomers, a coalition of gay people  who oppose the recent trend of indoctrinating, sexualizing and medicalizing children under the guise of “LGBTQIA+”

Oklahoma, what is our standard? Your comments are welcome below.

,What standards will Oklahoma defend?
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Opinion: Following this month’s election results, some officials claim straight-party voting is a major problem in Oklahoma. They imply many Oklahomans really wanted to vote for candidates from the other party but instead simply checked the straight-party option. Some Democrats suggest their failure in top-of-the-ballot races are a byproduct of straight-party ballots.

That’s believable only if you ignore common sense. The most high-profile race in Oklahoma this year was the governor’s race. It was literally the top spot on the ballot. Are we to believe voters really wanted to vote for Democratic candidate Joy Hofmeister rather than Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt (or vice versa) but instead checked the straight-party box and never looked a few inches down their ballots?

Notably, the ACLU of Oklahoma claimed it received reports from Oklahoma and Cleveland counties of voters being improperly encouraged to vote straight party by poll workers. Those were two of only three counties won by Hofmeister. Does that mean straight party voting inflated Hofmeister’s numbers?

About 1.155 million ballots were cast in Oklahoma this month. About 480,000 were marked “straight party.” The split was 69.82% for Republicans, 29.08% for Democrats, and 1.10% for Libertarians.

The share of Oklahomans voting straight party has increased over recent election cycles, but that doesn’t automatically mean people don’t know who they are supporting, particularly in major races. And even in down-ballot races where candidates are not well known, people often use political party affiliation, which often represents public policy leanings, to determine preference even when marking a specific candidate box.

Also, if you mark the “straight party” line but then fill in a box for a specific candidate from the opposite party, state law specifies the mark for the individual candidate counts. The State Election Board could not report how often that happened when contacted this week, but it is not unusual.

And straight-party has been an option literally since statehood. One 1907 ballot on display at the Oklahoma Election Board shows voters could choose between the Republican, Democratic, and Socialist tickets that year.

One Democratic lawmaker who sought in recent years to eliminate straight-party voting described it as a relic from a time when many voters were illiterate and chose a party symbol rather than the candidate. Yet it makes little sense to say people today, when literacy is the norm, are somehow less informed than their predecessors if they select the straight-party option.

For decades, Oklahoma Democrats held political majorities and weren’t concerned about straight-party voting. It’s now that Republicans hold political majorities that some Democrats see a problem with straight-party voting.

The reality is this: Many people use party brands to determine which candidate to support. And many voters split their ticket.

Successful candidates tailor their message to, and successfully turn out, their straight-party voters as well as ticket-splitters who support them. Those who blame the straight-party option for losses are only highlighting why their candidacies failed.

About the author: Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (www.ocpathink.org).

,Straight-party voting cop-out for losers
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Federal Court issues injunction: Ban was retaliatory

Northern District Federal Court, for a second time, found that the Owasso Public Schools violated the free speech of Tim Reiland, a parent banned in October for standing against pornographic content in his child’s public school library.

Parents have the right to direct their children’s education and upbringing under the Oklahoma Parents Bill of Rights Act. While fighting Mr. Reiland in Court, the School Board also voted to change school policy to screen books for sexual content – the point of his protest.

Legal Overwatch for Parents’ School Rights took on Mr. Reiland’s case because parents such as Mr.  Reiland should not feel closed off from access to Courts to preserve their rights against tyrannical school boards and administrators because of the cost of litigation said Chief Counsel Maria Mercedes Seidler.

Tim Reiland, a parent with two children in Owasso Schools, was upset by the sexual content of a book his child brought home and for his aggressive advocacy against school libraries giving access to pornographic content to children, the Owasso School District banned him from school grounds and activities for six months, including driving his children to school. The Superintendent based her ban on his colorful remark about the Board’s actions made to a school board member and a reporter on October 10th. 

Legal Overwatch filed in State Court to protect his First Amendment rights.  The School Board believed they would do better in Federal Court and had the case transferred to Federal Court.  They were wrong.

Chief Judge John Heil III of the Northern District of Oklahoma first issued a Temporary Restraining Order on November 1st against the School Board, citing the violation of Mr. Reiland’s free speech rights. In response to the Judge’s Order, the School Board held a special meeting on November 9th to fix their constitutional problem with the first ban.

In issuing its second Order, the Court called the Board’s actions for what it was: “a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent the Court’s TRO” and the Board’s ban a “pretext,” and other statements that amount to a rebuke of games played by the Owasso School Board. The Board had decided to base its case on the confrontation with a Tulsa World reporter for 17 seconds in the Board’s parking lot. 

After a three-hour evidentiary hearing, Judge Heil gave short shrift to Owasso’s positions. While acknowledging schools’ obligations to prevent unsafe and harassing conduct, not at the expense of the Constitution, Judge Heil found that no such conduct in this case.  On the stand, the Tulsa World reporter, Art Haddaway, indicated that he did not feel threatened or harassed by Mr. Reiland during the 17 second verbal-only exchange. The Court found that the exchange could hardly constitute harassment. Tulsa Today covered this story as the first ruling was issued by the court (click for more).

Legal Overwatch’s Chief Counsel, Maria Seidler stated “It was clear from the initial ban that the Owasso School Board violated Mr. Reiland’s First Amendment Rights. Without the ability to speak to school boards on the policies affecting their children’s school, parents cannot exercise their parental rights to direct their children’s education under the Oklahoma Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

Last night, Nov. 14th, the Owasso School Board approved a new book selection policy to ensure that books with sexual content are not in their school libraries. One has to question whether last night’s vote to approve the book selection policy advocated by Owasso parents is the direct result of Mr. Reiland’s courage to stand up and sue. Mr. Reiland is why I established Legal Overwatch. School boards have gone unchallenged too long.  Its time parents, like Mr. Reiland, had a win.

Legal Overwatch attorneys work pro-bono, but there are court fees and costs with each case. A crowd funding campaign, GiveSendGo, for Mr. Reiland’s case will help defray costs.

,Owasso School loses twice on porn and ban
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Thursday November 10 Tulsa Station Fox 23’s Janna Clark broadcasted a lengthy report on the 41-year unsolved homicide of Gertrude Marshall Blakey. More neighbors are speaking out. Lt. Brandon Watkins Tulsa Police Department’s (TPD) lead homicide detective went on the record and FOX23 notes it as the “cold case murder investigation that is beginning to grab attention.”

Additional independent investigation by media is welcome and is apparently motivating TPD which has failed to date to comply with Public Record Requests on the case formally submitted by attorneys engaged by the family.

These new witnesses and law enforcement in that report show there is more to discover that has been revealed to date, some contrary to earlier statements.

The first cold case report was published on both on Tulsa Today and Substack on August 7 (click here for more), with additional interviews on September 24 (click here for more), and on October 13 (click here for more).

This writer has shared research with Clark’s investigative team and will do the same with law enforcement and other media news local, state, or national as they may develop interest. Her report notes TPD has sent a pipe with duct tape on one end, possibly used in the attack, for advanced scientific examination in early October, according to reports.

A request for interview has been made with TPD’s Lt. Brandon Watkins and additional interviews are underway. To view the Fox 23 report online, click here.

,Media murder investigation growing
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln: We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate. We cannot hallow America. The brave in service, living and dead, who struggled for Liberty have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.

The Tulsa Veterans Day Parade kicks off at 11 a.m. Friday with the theme “Honoring Veteran Advocates”.

The parade starts at West 3rd Street and South Boston Avenue in downtown Tulsa and is a televised event. The Veterans Day Parade is a part of a century old tradition in the Tulsa Community.

,Thank you Veterans
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

In a news release today the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) praises an Oklahoma court that “has ordered the expungement of bogus victim protective orders sought by a legislator’s wife while the lawmaker was in a tough reelection campaign.”

Tulsa Today covered the incident July 9 in detail, click here for more. The issue of bogus protective orders remains a concern for courts and for many citizens in Oklahoma.

“Victim-protective orders should be an important safeguard for abused individuals, not a campaign gimmick to be exploited by unscrupulous politicians desperate to cling to power,” said Jonathan Small, OCPA President. “That a court has ordered the expungement of the victim-protective orders sought by state Representative Anthony Moore’s spouse—without any objection from the Moores—highlights the complete fraud that was perpetrated on voters in western Oklahoma.”

In June, Representative Moore’s spouse filed legal paperwork in Custer County District Court seeking victim-protection orders against Small; Dave Bond, OCPA’s vice president for advocacy; and Ray Carter, director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism.

Representative Moore’s spouse alleged that Small, Bond, and Carter were each responsible for “concerning and unsettling” text messages she claimed to have received from two phone numbers and indicated the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said the texts were from Small, Bond, and Carter.

Those claims were false. Small, Bond, and Carter have never met, spoken to, or texted Representative Moore’s spouse. No OSBI investigation involving the three ever occurred. The Moores never produced any texts from any of the three men or provided any evidence to support their claims against them.

Furthermore, Representative Moore’s spouse filled out her request for a VPO order under a section of the form that indicated Small, Bond, and Carter were Mrs. Moore’s current or former spouses, individuals she had dated or had a sexual relationship with, a parent of her child, or someone that Mrs. Moore lived with or had an intimate relationship with.

None of the three men had any relationship with Representative Moore’s spouse, let alone an intimate relationship.

“Everything in the request regarding me was a flagrant lie,” Carter said. “And the Moores knew it. This was the Oklahoma equivalent of the Jussie Smollett hoax.”

After the requests for protective orders were filed, Moore touted them on the campaign trail, claiming his family had been targeted by political opponents.

“I’ve worked in campaigns and at the state Capitol for a decent while,” Bond said. “I’ve seen politicians who had good reason to want to change the subject from their record. I’ve seen politicians intentionally misspeak about their record. But I’ve never seen a politician risk a perjury charge against his spouse to avoid talking about his record. That’s special.”

A court hearing on the petition was set for July 5—which was after the June 28 primary election. The hearing was the first opportunity for Small, Bond, and Carter to defend themselves in court, and would have been the first time the Moores were required to produce actual texts and OSBI reports backing up their claims.

Instead, the Moores abruptly withdrew the petitions the Friday before the July 5 hearing. When Small, Bond, and Carter filed to have the bogus petitions expunged from their records, the Moores quietly signed off on the request.

“Ask yourself this: If someone threatened your wife and family, would you ever agree to expunge that record?” Small asked. “If you need evidence that the VPO petitions were fraudulent, look no further.”

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs is a free-market think tank that works to advance principles and policies that support free enterprise, limited government, individual initiative, and personal responsibility.

,Lawmaker’s smear campaign fails
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

While election news dominated public discourse, arguably one of the most important election stories was mostly missed by legacy media. True the Vote which has documented questions of election integrity throughout the nation was also attacked by opponents in court.

As The Epoch Times reports, “Two leaders of the election integrity group True the Vote were released from jail after an appeals court overruled a judge’s order that they be detained for contempt of court.

“Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were ordered released by a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit late on Nov. 6.

“’IT IS ORDERED that Petitioners’ opposed motion for release from detention is GRANTED pending further order of this court,’ the panel said in the order, which was obtained by The Epoch Times.

“Engelbrecht and Phillips were released on Nov. 7.

“Engelbrecht and Phillips were sent to jail on Oct. 31 by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, a Reagan appointee, who found them in contempt of court for not revealing the identities of people who allegedly accessed information from Konnech, a Michigan-based election management software company whose founder was recently arrested for allegedly stealing poll worker data and hosting the information on servers in China.”

Click here for more from The Epoch Times.

,Court Orders Release of True the Vote
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.